April 26, 2012 - Departure with Emirates in Vienna:

After it's already a good 5 years since I was last in Namibia and a year-long vacation planning, I boarded the Emirates Airlines plane. in Vienna on Thursday, April 26th at 2:35 p.m., in a good mood. After a flight time of only 5 hours 45 minutes, we landed in the United Arab Emirates, better known here as Dubai, at 10:55 p.m.

A few years ago, no one would have thought of flying voluntarily to this inhospitable desert emirate, unless of course you are a soldier and like to play war, or work for an oil company.

However, since the sheiks are clever people and they are obviously aware that their numerous bubbling oil wells could soon dry up, the idea of opening up new markets is very clever. Since my connecting flight to Johannesburg was only scheduled 6 hours later, I had enough time to leave the airport and be chauffeured to the famous 7-star hotel, Burj al Arab, in an Emirates Airlines limousine.

Of course, I had the idea for a long time beforehand, because the limousine has to be booked and leaving the airport if you have booked a connecting flight is not actually planned. But it is quite possible and even reasonably feasible without stress. For me, because of the brand new camera, it was also a first stress test for my Nikon D4, as I had only received the camera a few days earlier, as one of the first in Austria.

04/27/2012 - Dubai:

When the exit formalities were completed and I got into the limousine, it was already after midnight local time in Dubai and therefore pretty dark. When I arrived at the Burj al Arab, I briefly discussed with the security guards at the gate whether I was allowed to pass through the gate to take a few photos, even though I wasn't a hotel guest.

I was very surprised when one of the security guards eyed my camera in the best English and said … ah, a Nikon D4, not bad, it's brand new, isn't it? Yes, that's right, it is indeed new, I said with a friendly smile and wondered why a hotel security man knew more about cameras than my own wife, twisted world…..?!

I was actually allowed to take a few photos for a few minutes by the palm trees on the left near the exit. As always, despite the late hour, it was unbearably hot in Dubai and after a few quick shots, my limousine took me back to the airport.

Unfortunately, my good mood faded again as soon as I got to Gate 216, because there were a lot of holidaymakers with hand luggage, but no plane that you could have boarded. The promised A380 became an ancient bomber and only 5 hours later we were allowed to board the plane.

If I had known in advance that my stay at the airport would take a full 11 hours, my planning would certainly have been completely different.

But as so often in life, it turns out differently than you think......

The flight itself then lasted a little more than 8 hours and so I arrived in Johannesburg with a four-hour delay, where nobody from the airline took care of us arriving late. Our connecting flights were gone, of course, so we had to rebook and hope. Instead of 2:20 p.m., I landed in the capital of Namibia at around 5:20 p.m. I don't have to mention how unnerved and tired you are after such a 28-hour ordeal.

But the real shock came at the baggage carousel, because after almost all the passengers had their luggage and left the airport happily, I still stood there nervously and in disbelief, looking at the baggage carousel and waiting, with a mixture of desperation and anger in my stomach, for that to happen I would finally be able to start my well-deserved vacation. Unfortunately, like five other passengers that evening, I waited in vain. It's hard to describe the feelings that go through your head at that moment. You plan for over a year, laboriously save every cent from your mouth just to be able to make your dream come true and then...... you stand on the conveyor belt and have to face the fact that some sloppy asshole in Johannesburg either didn't do his job, or even worse... stole the luggage right away.

Not many things in life are more frustrating I can tell you. I felt like crying, and that's no understatement. Full of confidence, I had not only packed my tripod, which was indispensable for photographing the stars, in the travel bag, no, there was even the charger for my brand new Nikon D4 in it.

without a tripod it's not that easy to take such a picture...

This meant that as soon as my 2 batteries were empty - which would have been the case after about 600 photos at the latest - I would not have been able to take any more photos. Sky, a very nice young man from GocheGanas, my first lodge, had been waiting outside for almost 2 hours when I entered the hall completely unnerved and told him about my lost luggage. It's only when something like this has happened to you that you learn how indifferent you actually are to all the other people around you.

Not that it's surprising, no, but when you have to run around in the same clothes for almost three days afterwards and don't even have a toothbrush, you quickly get a whole new perspective. From the perspective of a Central European, this may seem quite strange, but when you travel to the most sparsely populated region of our planet, it is anything but easy to equip yourself with everyday items. Hundreds of kilometers around our hotel complex there is nothing but wild animals and steppes.

