Jini Reddy
While on an ‘ordinary’ hike along a tourist trail in Namibia, the prelude to a wilder part of the trip still to come, I reached a place called Deadvlei. It was full of lifeless camel thorn trees, still eerily rooted upright in grey sands, against a backdrop of orange dunes, beneath the bluest of skies. There was an energy and presence that I couldn’t quite put my finger on – as if the spirits of the trees were lurking. I felt I’d stumbled upon an outdoor cathedral. The guide hadn’t even hinted at the magic in this spot and yet, here I was, astonished, connecting to something beyond my field of perception; something bigger than me.