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