I always wondered if the “Mal d’Afrique" was a legend, if those scents of scorched earth and those warm colors that are lost on the horizon could somehow remain inside of us, those who have been there talk about it after all. I also wondered if it would happen the same to me as well, if I would fall in love with a land I didn’t even know. I didn’t know what to expect, I left without too many expectations but with a great curiosity...

Thanks to our TV series #BEWILD we spent twenty days in Namibia and I would like to take advantage of this small space to share my experience. 

The “Mal d’Afrique" is not a legend, I understood this a few days after our arrival.
We spent the first week in Klein Barmen, a safari lodge where we met some wonderful people and where, for the first time, I approached this type of hunting. I had mixed emotions…in a way I was elated in being able to hunt species that until then I had seen only in photography, on the other hand, while I was walking in the bush, I felt small as an ant and that sense of powerlessness prevailed, but that is what made this experience unforgettable. 
What always pushed me to try new things in life is precisely this, curiosity and the challenge against myself. 
I left with the belief that I would have not hunted certain animals, but I found myself having to change my mind... and alone in addition! 
As you know I can not reveal anything, you have to wait for the new season of #Bewild to learn more. One thing I can tell you though! Thanks to this experience I have a new "top 3" of the most beautiful hunts of my life and I’m sure it will be very difficult to climb this ranking again.

After the hunting week we moved north and visited Etosha National Park. This park is characterized by an immense saline depression that makes this landscape unique. We photographed animals in a very particular scenario, huge expanses of white earth, very suggestive. However I have to make a note... I am happy to have visited the park after the hunting week, and not before. I probably wouldn’t have pulled the trigger once if we had done the opposite. Despite being a park with a total extension of 22,000 square kilometers, the animals were so accustomed to the presence of man and off-road vehicles that they did not react at all at our passage. We even managed to witness the mating of two lions 60 meters far from the car. With hindsight I realized that we as hunters are lucky enough to get to know the real African animals and that a photo taken to an animal in freedom is worth more than a thousand photos taken in a park. 
We have the privilege of knowing the true habits of these living beings, their true behavior, which ultimately varies according to one thing, survival.

From here we moved to Swakopmund, a fishing village overlooking the ocean. And how could we, of the #Bewild team, not take advantage of this opportunity? We fished for two days from the beach! The climate changed completely within 400 km, we went from a temperature of around 35 degrees in the hottest hours to 15 degrees in the coast. The wind was constantly blowing and we had a pair of jackets on but our feet were barefoot in the water. But what can I tell you…when fishes bite, you don’t care about the cold!

The last stop of this wonderful trip was the Namib Desert and Sossusvlei, a dry lake surrounded by high dunes of a fiery orange color. We’re still wondering how animals like the Oryx survive under certain circumstances. Yes, on the way to Sossuslvei we met an oryx and we were incredulous of what our eyes were observing... It was during the first lights of dawn that we saw the silhouette of this fantastic animal climbing the crest of a dune. It lasted so little that it almost seemed like a mirage. 

But this is Africa.

I think I have well impressed in my mind all the dawns and all the sunsets, the scent of those dry and thorny plants that make the meat of animals so tasty and delicate, those early morning noises and the sense of magic that you breathe in every corner of this wonderful land.

It’s just a “see you soon”, I promise.

Giulia Taboga