Granular Gargantuans

As of the end of last month, I have been in South Africa for one year. With some speed bumps along the way, time has generally flown by. With such an anniversary I should probably launch into a critical and introspective analysis of my time here. However, being American, I’ve decided to talk about my vacation instead.

My trip to Namibia was fantastic. Six of us hiked through the Fish River Canyon, one of the largest canyons in the world. It took us five days in total. It was definitely true backpacking—gathering firewood to make a fire at night, sleeping on sand, our faces to the stars, and let’s not forget the ever-fun digging a toilet wherever you go. Now this is more hardcore than I’d ever been before (in terms of hiking, of course) and the hike itself was not a stroll through Central Park, but it was an amazing experience. I definitely want to do something similar again. Highlights of our adventure included a natural sulfur hot spring that flowed into the river, creating amongst the rocks the best hot tub I’d ever experienced, wild horses and the thieving baboon who tried to run off with my friend’s pack.

After we survived the canyon and celebrated by eating six large plates of French fries in record-breaking time, we headed north into the Namib desert to see some of the largest sand dunes in the world and to simultaneously have our “I totally conquered nature” attitudes yanked out from under us. Climbing sand dunes is HARD. A few of us climbed two dunes, one being potentially the highest in the world (Wikipedia and the Namibian Ministry for Tourism apparently don't see eye to eye) at about 400 meters high. Climbing a sand dune is like running up a down escalator, the steps of which sink under each footstep. Halfway through you are beet red, panting enormously with your heart racing. You look up and guesstimate about eh, 15 minutes more. Almost an hour later, you curse the god of sandy things and flop belly-first onto the ridge.

But then, after you’ve reveled in the gorgeous view and the general incompetence of your physical health, the fun part starts. That’s when you get to sprint down the side of the dune as fast as you can, yelling your lungs out and praying you don’t hit a firm patch of sand and faceplant. I was surprised by the amount of sheer exhilaration that can be gained from a mound of sand. It could have been the effects of physical exhaustion, but I’ll take what I can get.