Namibia, by 4x4

Windhoek to Sossusvlei, the Atlantic coast and Etosha. Friends, trucks, cameras and enough open road for the story to stop being theoretical.

A 4x4 moving beside the dunes at Sossusvlei

Michael wanted the story, not the tour

The great automotive specials used the car to enter a country and see what happened between the people inside it. Michael wanted that feeling with people close to him, in a place none of them could control.

Namibia offered the scale. The 4x4s supplied the premise. Everything memorable came from the road, the camps, the culture and the group.

Four wheel drives crossing an open desert route

Across the country

Windhoek

Collect the trucks, check recovery gear, stock supplies and point southwest.

Sossusvlei

Cross through Rehoboth, Solitaire and Sesriem for the dunes, Deadvlei and the first camp.

Atlantic coast

Run west for Swakopmund, Walvis Bay, Sandwich Harbour and the Skeleton Coast.

Etosha

Turn inland for the waterholes, wildlife and the last long days in the trucks.

The road could stay easy, or not

Namibia's paved main roads made progress straightforward. Gravel, sand and desert detours were choices. The point was not to manufacture danger. It was to leave enough uncertainty for the group to make real decisions.

Cameras gave the drive a plot

The group divided the journey into film segments, changed directors and judged the finished work together. Navigation, camp life, photography and the small failures between them gave everyone something to make.

A 4x4 crossing open desert at the end of the Namibia story

The point was never the itinerary

It was to use the cars well, spend the time together and come home with a story that could not have happened on a conventional vacation.