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Photo Essay: Street Artists Take Over an Abandoned Factory in Berkeley

January 27, 2013 California

I watch my step as I enter, careful not to step in the rubble and debris that have tumbled down from the walls and ceilings of this derelict building over time. The bare sandals I’ve chosen to wear on this hot day in late September are not the best footwear for this kind of exhibit. […]

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The Raw, Consuming Beauty of Namibia

January 10, 2013 d.i.y. travel

Namibia is not a place to take a vacation. It’s a place to delve into beauty, undoubtedly—an alien beauty arising from dust and sand. It’s a place to have the boundaries of your mind expanded by nature’s lack of boundaries; by the great absence of anything or by the presence of something in the most […]

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Photo Essay: A Late Afternoon Off Road Adventure in Namibia

December 27, 2012 captured on memory card

We signed up for a sundowner excursion through the Kunene region because it was our last chance to search for elephants on this trip. We never saw any, but as we drove through the veld, ruggedly beautiful views were plentiful: Our vehicle for the drive. Namibia’s fairy circles, mysterious bare patches spread throughout the desert […]

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Photo Essay: Unique Rock Formations and Ancient Art in Twyfelfontein, Namibia

December 21, 2012 captured on memory card

In Twyfelfontein, red sandstone rocks perch precariously atop other rocks, looking as though they are ready to tumble at any moment and join the field of boulders below. Some have taken on shapes that are reminiscent of the sea and others that have been artfully carved and arranged by the elements look like transient public […]

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!Nara Melon: The Essential Fruit of Namibia’s Topnaar People

December 12, 2012 eats and drinks

One of the first things people notice about Namibia is how clean and orderly it can look compared to other developing countries. But if you go far enough in certain directions, you’ll see people living in extreme conditions that belie the seeming prosperity. On paper, Namibia is an upper-middle income country, but the reality is […]

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Photo Essay: Mountains of Sand and Otherworldly Landscapes in Sossusvlei, Namibia

December 9, 2012 captured on memory card

In a country overflowing with surreal scenery that pushes the boundaries of what you think the earth can look like, Sossusvlei is perhaps the most peculiar. There, sand is piled at its greatest heights and trees that have been dead for centuries still stand in a dried up marsh. A surprising amount of animals survive […]

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To Know Emptiness: Stories of Driving Around Namibia

November 25, 2012 d.i.y. travel

Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn in Namibia

One time while I was traveling, I felt like I was exploring a potential future. It wasn’t in some angular futuristic metropolis of Eastern Asia, it was in Varanasi, India, one of the world’s oldest cities. I remember the crowdedness, sitting in cars while drivers tried to move through masses of humanity, the buildings stacked […]

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Photo Essay: Swakopmund, Namibia for the Holidays

November 17, 2012 captured on memory card

In keeping with our coastal holiday tradition, we spent our Namibian Christmas in Swakopmund. It’s a German colonial town on a desert beach in Southern Africa. It’s a unique combination of geography, culture, and aesthetics that I never imagined I’d see together. A fellow North American traveler we encountered in Swakopmund said to us, “This […]

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