![]() ![]() On our 14-Day Namibia Photography safari, we will focus attention on some of the most iconic and picturesque wildlife and landscape destinations that Namibia has to offer.įrom the Quiver tree forests of Keetmanshoop we will explore the hidden beauties and ephemeral pans of the Namib Desert, before sinking our toes into the sands of the desolate Skeleton Coast, kept deceptively lifeless by the frigid waters of the Atlantic. I felt it again walking through the front door of our London flat.Prime Namibia Photography safari experience Our descent into Heathrow, my void stomach left further behind with every foot of altitude lost, was nothing short of harrowing – for me, and for the woman next to me, who kept looking at the open sick bag I had on my lap with abject (and justified) panic.īut walking into Heathrow, shaky and relieved, I realised I was home. ![]() Over the next 11 hours, the waves of nausea and diarrhoea I experienced at 33,000 feet had me wishing for death. I picked up a stomach bag and was physically sick an hour before we took off. This feeling meant that, by the end of my holiday, I was ready to come home to London and to Matt. And it has also been, absolutely and without a doubt, the right decision. At times, it has felt like a great unmooring. On one of our last walks before we said goodbye to Westdene, March 2021 – one month into marriage They led us to where we are now – to a life together. I could see and hear Matt and I during lockdown. All the processing I did as I ran through the early summer light, the jacaranda purples, the winter leaves that crunched underfoot. I could hear all the conversations that happened in my head, too. The endless counsel she offered through shifts in friendships, two painful break-ups, the life that comes with love and its loss. My mom and I talking about which high school I should go to, which university. I could hear the echoes of conversations, too. I could see myself at 33, accepting the keys to my very own Westdene home, not knowing then that, within 10 months, the world would end and it would house Matt and I through a pandemic. I could see myself at 16, Natasha by my side, walking to Melville to spend our afternoons at the public pool or at the Mugg & Bean that used to be next to Scala to eat quesadillas. I could see myself at 10 years old, my mom and I going for walks with our Staffie in the late afternoons, the sun dappled at our feet. I lived an entire life in these streets, and there were ghosts of the girl I was and the woman I am wherever I looked. Westdene and Melville’s deeply familiar streets I should have anticipated the sense of homecoming I would feel, but when I went for a run through the streets of Westdene and Melville on my first morning there, the emotion gripped my chest like a fist. I stayed in South Africa for another three weeks, a period that included 10 days in Joburg – my home for the better part of 35 years. We had a few weeks in Cape Town with friends and family before Matt had to return to the UK for work. But “head south” is Matt’s winter mantra and, despite Omicron-induced drama, we made it back. I haven’t been living in London long, and coming back to South Africa for Christmas was a bit of a luxury. The greenery up close – a picnic with friends at Emmarentia Dam, January 2022 A weight in my belly that bubbled into my chest and fizzed down my arms and legs. I stared out the window as we descended, watching as farmland gave way to villages, small towns. From above, Johannesburg in January was green.
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