We always search long and hard to find small intimate lodges, nestled someplace wonderful, about as far off the beaten track as we can find. Camp Kipwe? Check. Check. And check…

The three chill days we spent hiking around Sossusvlei were followed by three of the least relaxing of the trip. We headed off the next morning toward Windhoek by way of Mariental. We'd only been on the road for an hour when we ran across two Nama ladies and their uncle hiding from the sun in shade of a broken down pickup…

Sesriem Canyon is located less than 5 km from the Sossusvlei entrance to Namib-Naukloft National Park. It was a totally unexpected find. In fact, we'd actually driven across the dry tributary riverbed many times, and done so just a couple hundred meters from the head of the canyon. We'd had no idea it was there. None at all. The canyon is a long cleft rent into the rock that at points is less than 6 feet wide and more than 100 feet deep. In fact, the name comes from the original Afrikaans settlers who would use Oryx-hide straps ("riem") to pull water from a relatively permanent pool at the canyon's head. It took six ("ses") such straps to reach the bottom, hence, Six-Strap Canyon…

We were a bit shocked at the appearance of three or four dozen very pale folks. I mean, seriously... Who are you people? How did you... ? What the heck?? We'd driven 100 km past the town of Solitaire on the way in the previous evening, … Solitaire, … only to run into this?! Doesn't that violate some cosmic law of irony or something?

After hour eight-hour marathon drive, complete with minor breakdown, we could feel the adrenaline start to melt away as we finally pulled into the drive. The manager was waiting out front for us when we pulled up, called us by name. He brought us each an ice-cold washcloth and glass of tea sweetened with passionfruit juice…

This is the Namib Desert….

A good bit of time before we headed to Africa was spent researching what an appropriate selection of camera gear might look like for such a trip. Having benefitted tremendously from the thoughts and insights of other traveling photographers, it seems only fair to add our own choices and experiences — for better and worse — to the archive in the hope that they, in turn, might prove useful to someone else.