Almost 50 years ago my brother and I were in Agadez, Niger. That was the time when you could still travel to North Africa and the Sahara without fear of being kidnapped. In Agadez we got to know the blacksmith from Agadez, to whom René Gardi, a Swiss writer and traveler, dedicated a chapter in his book «Among African Craftsmen». Back then, we sat in Mohammed’s Umama mud hut for half a day and watched as he made Agadez crosses from the Swiss 5-franc coins we had with us using the lost form technique. These crosses are worn as an amulet with a leather cord around the neck and have the shape of the Southern Cross.

The day before yesterday, at the Okondeka Camp, we sat under the Southern Cross. We haven’t had a WiFi connection for days; as we had been traveling alone in the Erongo Mountains. Here you are far away from the next village and foreign light sources. The Milky Way was all the better to see, stretching over us from horizon to horizon.

PS. For centuries the Southern Cross Constellation served as a compass for caravans in the Sahara when they traveled through the desert at night to avoid the heat of the day!