But it’s possible…. if you are good….. LOL

This is great for a safari, but sucks if you need a toothbrush or just a clean XL t-shirt. Completely unnerved, I checked into the GocheGanas and complained to everyone who didn't want to hear it. At dinner I enjoyed Namibian hospitality for the first time in five years.

The evening menu was not only rich, no, it was almost a poem and I really enjoyed the grilled game with a few bottles of beer. I slowly realized that I had to come up with a contingency plan in case my luggage wasn't with me tomorrow and I wondered if it made any sense to continue the journey if I didn't even have anything to wear.

My dress size wasn't a problem, but since my hand luggage was crammed full of cameras and lenses, even my medication and all other essential items for survival were in the big luggage. After a good hour, in the darkness of Namibia, I made my way back to my bungalow. I got the last one on the bottom left which meant there was no bungalow below me and nothing blocking my way out onto the beautiful countryside.

I took my camera, checked all the settings, marveled at the starry sky and tried to place it makeshift on the wide balcony railing, which turned out to be impractical. Then I went in front of the bungalow, put some foam from the photo backpack on the stone steps and placed my D4 on them so that the lens was pointing straight up into the sky.

Of course, this only works if you have a remote release, since the camera is not fixed in any way and even the slightest touch during the long exposure leads to a blur. Although my desperation hadn't diminished at this late hour, or I knew how to proceed, I tried to make the best of the situation and annoyed me about a stupid flagpole, which I couldn't get out of my field of vision, no matter how hard I tried.

After a few more attempts I got really cold and retired to the cozy room. The owner of the facility had previously sent me one of his clean t-shirts and a toothbrush was suddenly available in my bathroom.

04/28/2012 – GocheGanas - Namibia: After a short night, I showered for the first time and freshened up, which was a bit of a challenge with the outside temperature around 5°C, because it was really frosty in the bathroom, which even an electric heater couldn't change within a few minutes. After taking some handheld sunrise shots and walking a ½ hour hike down to the guest car park, I enjoyed a lovely breakfast on the restaurant terrace.

The view down into the valley is really sensational and despite the lack of luggage I tried to distract myself by examining yesterday's photos on my laptop. How long had I planned to photograph the sensational starry sky here at GocheGanas and now the second day had already begun and apart from a few botched shots taken from the ground, I had nothing to offer….. that was a shame.

But all the whining didn't help, Sky was already waiting for me to take me to the airport again and check whether my luggage came with the morning flight or not. Of course, just like yesterday,…. NOTHING!!!

Not the big travel bag and not the small suitcase, so nothing at all.

As anyone can easily imagine, my disappointment was boundless. Any hope I had given myself during the long sleepless night was gone and I realized that I actually had to check out of the hotel in an hour and then I would be all on my own. Then there would no longer be any locals who had supported me at the airport in my efforts to get into the restricted area of the arrivals hall.

As an additional treat, I found out at the Lost and Found counter that it was absolutely nothing unusual for the nice ladies of the airline that holiday guests did not receive their luggage. Yesterday there were five passengers who missed their luggage, today there were even 7 desperate tourists like me waiting for a container to be found or loaded. emptied and their holiday luggage would be found.

For all those who are planning a holiday trip to Namibia, I advise you to carefully consider whether a flight via Johannesburg is really necessary.

Next time I would probably even fly over Germany with Namib Air, just to rule out the risk – (with the many missing suitcases every day and the small planes it hits a few poor tourists every day!!), or whatever Book the first two days in Windhoek, because then, in the worst case, you could simply wait until your suitcases are brought to the hotel.

In any case, I would never again assume that I would receive my luggage immediately and then have to drive to a destination 50 km away in a rental car, which I first had to take over (which is a challenge that should not be underestimated after a long-haul flight). That is far too much stress and drastically increases the risk of accidents to an unpredictable level.

Cursing and very desperate, Sky and I drove back to GocheGanas, where I had to take my hand luggage and check out again with a heavy heart. The owner of the hotel kindly agreed to take me to the airport again (which means a 45 minute drive there and back each time).