We experienced a Christmas that we will never forget in the Caribbean when we completed further training as diving instructors in 1992. When we arrived at the Hotel Silverbeach on Carriacou, in the Grenadines, we actually heard the schmaltzy song White Christmas at the bar where we were drinking a Pina Colada. We had flown 10,000 kilometers to escape Christmas and here it caught up with us…

There are three requirements for a wonderful Christmas for us: It has to be cold. There must be snow. It must be dark by 5 p.m. Otherwise we will have absolutely no Christmas spirit. It doesn’t help if there is a big Christmas tree in front of the Spar in Swakopmund and St. Nicholas plays Christmas carols on a trumpet. It starts in mid-November and by the time Christmas arrives, you have a bad Christmas hangover.

To escape all of this, on December 24th, 2023 we packed provisions, some good wine, a bottle of KWV brandy and our cat into our campervan and set off to the Rock Arch. This extraordinary rock formation is located 120 kilometers from Swakopmund, in the Namib-Naukluft Park which is almost 50,000 km² large. So, you don’t have to be afraid of meeting Santa Claus singing White Christmas…

PS: If you want to know more about the Namib Naukluft Park, read here.