Million star hotel

The reason for travelling to Namibia isn't just the landscape. Althought I think it is beautiful. With beautiful landscape, red sand and a wonderful coast. But I am there primarily for the night sky. Not just the beautiful objects of the night sky there, but the fact that it has a dark sky. No light pollution. When the sun has set, they turn off all the lights, and the area becomes a more decent version of "red light district". Red light doesn't affect your night vision in the same way as white light. So all over the area, red light is the name of the game. Dim red light. White light is banned.
When night falls, and the skies are lit up by millions of stars, it is among the most beautiful sights in the world. I wanted to show people just how beautiful it is, so I put up a camera that took a picture every 15 seconds the whole night. And turned it into a timelapse.

In the video, the telesope closest to the camera is mine. Tracking beautiful objects in the night sky for hours on end. There are some stunning objects in the night sky over Namibia. And I never get tired of them. In all colors of the rainbow.
I have yet to finish processing them. Wanting to get the best out of them, I have not wished to publish them until I am satisfied with the result. These objects deserve the best treatment and processing. But then they are finished, they will be published in my astroblog Heaven's Glory. So check in there from time to time to see the progress. I have already processed som shorter exposures of some of the objects. They are found at this location. Enjoy!
The trip to Namibia has been another success. Lots of images on my harddrive. I have seen lots of animals. Eaten lots of great food. Seen the rains in Africa...

The only thing left was to travel home. The drive back to the airport was eventless. Save for a group of Indian men we met along the way asking for the nearest hotel. "Errrr... About 7 hours drive or something away?". They looked surprised. This isn't a European country. This is Namibia. Mostly desert. Mostly nothing. Just sand and dust. And a million dollar hotel for anyone who wants to stay there...

Good bye Africa. Once again, you have delivered! Till next time, stay beautiful!

Ragnar
Out of Africa

Sittin' on the top of the car

Rhinos. Threatened by extinction. Not because people want their meat or their hide. But because someone has decided the horns that gives them their Norwegian name "Neshorn" (nosehorn), will do wonders for men's libido. I don't know if it actually does. But who cares? If you are willing to risk bringing animals to extinction just to keep your manhood, you are a sorry excuse for a man to begin with.
In a small reserve close to the farm, there are 8 rhinos, protected by armed guards. And we were let in to see them. If my presence can pay for their protection, I am all game. No pun intended.
Two guides met us in their 4x4. I and a friend volunteered to sit on the bench on top of the car. It would turn out to be the best seats of the show. With wind in our hair (or lack of it on my part), and a big smile on our faces we breezed across the roads. Jumping around while trying to take photos and videos of the landscape and the animals we saw on our way to the reserve.

Then, Our first rhino! He got up when we arrived. Watched us, then walked over to a tree and hid behind it, looking at us. Then walked across a field to another hiding place. Shy rhino...

We drove on, and after a while, with the guides communicating with some guards, we came across something they told us is unique. A family of rhinos. Normally, the mother hides with her child. But here we found a whole family. Naturally, they were sceptical of us. But they walked away after realizing we did not want to hurt them or hunt them. Beautifully weird animals.

After seeing these, we swapped seats with the people inside the car, and I was relegated to the inside seat. And we drove on to see some other animals. Like warthogs and ostrages. Unfortunately, imaging from inside the car wasn't easy, so no good pictures there.
But a good trip it was. Undoubtedly.

Ragnar
Traveller, amateur explorer.

Will the fourth be with me?

My fourth time in Namibia. The land of the dry air, the sunny skies and the clear and dark nights. I have been lured by its attraction to come three times. Once with my friends in my local astronomy club. This would be my fourth, and their second time to this land of endless skies.

 

We landed early. 45 minutes early. I disembarked, and turned around to take the above picture of the plane before a guy shouted "No photo!". I walked on, pretended like nothing and entered the terminal.
As usual, the passport queue I chose was the slowest. packed with people who spoke little or no English, and had little or no understanding of what was required to enter. Adding to it all the age they possessed, things moved slowly... But I was eventually allowed into the country. Found my bag and went into the waiting hall to wait for our host to pick us up. She had, of course, reckoned we would arrive on time, and added the usual time to go through passport and customs. So she arrived after about half an hour. Just enough time for us to buy some supplies for the 3 hour drive to the guest farm. I also took the time to take the picture below of the beautiful sunrise.

The roads were, if possible, even worse than before. That is, the first hour or so was on asphalt-roads. But the rest was on gravel. With more washboard finish than before.

Shaken to the core, we finally arrived. It was good to be back. The familiar place. The mountains in the background to create a beautiful backdrop during the days. But we weren't here for the days, we were here for the nights. Surprisingly, the skies were cloudy, and there was a chance of rain during the night or morning hours.

We settled in our rooms and were ready to set up our gear. But we all knew that any observing or photography would be risky that night, given the prospects. And as night fell on the farm, it was clear the weather forecast would come true. After dinner, we sat in plastic chairs with binoculars, looking at the Milky way and the larger objects through the holes in the clouds. Everything was covered up by rain-proof covers in anticipation of rain. A first for me. Even clouds was something I have never experienced.
After some hours of enjoying the short glimpses, we decided to call it a night. And what a night it became. Winds swept across the landscape. Howling around the buildings. And the rain hammered on the tin roofs. I woke several times during the night and heard the roar. I was a bit worried that my cover would not be enough for my telescope.
Come morning, and with the rain subsiding, I walked up to the observation platform to assess the damage. To my relief, my cover had sustained no damage, and the telescope beneath was dry as the desert around it. The rain had been soaked up by the ground so fast that there was nothing left. The only puddles I found, were in the creases of my cover. I emptied them, before uncovering my telescope.
We were ready for a week of observing and photography. The storm was over. And the rest was typical Namibian winter. Cool, dry and with clear, blue skies during the day, and star-filled skies during the night.

Ragnar
Astro-nut