37 FramesWhen Perspective Comes From Above
Because every now and then, you get a reminder that you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be … floating, free, completely out of control… and somehow safe.
📍Sossusvlei → Swakopmund/Walvis Bay
Before Dawn: The Wake-Up Call That Was Worth It
4:30am. The sky still dark, the desert hushed but expectant. (Technically, it was the second alarm. The first one was a bit too ambitious. Let’s not talk about it.) The stars were still out. Our breath visible. The desert was holding its breath too … waiting for the first light. The East Wind had finally quieted its tantrum. And so, the long-awaited moment arrived… our balloon flight was back on.
The team from Namib Sky Balloon Safaris met us with coffee and quiet confidence. It’s easy to tell when people are doing something they were born to do. Kindness in the eyes. Calm in the chaos. They orchestrated the entire experience like a symphony… with precision, joy, and just the right amount of humor.
Inflation was its own kind of magic. We watched in awe.
And then… massive, glowing envelopes slowly rising in the pre-dawn blue. The kind of glow that makes you instinctively whisper. We were ready. And then, up.
And up.
And up.
The Lift-Off: Silence Like We’ve Never Heard Before
You don’t hear a hot air balloon rise.
It just… happens.
One moment you’re grounded.
The next, you’re untethered.
It was so quiet up there. Even the wind was gentle … moving us with intention, not speed. The entire Namib Desert stretched out below.
Ridges. Cracked pans. Shadows longer than logic.
And then that moment … the moment … when the sun peeked over the horizon and lit the whole world on fire.
We looked at each other. No words. Just smiles.
And a tiny, growing thought: This might be the best thing we’ve ever done. It was the kind of silence that sings. A stillness so vast, so complete, it felt like we were floating through the breath of the universe. No engine. No sound but occasional bursts of flame and our own whispered wonder. The world below… a rust-colored sea of rippled dunes and ancient secrets.
Crafting Incredible Experiences
We’re often on the side of crafting experiences for others… planning, guiding, documenting, lifting everything into being. But this morning… we were just passengers. Dreamers in a basket, gently carried through a sky older than time. Namib Sky made it feel effortless, personal, perfect. Despite doing this every day, they held the moment like it was singular. Just for us.
We drifted in and out of sunbeams and shadow. The desert glowed beneath us. Oryx carved lines in the sand. Mountains rose like whispers on the edge of the earth. It was both vast and intimate. Like standing still inside infinity.
The Descent: An Unexpected Kind of Terror (Although it wasn’t)
Let’s talk about landing.
Because no one talks about landing.
Here’s the truth:
Hot air balloons don’t steer. They descend with vibes and hope.
Our pilot, Ivo… so incredible and so calm, scanned the terrain while casually telling us we might tip over, depending on the wind.
Cue us bracing like we were in a NASA simulation, clinging to the basket. But somehow, miraculously, we glided in smooth. Like a whisper.
And then… champagne.
Because apparently, surviving an airborne wicker basket warrants bubbles at 9:00 a.m. We landed in a golden field where a tables awaited… a champagne buffet style breakfast under wide skies. Cured meats, fresh bread, fruit (every kind you can imagine) and homemade yogurt and granola. There was something utterly human and grounding about that moment, after so much time in the air. Feet on the earth, hearts still somewhere in the sky. Eating breakfast with an unbeatable view of the Sossusvlei dunes. In a golden field. In Namiba. Pinch us.
‘Namib Sky Balloon Safaris: A Quick Note for SEO + Curious Minds
If you’re considering it … do it. Namib Sky runs their flights at sunrise, giving you front-row seats to one of the oldest deserts on Earth.
It’s a perspective few get to see. And one you won’t forget. Unless you’re afraid of heights. In which case… skip to the champagne part.
Awe Isn’t Always Comfortable
There’s this idea that wonder should be peaceful. But sometimes awe knocks the wind out of you.
- Watching the sun rise while floating 3,000 feet above the world? Peaceful.
- Realizing you’re at the mercy of air currents and physics? Not so much. (But the pilots were expert. And these thoughts are only fleeting.)
But it’s all awe. All of it.
And somehow, it recalibrates everything. We’ve built careers on capturing beauty, but today reminded us how powerful it is to just be in it.
Lessons From the Air
- Let go. You’re not steering anyway.
- Look around. There’s a bigger picture than the one in your head.
- Share the view. It’s always better with someone beside you.
- Laugh at the landing. It’s never going to be graceful. (Enzo’s was. Ours all hunched up in landing position, wasn’t).
Then came the drive.
The Coastal Shift
We left the Namib Desert this morning after the balloon trip of a lifetime. Said goodbye to the red dunes, the surreal silence, the stars that stretched beyond comprehension.
And then?
We drove straight into another world.
