Way Off the Grid in Southwest Namibia
Greetings from Wolwedans Lodge () , in the hot and dusty heart of Namibia’s NamibRand National Park.
We arrived here yesterday afternoon, after a longer-than-expected, 400-kilometer drive from Mariental. We were never really “lost,” but we definitely took the long way around a few times.
In a gentle and totally innocuous way, our short time at Wolwedans has laid bare the introvert/extrovert fault line that runs through India’s and my marriage.
Basically, India is an introvert with some extrovert tendencies. She likes people fine, but her preference is to be alone, or in a small group, and to be outdoors. When she was a kid, she wanted to be a game ranger, She also wanted to invent a head bubble that would let her eat lunch at school without needing to talk to others. I am basically an extrovert with extrovert tendencies. I like being in crowds, and particularly love being with a large group of people that I know.
We have known this about each other for a long time.
India’s introvert tendencies have found their purest form of expression here at Wolwedans. Let me try to explain.
- Namibia has (I believe) the lowest population density of any country in the world. It has the population of New Hampshire, spread over an area about the size of Texas.
- Within Namibia, the population is concentrated heavily (~85%) in the North and East quarter of the country - Windhoek, the capital, and the area up toweard the Angola border and the Caprivi strip.
- The remaining 75% of the country’s land mass has about 15% of the people - about 350,000 people spread over an area the size of Utah and Colorado combined (roughly). Even the “big” towns, like Maltahohe, have no more than about 1,000 citizens.
- Relative to the rest of Southern Namibia, the NamibRand park is even more deserted. For the last two hours of our drive yesterday, we literally did not see another person.
Once we arrived at the gate to Wolwedans, we drove another 20 kilometers in off the public road, to a small reception area in a huge desert valley. The pale yellow dune grass, the red sandy soil, the mountains, and the pale-blue sun-washed sky are all we can see in any direction.
This sounds pretty isolated, doesn’t it? Perfect for the introvert in the group? Not quite.
Being at the main lodge, with 3-4 other guests would have been too crowded. India reserved the “Private Camp” at Wolwedans. Getting there required another 15 minutes of driving into the desert. They even made me park our truck, and ride down in one of the game vehicles.
So, here we are, staying in a beautiful open-air tent/wood chalet, with only birds and gemsbok for company. India is in a state of absolute bliss, having achieved the logical extreme of isolation. She can run on the road (no predators here), read, lie in the sun, and spend time with me and the kids.
I, on the other hand, am feeling very anxious. This scenario strikes close to the core of extrovert nightmares. We are physically trapped: no car, but “try calling in on the radio if you need anything.” There is no BlackBerry or cell phone coverage. We are isolated from the rest of the lodge by 6-7 kilometers. Walking to the lodge across the desert would qualify as a definite survival situation. The main lodge, of course, is already pretty isolated in itself. We are in the oldest desert on earth. We do not have any structured activities planned, just an open expanse of time and space. Anyone want a drink?
We had the rangers take us to the swimming pool (beatifully set in the high dunes) yesterday afternoon. It was a 40-minute Land Rover drive from our camp. This morning, Zola and I came up to the lodge’s computer to do on-line math, and for me to reassure myself that the rest of the world still exists.
To be honest, once I got past my initial anxieties, it has been fun. Both kids are thrilled to really be out in the desert. The sunset last night was amazing, and the little camp is very elegant and comfortable.
I am determined that I can survive this without going crazy. I will also have more sympathy for India the Introvert, the next time we are standing on 5th Avenue and 57th Street.
Erik said,
January 17, 2009 @ 4:47 pm
I’m a mixture of the two. I love the isolation of being far away from everything but I also crave/need the connectivity with others. But I don’t care for large crowds of people much at all. Some of my happiest times, and where I tend to go in my mind when I need a break, were doing my solo with NOLS many years ago and camping out in an Anasazi house far above the canyon floor. It was delightful though part of that delight was knowing I’d be back with my group the next day.
coco said,
January 18, 2009 @ 11:27 am
thanks for the opportunity to argue with John about our intravert/extravert status. Of course, we are both extravert, but for some reason we are taunting each other about our marked differencesas extraverts. John can never ever just relax under a beach umbrella unless he had the flue. He tends to wander off when we have a group trip, taking the rental car and going to the “store” for hours. If i leave the group, I am worried that I am holding them up or missing something.
The Meyers-Briggs test says that I am boderline extravert/intravert, but over the years I would say I have slid more toward extravert. I am mad to see people. I can feel sickly emotionally and physically and become better just by walking into the crowded gym. The familiar faces saying “where have you been?” make me happy
We have both just taken “strength finder II” (owned by Gallop, it is the personality assessment) and it shed all kinds of light on some of our daily piccadillos and differneces.. Have you taken it? I ordered it for my friend’s birthday (amaon) and an executive coach came and facilitated a dinner party meeting about the test rsults. We had so much fun. I wonder what you and India’s strengths are? I was surprised to learn that “competititiveness” was not in my top 5. However, WOO (winning others over, #1) and Input are my top two. So John now understands why I want NPR on at all times and I read the crawl on CNN while I listen to the news (often confusing 2 stories) John’s top two are Adaptability and Positivity, which further explains out commitment to frequent entertaining (even to our own detriment). JOhn’s includer means that he asks everyone that he sees that day over to the house for dinner.
Kim
WOO
Input
Positivity
Communicator
Ideation
John
Adaptability
posiivity
Ideation
Includer
We cannot remember John’s other strength and but he quips that he is the “solvenator” and the “wanderer” (we’ve been calling him the wanderer for years). I feel certain that John’s other 2 strengths had something to do with not wanting responsibility. no offense john. somehow Kim Massey and Gallop made it seem like they were strengths, whatever they were called.
India’s persuasion as an introvert is interesting. Being an introvert is probably what I would’ve guessed today, but I will tell you, I’ve had to have a professor at Vanderbilt explain the real meaning of the word - I never really understood the feelings of an introvert until lately. I don’t remember much about the lunch room except for getting into trouble and being forced to sit with Bryan Ellis and Alan Somebody. It ended up being the most fun. I can remember what India had for lunch everyday. I can remember the day she got glasses. And I remember her descriptive sentence in the forth grade as awarded the best. As much as it is hard to really understand the introvert, I usually perfer them as my audience and dear friends, of course.
Peter said,
January 18, 2009 @ 1:18 pm
Kim and Erik-
Thanks for your comments. India the Introvert had the time of her life, and I figured out how to get throigh it. The unexpected arrival of Eva, notre ami mysterieuse, made it seem more like a social occasion. More on Eva later. Strengthfinder would not put ‘typing while tired’ in my Top 5.
Peter
PS- Kim, your description of the gym trip as physical curative describes me exactly