TRAVERSE Issue 02 - October 2017 | Page 39

perience. We watched the approach- ing electrical storms as they pounded the nearby Makgadikgadi Pans. Our spirits soared! We entered Namibia through the former gun running corridor known as the Caprivi Strip to the sensational Etosha National Park. Staying at the stunning Mokuti Etosha Lodge the memories of “roughing it” in North- ern Africa were a distant memory. Leaving Etosha we rode across the large expanses of Namibia staying at a privately owned game reserve of Omaruru before hitting the Atlantic Ocean and the vast Skeleton Coast, we had crossed the continent from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic. Leaving the adventure capital of Na- mibia, Swokupmond, we were met by 50 local bike riders who had heard we were in town, these riders joined us for a 40k ride south into the desert. An amazing experience to be escort- ed out of town by so many bikes. More epic desert landscapes, on gravel roads, to reach the iconic Sossusvlei National Park for an ear- ly morning visit to the famous Dune 45, a giant sand dune that features in just about every image of Namibia. We were in a landscape of towering, shifting dunes that glowed red in the early morning sun. Our penultimate night in Namibia was spent at a wonderfully recreat- ed classic truck stop, on the edge of the Fish River Canyon, we then rode across the border to our final coun- try; South Africa. Arriving in Cape Town, a lifetime of experiences later. It’s difficult to imagine that 3 months ago, 20 complete strangers met for the first time in Cairo to com- TRAVERSE 39