Etendeka Memory

I had another vivid memory picture yesterday, an instantaneous, quickly fading waking dream usually of a place I have loved that hits me at any time and is so real I might be back there. This time it was of the Etendeka conservancy in Namibia's Damaraland. It isn't surprising that I have so many flashes of Etendeka, as its landscape is stunningly beautiful on a spare but epic scale.

We stayed at Etendeka Camp, sleeping in one of these simple but comfortable tents from which the view....

....included a variety of animals grazing close to our front door. Some spent their nights even closer to the tent, I suspect because they believed that predators were unlikely to come too close to human habitation.

The memory flash was of this room, a big open-plan space which included a lounge, dining area and bar. The drinks were included but few stayed up drinking late because....

....the tents were some distance away from the bar and most people didn't have the game's touching faith that, on our way to bed, we wouldn't bump in to a hungry lion or leopard. Worse, one had to leave the tent and, in pitch dark and clutching a small torch, make ones way round to the side of the tent if one needed the toilet during the night.