Our stellar guides Riaan and Juliana (a married couple who have been leading overland tours for more than two decades; they split their time between that gig and being Unit Production Managers for film and TV shoots around Cape Town) have announced that tonight will be African Christmas. They like to designate this holiday on a random night during their tour — they’ll set up a tree and Christmas lights, and anyone who’d like to participate in a gift exchange will buy a present ($3 limit) from one of the tourist shops we pass during our drive. We are all in.

Here’s a shot taken from camp just after sunset, as preparations for our holiday are underway:

Here’s our campsite. Riaan has set up a “Christmas tree” (shrub with lights) under the awning in the back, with an electrical cord trailing all the way to our overland truck. That is dedication.

Tonight it’s the girls’ turn to cook dinner. We settle on a coconut curry chicken recipe with lots of veggies and rice. Juliana has bought vanilla ice cream for dessert and we’ll make an amarula sauce (cream liquor) to go on top of it… YUM.

Julia from Brazil has offered to make caipirinhas for the group, the most popular beverage in her homeland. There’s lots of lime, sugar, and cachaca liquor; it’s deliciously intoxicating.

Here is our tree:

We are instructed to “wrap” our presents with natural elements — grass, leaves, sticks, etc. No wrapping paper or bags. So this is our gift pile:

Juliana and Riaan have selected Maurice from Germany to dress up as Father Christmas. He borrows one of Juliana’s red shirts (stuffed with a pillow for Santa bulk) and rubs shaving cream over his beard to make it white. Our group is in hysterics when we see him in costume for the first time.

We take turns selecting and opening gifts. Cue the laughter.

The best part is when Juliana opens up her gift — we’ve pooled our money to buy a new toaster oven because hers is on the fritz. She’s thrilled.

That night we forego setting up tents and sleep under the stars instead. I always sleep better in the confines of a tent — I like the peace of mind that comes with closing the zipper and keeping out bugs — so it’s the only night I try this during my African overland travels. And it’s incredibly peaceful. I lay on my back admiring star formations until I can’t keep my eyes open anymore and succumb to deep sleep.

Tomorrow I’ll be back with sunrise photos from Spitzkoppe.

I visited Namibia on a 12-day tour from Windhoek to Cape Town with Acacia Africa. They discounted my tour in exchange for blogging and photography; opinions are my own.