Hello from the Atlantic coast, but quite much further down than usual. I am still experiencing a reverse culture shock: where is the Africa I know? Was it all ordered up by the German colonialists? Everything simply works. The only confusion so far has been withdrawing money from the ATM: instead of Namibian dollars I got South African rands. Turns out it does not really matter here. How odd.

We landed in Walvis Bay in the middle of the desert, on a hot, windy, sand storm day. But behind the dunes was the ocean, and miles and miles of beach and birds. Regardless of expectations, not a bad place to spend the summer.

(Walvis Bay, Namibia; June 2017)