Traveling in the backseat of a white pickup truck across the Namibian desert with my cousin and her family was one of the marquee travel moments in my repertoire. This was new terrain for all of us and a new moment to deepen our familial connection and our friendship, which spans decades thanks to the proximity of our ages and geography growing up.
I am writing this reflection in retrospect a year later, so my memory filter is selective and incomplete. There are so many moments to this trip, from the transit between desert destinations to the climbing of the signature dunes to the lost luggage and the re-directed flight path to Lusaka via Johannesburg. The early nights in, the early mornings out, the firsthand observation of parenting kids who have limits on “screen time,” and the proximity to wildlife that this young family had in its early stages of formation. We stayed in some stunning, family-owned boutique hotels located miles and miles from each other — as close to “middle of nowhere” as I’ve ever been.
This version of a family trip was breathtaking for two reasons: the first is the natural heritage of the sub-Saharan region with its megafauna, offering safari options and an expansive history of different cultures and races co-mingling and sparring over land tenure and power. The landscapes we wandered together as a tight-knit group in close quarters was stunning.
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| (Left to right) David and Eli, KC and Naomi, and me on safari together in Namibia. |
The second reason was more intuitive: the model of seeing family life play out in an emerging economy, sparse in material items and rich in experiences, was a beautiful sight. The roots of family can take hold anywhere with parental alignment in values and goals, and time spent together in meaningful ways no matter the challenges that may occur based on kids’ ages. I will never forget KC’s oldest child’s tradition of drinking Fanta after a safari trip. To have safaris with such regularity so as to have a soft drink tradition circled around it was marvelous. Great living. Truly a “third culture kid.”
With more discipline during this adventure and with more time now, I could wax poetic on this trip but to this day, my lasting take-aways include the gift of travel together to tighten bonds, and the reminder that there are a million ways to live this one fabulous life of ours. With every adventure, I am reminded of my own value around travel and family: I value the diversity of thought that comes from a diversity of people and places to enrich my own life as well as the young lives around me.
Looking forward to seeing these guys in Ukraine in 2018 or 2019! #cousinadventure