Namib-Naukluft National Park

Today was awesome. We got going early so we could make it to the largest dune, Big Daddy, before it got hot. This meant driving past gorgeous scenes of mountains, “mist” that was actually dust kicked up by other vehicles but looked amazing, and trees in said myst. 

But we had glorious temperature. We really lucked out. 

Big Daddy is 345 meters tall and all sand and my knees hurt but I did make it I did my best to walk in the footsteps of people before me. This picture is not of Big Daddy. It is of a significantly smaller dune. The extra has the pattern other people made in the sand in front of me. I thought it was a neat abstract. Me smiling on my way up. In reality, I was breathing very hard and I kept looking up to see how far we had to go and thinking that maybe I was having a bad dream and would never get to the top. Pictures of me going down. The sand made amazing sounds as we went down and flowed like water. 

I soaked my calves in the pool but I packed really well, brought nothing extraneous, including a swimsuit, and my knees ….. my knees. 
Hoping I can walk ok tomorrow!

Zelensky met with Italy’s prime minister, Georgia Meloni, who confirmed Italy will never back down in its support.

Oleksandr Tara has an all volunteer unit in Ukraine of men mostly over 60. They are considered too old to fight but they want to. They are unpaid. Oleksandr’s call sign is “Grandpa.” “Roving behind the front line with truck-mounted rocket launchers, they take orders from field commanders and work with other troops, contributing to the war effort despite lacking official support from the military.
The unit is funded by donations and stocked with faulty rounds they repair themselves as well as weapons captured from the enemy.” - Reuters

“Nearly half a million pensioners living in frontline regions received cash assistance from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) through a joint programme with the Ministry of Social Policy and the Pension Fund of Ukraine.” This was paid for by Germany, the European Union, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, and private donors.