So, that's nearly it. I am in the process of writing my final quarterly report. Soon, Mark and Sarah will arrive and take over.
I guess a final report (even if it is only called "last") should be a synopsis of the preceding events, kind of like a final in college. However, writing something "final" about living in the desert in a remote research station will never be able to convey any sense of "Dasein" (being there). If my experience in Namibia could be summed up in a final report, then my year would have been entirely non-influential to myself. A lot of things have happened while I was living here and some of them you can read about in my prior reports.
So what should I write about in this report? Well, I could mention the official Gobabeb inauguration, where the prime minister of Namibia inaugurated the station on behalf of the new Namibian president. To be honest, the two most noteworthy memories I have about the event were the number of VIPs that were all over station and the good food (nothing is better than eating crayfish and mussels in the desert). It was a nice little event because besides the really important people like ministers and ambassadors, no one else was invited (well, the press and TV crews of course). We, i.e. staff members, also got free Gobabeb t-shirts, which I would have had to buy otherwise. But most importantly, the whole event was regarded as a success and all newspapers wrote positively about it.
Another very enjoyable experience was working with a New Zealand film crew. They made a documentary about bugs but in the style of the crocodile hunter. The main actor narrator was Ruud Kleinpaste, who is quite famous in New Zealand. The concept of the documentary was to show what Ruud could learn from all the bugs and insects if he were forced to cross the Namib Desert. They shot beautiful scenes of, for example, wheeling spiders, sidewinder snakes, beetles and sand diving lizards. Ruud was a very fascinating character and it was extremely relaxed working with him. He had actually studied biology and thus knew quite a lot about the animals and was enthusiastic and appreciated them. He did not just regard them as documentary material but cared about them.
So, what is to come next? My stay in Namibia is not over yet. I am currently on vacation and will travel around Namibia with my family tourist style. Therefore, I will get to see Namibia from a completely different perspective and see all the famous places like Etoscha or Sossusvlei. Afterwards, Mark needs to be prepared for his job and then I will go home and actually see forests and real rivers again, which are difficult to really appreciate unless one has not seen them for a long time.
