Clean air. Clean bodies. Clothing and bedding sun dried. Everything is pristine here. First impression was flying into Windhoek aboard Air Namibia. The flight crew's uniforms were immaculate and the cabin appeared to have been  recently scoured.  The streets in both Windhoek and Swakop are litter free.  Have not seen even a scrap of paper…

Scorpions really are deadly. Tommy captured the one pictured below and immobilized his pincher.   Then he somehow got the scorpion into a jar and placed a magnifying glass stopper in the top so we could examine closely the  hairy creature inside and see not only the two eyes on the side of his head but the…

Watching Tommy scratch for a sidewinder was impressive. These snakes are poisonous but not deadly.  A bite would make your finger swell up to twice its size but you would not die.  Had no interest in petting it although the Russian couple did and one of the Austrian teenage twin boys did, too.  The one…

Now this little fellow was pretty amazing.  We saw him change from the pictured gray/green to yellow, white and then to nearly black depending on which side of the sun he was walking. His eyes see 360 degrees and his vision is perfect.

Tommy's Tours delivered a first rate  desert experience. Riding up and down dunes in a Land Rover was a thrill a minute.  And he can find the desert creatures along the way because the desert is his "office" and he knows where things are even if he has to do the equivalent of moving things…

Huge sand dunes for starters. Just to give you a sense of the size of some of these dunes take a look here: one of my guides is pictured to give a sense of scale: You can also  get a peek of another dune in the distance.  And I did climb this one. Nearly…

Now, Here I Am!

 Here is my first sunset in Windhoek, Namibia. There is only one sky but how it looks changes so much with the place one is viewing it. Perfect weather all week, meaning 84 degrees, no humidity and a slight breeze. This country and the people who live here are clean, clean, clean. Namibians are quite fashionable, artistic…

In a New York Times interview, the author, Annie Proulx, observed that after a woman turns 55 she becomes invisible. She gave as an example sitting in a cafe in Nova Scotia next to a couple who were plotting a murder. Wherever I am  in Windhoek - cafes, restaurants,  taxi stands, buying a bottle of water…