I Took an Epic Adventure to Visit Some of Namibia's Finest Lodges-And Learned What Life in the Desert is Really Like

"It was the second day of the new year, and I was exhilarated by the wildlife we saw on a safari that afternoon: Luna the lioness, yawning languidly; a pair of tuskers bumping their foreheads in play; three armor-plated white rhinos; and countless types of antelope, from impalas to tiny steenbok. But Turek, now on his third visit to the country, was clear. "Namibia is not about animals," he said. "It's about the landscapes.""

"Suddenly, thunder rumbled. Above the great arid expanse, a column of rain appeared. An African sky of many moods came into sharp relief, here lit volcanic red by the setting sun, there as clear and cloudless as a ceiling fresco in an Italian church. Then it all came together. The lava broke its bounds and engulfed the sky. The pillar of rain turned an ashen orange. I was enthralled by the drama and looked to Turek, now frantically taking photos, for confirmation."

"We were at the beginning of a three-part journey through a country that is larger than Texas but has a population smaller than that of Connecticut-some 3 million. The three of us were to fly north by Cessna to the Hoanib Valley, then farther north to the Kunene River, on the Angolan border, before flying back south to the Namib Desert, one of the oldest in the world."

A traveler and her husband, Ryan, stayed at Zannier Omaanda near Windhoek before a three-part journey across Namibia. They planned flights by Cessna to the Hoanib Valley, the Kunene River on the Angolan border, and the Namib Desert. The savanna lodge yielded striking safari encounters—lioness Luna; playful tuskers; three white rhinos; and many antelopes. A sudden thunderstorm produced a column of rain and a volcanic-red sunset that turned the rain pillar ashen orange. Photographer Michael Turek emphasized that Namibia's essence lies in its landscapes rather than its animals. An open-sided safari vehicle and guide Jansen Namaseb captured the scene on a phone as colors shifted across the arid expanse.

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