TransNamib: Dimensions of a Desert

The Namib Desert extends as a narrow strip more than 1.800 km along the Atlantic coast, from Port Nolloth in South Africa through Namibia and up to the town of Namibe in Angola. This book is about a thrilling expedition crossing the multifarious Namib Desert visiting mystical places: prohibited diamond areas, ghost towns, ship wrecks, endless dune regions, virgin beaches, idiosyncratic fluvial topographies. A unique fauna and flora invites the reader to explore both new dimensions of the desert and enables encounters with the local population. An interesting journey that simultaneously provides a retrospective view of the times of explorers, colonisation and civil wars.

Gabi Christa was born in Berghof, Allgäu, close to the royal castles. Uwe Scharf, born in Augsburg, grew up in Seligenstadt and moved to Buching, Allgäu, in 1997 Both spend their summer leisure time in the Alps and beside the lakes. European winters have always seemed far too long to them. Hence the idea to spend the winter in Cape Town, South Africa. To begin with, the priority for Uwe was kite and wind-surfing. Gabi, however, managed to foster his love for Independent 4x4 travels. Therefore, since 1999, they have been regular travellers in Africa. In 2000, a new vehicle could be acquired and thus, in 2001, the adventure Transafrica could be realised. They drove by Land Rover from Germany overland to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. During this journey, while noting what had happened, the idea developed to publish it as a book. The success of 'Trans Africa: In 100 Days by 4x4 to the Cape of Good Hope' was followed in October 2009 by the book 'Southern Africa: Off the beaten Tracks', the report of two quite different and extraordinary journeys. During November/December 2009, the two went off to explore the dimensions of the Namib Desert. The experiences and observations are presented in this book, 'TransNamib - Dimensions of a Desert'.