Waiting To Be Explored

With just a small sense of adventure, you can learn so much not only about the world, but yourself. The road might not always be smooth, but riddled with bumps and challenges (and a flat tire or two..or three). Will you rise to the occasion or sink into oblivion?

Feeling a bit nostalgic of my road trip through Namibia a couple years back. More days than not were filled with at least a few hours of driving on roads like this one. Rarely seeing another car, and when I did, it was always driving in the opposite direction.

Generally driving on these roads is ok, as long as you don't think you can speed through on them like you can on pavement. If so, you're in for a rude awakening, especially when trying to go up a twisting, winding road with a sheer dropoff and no railings. 

One of the most frustrating times on this trip, was when I got my third, yes, third flat tire. Having to change a flat tire is no fun, let alone for an SUV with the standard jack, in 80-90F weather.. That was really just table stakes though. The real annoyance was after I jacked it up half way, and it jack started to shift in ground. Ultimately got it up safely on the third try, by which time I was pretty tired from sweating in the mid day sun. But, it all worked out in the end.

There's a few takeaways from this: 1) Solo road trips in Africa demand you know how to change a tire. Even better if you can patch a punctured tire. 2) Don't make your schedule too aggressive, as you never know when you'll lose 30-60mins due to a flat. 3) When all else fails, there's probably some big, load-bearing rocks around you can move to help prop the SUV up.

On the dusty road to Fish River Canyon.