Namibia’s sky might be its most striking natural resource. Although airborne sand, oryx horns, and whatever caused all those shipwrecks are certainly in the running. The version of Namibian atmosphere most are familiar with is the monochromatic, azureous backdrop to the ochre sand mountains of the Sossusvlei, a sheet of pure blue so encompassing and unobstructed it would be imposing if it weren’t so damn beautiful.
The lesser documented sub-species of Skius Namibius is the country’s impossibly vivid nocturnal star spectacle, studded with constellations and planets you have to be in the right hemisphere to even witness. It’s unfettered Best Buy floor model TV porn. The kind of detail that looks like you could feel its grooves and textures if you reached out hand out far enough. Celestial brail under a blacklight.
But today we honor the transitory period between these two equally memorable sides of a stratospheric coin: The Namibian sunset. For this iteration of our SunsetTrippin series we have spliced together the conclusions of 3 consecutive Namibian days. 2 are filmed from our lodge on the edge of the desert (different camera orientation each day), and one is from atop a rocky outcrop where we enjoyed what could very well have been the sundowner to end all sundowners, complete with wine, beer, G&T, charcuterie, lanterns, and no other human around for miles.
To pair with this triumvirate of twilight, to compliment the epi-worldly wonder that is the Namibian sky, I’ve rummaged around the most elevated, cookie-jar-asylum tiers of the Megatrip Official Sunset Playlist and selected what is perhaps my favorite sunset song of all time: Still Life by The Horrors. The Horrors are a band that, much like the best sunsets, began their time as one thing before morphing into something completely different, and this song is them at their most epic and empyrean (which is saying something considering their multiple appearances on the playlist). There is no sunset on earth this song does not heighten to delirious extremes. To listen to it when the igneous orb buries itself in the infinite meridian is guaranteed to induce elliptical contemplation on the nature of existence, consciousness, and the best ice cream sandwich you’ve ever eaten, all while wearing a tipsy smile. This is a Godlike song for watching Godlike skies descend into Godlike slumber. And when you wake up. You will find me.
Sunset Notes:
0:01 Yes, that was David attempting to perform a live-action Tyler Durdan in the midst of your SunsetTrippin experience. Consider yourself subliminally influenced.
0:19 This was the setting for our sundowner. A guide from our lodge drove us 15 minutes into the middle of nowhere, dropped us off on a pile of rocks with a table and some booze, and then drove away and left us there for 3 hours. It was the best.
0:35 This is where David, perhaps slightly buzzed on Windhoek lager, potentially dazed from an entire day of clambering up and down the tallest dunes in the world, dances on a rock in the middle of Namibia. It was a good day.
0:37 Namibia has a habit of taking everyday occurrences and rendering them profound and arresting when recontextualized in its alien environs. Take for example this run of the mill jeep, which speeding across the desert in front of a spectral trail of sunset-illuminated sand smoke gives it a Springsteen by way of Roger Deakins quality of stark automotive simplicity. But ya gotta love that gas mileage.
1:24 & 1:32 Here we see the first signs of the full on planetarium acid trip to come. The moon is the warm up comic in these scenes, sauntering across the darkening sky with a few airplane jokes and quips about Facebook, successfully whetting your appetite for the headliner’s forthcoming assortment of gut busters, knee slappers, and solar systematic ultralight beams.
1:56 Just above our sundowner table you can see the headlights of our return vehicle shuttling across the darkness to rip us from this surreal experience. Yes, we did ask if we could have another hour.
