“Silence isn’t the absence of something but the presence of everything” – Gordon Hempton, acoustic ecologist
I’m not a huge personal believer in the concept of Gaia, the Earth Mother spirit of ancient Greek myth. Sure, I still refer to ‘Mother Nature’ in common conversation and whilst marvelling at the wonders of the natural world. But the belief that there is some giant earth spirit residing inside the planet has never rung true for me.
That is, until I returned to Namibia with my family.
Sitting in the NamibRand Nature Reserve, surrounded by the silence and scale of the region, I began to see clues hinting towards her existence.
Before we get into my flights of fancy, let’s get into the basic details about my surroundings. The NamibRand is a private nature reserve in southern Namibia, established to help protect and conserve this utterly unique part of the world. It is a few hours' drive south of the Sossusvlei region, a name more commonly recognised. Sossusvlei is where you find the famous enormous red sand dunes, one of the most popular locations in the country. And by enormous, we mean enormous. The largest of these dunes reaches over 380 metres into the sky, which is 50 metres higher than the Eiffel Tower and the same height as the Empire State Building (minus the antenna). As we said, enormous. Quite a few of the dunes in this valley reach over 300 metres in height, with travellers coming from all over the world to see these red behemoths.
However, just a few hours south, away from the bone-shaking C14 highway and the procession of tourist vehicles, sits the NamibRand. And if the quiet here seems another world away from Sossusvlei, then it would be another universe away from the rest of modern life. If you were picked up and dropped in here, you would have no concept of space and time. It might as well be Earth 1000 years ago, or even on some distant planet. Instantly gone is the pace of modern life. Gone is the endless background noise that accompanies it. Gone also are the lights and disturbances that come along with our modern lives. Everything we associate with the world we live in disappears, and instead, you are left with the real world that we actually live in.
And by disappears, we really mean it. The NamibRand is Africa’s first Quiet Park, which means it is literally one of the quietest places on the planet. It’s also an International Dark Sky Place, meaning at night there is no light pollution, so the full depth and colour of the galaxies above us spring into life. Combine this vast endless space, with the overwhelming quiet and then layer in the depth of the cosmos, and you might see how we all begin questioning the nature of our existence.
One night, we watch an electrical storm crack across the nearby mountain range, lightning cutting through the dark sky and sending a tangible surge of energy across the open space towards us. In the day we go on slow scenic drives as a gentle wind lightly caresses the desert grass, and the sunsets turn the landscape into vibrant, colourful masterpieces that glow with light. Without the constant chatter of daily life intruding, we are left alone with our thoughts and a sense of nature. Even my 7-year-old son, a demographic famously unable to sit still for long periods of time, stares out the window deep in thought as we slowly trundle our vehicle around.
And it is here, as we drive about, that I begin to see signs of Gaia herself. I can see her fingerprints visible in the swirling patterns that cover the dunes. The ‘fairy circles’, a mysterious phenomenon of tiny circles found in the grass here, suddenly look like pores on an epic cosmic cheek. The curves of the rocky mountains plunging beneath the sandy surface look like those of a giant’s fingers. And that gentle wind ebbing and flowing? It seems like the world, or Gaia herself, is breathing.
Whether you call this a cosmic revelation or just an inevitable reaction to a few G&Ts is a conclusion only you can make. What is undeniable, however, is the magic of this place. Of this part of the world. Where some might look and see nothing, it is in this ‘nothingness’ that everything comes to life. Small things get a chance to shine, and it’s here, away from the crowds clambering for position, that a full connection to the land is made. And by doing so, perhaps a deeper look within as well.
