Being Gud in Namibia

Is it true that we manifest the people around us that we most need?


If this is the case, then I am very pleased to have manifested Gudi as my colleague and travelling companion for two out of the three weeks that I was travelling around Namibia.

Gudi is (perhaps) the only Namibian vegetarian on earth, maybe even the universe.

Gudi holds up the saying that the best things come in small packages (although I am bound to disagree, for obvious reasons..).

Gudi is hard as nails when it comes to driving on the endlessly long Namibian gravel roads. Peering over the steering wheel, Gudi negotiated flooded rivers, fork lightening and invisible dips in the dark roads at night.

In short, she kept us safe.

I knew immediately that we would get on.


She was feisty, she burst into laughter easily and often, and she was observant. She had lived a full life and had come out..... positive.

I had just had my bag stolen.

Laptop, car keys, house keys, mobile phone and a plethera of other things.

Being in an unfamiliar country I felt exposed and a little violated. I was trying not to let it bother me but it had. Gudi was the perfect remedy.

As we drove out of Windhoek, consolatory noises being made at my misfortune, (we manifest these things too don't we?) we found much in common.

Like me Gudi was into sticking a house onto her back and heading off into the unknown. Where my love was India and Nepal, hers was Europe. We exchanged stories of the world of backpacking and how it had changed us.

She had been a teacher - SNAP
Of Geography - SNAP
She loved rocks - SNAP
She was into photography - SNAP
And animals - SNAP

She was resilient and determind, but sensitive too.


Within an hour of meeting we were paddling in the flooded rivers that crossed our path, picking out the best of the multicoloured pebbles and chatting like old friends.

Sometimes I wonder how I get to be so lucky?

We jigsawed together well as work colleagues too. When I got bored of looking interested and asking questions, Gudi stepped in. When she found note taking too hard to bear, I was there in the background scribbling and taking snaps.


Gud memories.