This is Namibia’s power: it shapeshifts right before your eyes.
And just when you think you’ve seen it all… It throws flamingos at you.
SEO Quick Hit: What to Expect from a Drive from Sossusvlei to Walvis Bay
💡 Tip: Stop often. These roads are some of the most cinematic in all of Africa.
🏜️ Route: From Namib-Naukluft National Park through Solitaire to Walvis Bay
📸 Highlights: Solitaire Bakery stop, Gaub & Kuiseb Passes, the Tropic of Capricorn, desert moonscapes, and sudden coastal fog
A long five hours to Walvis Bay, our last big stretch of road before the ocean. We had to cancel our 4×4 Sandwich Harbour adventure… rescheduling the balloon meant we wouldn’t make it in time to see where the dunes collapse into the Atlantic. A bit of a heartbreak. But we whispered to ourselves, next time.
Because Namibia has this way of calling you back.
Pink in the Dessert
You don’t expect pink birds to be part of your desert journey.
But then again, Namibia is full of surprises. The day gave us a little gift: flamingos on the water at golden hour. Hundreds of them. A pale pink welcome committee, framed by the sun sinking low behind windblown waves. And in that light, everything softened. The road, the tiredness, the change in plans.
They were elegant. Dramatic. Basically the prima ballerinas of the salt lagoon. There’s something about flamingos that forces you to stop and smile. They’re weird, they’re beautiful, they’re completely unapologetic about existing in pink.
And we love that for them.
We watched the sun fall into the sea. With flamingo silhouettes. Incredible.
Contrast as Clarifier
Today reminded us that opposites don’t just coexist … they define each other.
- Stillness feels deeper after chaos.
- Wind hits different after days of calm.
- And joy is sharper when it arrives unexpectedly … like flamingos in salt flats, or laughter in a sandstorm.
We’ve spent decades immersed in weddings … the ultimate collision of joy and nerves, beauty and logistics.
And today felt like a reflection of that: intense, unplanned, perfectly mismatched in a way that just works.
Sometimes it takes a massive shift … from sand to sea, silence to wind … to remind you what you’re made of.
What you love.
What you’re still capable of.
We needed that reminder.
Evening in Swakopmund: The World Tilts Again
We arrived into town windswept, salty, and slightly dazed. Dinner was a cup of soup in our room. The sunset lingering like usual. The colors now a part of our nightly ritual.
The shower? A spiritual experience.
And sleep… came fast and deep. The kind of tired you earn.
We’ll be leaving Swakopmund tomorrow before dawn, but tonight we’re still flying on adrenaline and sea air.
What Travel Taught Us Today
- Just when you’re settled, the world shifts. Lean in.
- You don’t need to know what’s coming. Just go … the flamingos will be waiting.
- Contrasts don’t compete. They compose the whole picture.
Closing Reflection: The Gift of Extremes + A Day We’ll Talk About Forever
Today was a reminder that life, like travel, is rarely just one thing. We are not just calm or wild. Just grounded or dreaming. We are both. All the time.
And when we’re lucky enough to experience a place that mirrors that truth? We walk away changed. You can’t see the world from above and not carry that stillness with you.
Every journey has a hinge point. A day where everything aligns … the light, the place, the people you’re with.
This was that day.
It reminded us that being weightless isn’t about geography. It’s a state of mind.
And that maybe the universe knows when you need to rise above it all … just long enough to fall back in love with really living.
1. The View That Stays
Some views stay with you. Not because they were the highest, or the most photographed. But because they shifted something. Quietly. Completely. This day gave us those views … from above, from within, from beside each other.
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2. What the Wind Taught Us
The wind canceled us. Then carried us. Then nearly tossed us into the Atlantic. But somehow it knew what we needed all along … to let go of how we thought the story should go, and to feel it instead.
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3. Held by the Wild
There’s a certain kind of wild that doesn’t feel dangerous … it feels like home. Today, from sky to sea, we felt held by that kind of wild. I know I’ve said it often, but it reminded us we’re small. And it reminded us we’re here. What a gift.
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4. This is Why We Travel
For the days that don’t follow the script. For the laughter that bubbles out between heartbeats. For flamingos in places they don’t belong. For adrenaline and awe and desert dust in your soul. This is why we travel. To remember who we all are when the world tilts.
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5. Weightless, Still
Even hours after landing, we still feel it … that impossible lightness. Not from the balloon. From the knowing. That this life, this moment, this journey… is the one we get. And what a breathtaking one it can be.
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6. Not Everything Has to Make Sense
There was no logic to today. Flamingos in salt pans. Sand dunes crashing into the sea. A sunrise that felt like a private performance. It didn’t add up. But maybe the best days never do. They just leave you changed.
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Some days you just need to show up. And let the world surprise you.
37 Frames
