EVERY LANDSCAPE IN ONE DAY Our next mission was to find one of the illusive desert elephants in the Purros Valley. In this area there are only fifty spread out in a 300km radius. The elephants have adapted themselves to desert conditions. They are smaller than normal, more aggressive and equipped with bigger feet, which allow them to walk well in the sand. These special elephants are only found in two countries: Mali in Western Africa and Namibia. We would be exceptionally lucky to see them in the wild and didn't get our hopes up. In order to get the Hoarusib River basin near to Purros we drove through the most spectacular scenery of our trip so far. The landscape changed every hour: from lush green valleys teaming with wildlife to barren deserts to craggy mountains - all in one day! It was as if the landscape of our whole trip was condensed into a few hours and the dramatic changes in scenery reminded us of many other places we had visited in Africa. Arriving at the campsite at Purros was like paradise as the sandy outcrops had a green hue of fresh grass and beautiful wild flowers. Ostriches and zebras roamed around the camp and we were warned about the destructive tendencies of the desert elephants who are known to walk right through the campsite. Unfortunately there were none in sight so we tried our luck on our own game drive through the Hoarusib river. We drove up the river bed, past Himba villages, for twenty kilometres. Disappointed not to find any ellies we were about to turn around as the sun was setting fast - and there, below us in the valley were two elephants. It was beautiful to see them in such dramatic surroundings and we were the only people for miles and miles in the area. At one point the elephants charged both vehicles and we nearly got stuck in deep sand, but thankfully our previous close encounters with elephants had taught us how to get out the situation quickly. It had been the most amazing day and we all felt extremely lucky to have been there. On the last day of our Kaokoland trip we drove to our final campsite at Palmwag, exhausted from such a great week of adventure. As we parked at the campsite we were shocked to see Bill and Claire, our good friends who we met in Kenya and travelled with through Uganda. We celebrated our serendipitous meeting with lots of Drostyhof red wine and a great Oryx steak barbeque. The following morning it was sad to say our goodbyes to Wim and Sophie. We greatly enjoyed travelling with them through the Kaokoland and are so glad that their trip is now going well after all their troubles. We hope to meet up again oneday - hopefully in Belgium to taste the 350 beers in their local pub!