Yoginis in Namibia, A Multicultural Journey

Written by Siri Sadhana Kaur & Adi Priya Kaur, originally shared in the 2023 Le Journal published by 3HO Europe.

This trip to Africa was a strong and magnificent kriya. Adi Priya and I drove 1,500 miles across Namibia and South Africa on a lot of gravel tracked rough and rocky roads. We shared 3 beautifully received mantra music concerts, trekked up the ‘big momma’ sand dune, which is 325 meters high, and got stuck in a car at the peak of a 388 meters steep and vertical dune. Action packed, stunningly beautiful and life changing to say the least.
This journey was not for the faint hearted, and we knew our kundalini practice had prepared us for these moments.
The Mangala Charan mantra was our staple diet throughout.
After our 11-hour flight to Cape Town, we had two hours for immigration, luggage pickup and re-check in for the next flight another 3.5 hours flight to Windhoek, Namibia. Namibia has a small population of around 2.5 million yet is a large country, it has a spectacular coastline of 1,500 km on the South Atlantic.
It is considered the driest country of Sub-Saharan Africa, with diamonds and uranium it has rich mineral resources. It’s situated on the border of South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, and Angola.

We were picked up by a wonderful local man at the airport, who gave us many insights and warnings of dos and don’ts which we took great notice of. We then collected our hired 4×4 truck, compact with a roof tent and camping equipment for the first leg of the wilderness journey. We learned how to change tires, adjust tire pressure for the changeable roads ahead, rocky gravel and thick sand.
We were warmly welcomed by the Sangat at Namibias capital in Windhoek for our first evening concert.
Our host, Inkeri, had been building sangat in Windhoek since February, she recently trained as a Kundalini teacher, and has been working for the UN supporting women’s rights as well as devoting her time to her 2 young children. Inkeri had been so excited to invite us to play music. Inkeri had attended the European festival this last year and connected with me and my music. All attendees were very enthusiastic for chanting, singing and dancing, we shared a beautiful connective evening singing our hearts until the dusk.
Next morning, we got on the road bound south for a 6-hour bumpy road trip to Sossusvlei. We drove for hours without seeing another car, which is so strange coming from the heart of London. The roads are long and quite something to navigate, harsh on the tires and rickety on the bones, thank God we hired a 4×4 truck.
The drive through the scenic Namibia Desert is spectacular. We passed panoramic dry, baking and iconic landscape.
There is a gasoline station, puncture and mechanical repairs, a post office, bakery, and a general dealer. With a camp and a motel nearby there is no other village for miles around, it is the only place to get fuel. Unlike travelling in many countries, we were continuous delighted and impressed, by how pristine and well cared for the toilets were, particularly as our stomachs had turned during our trip.
That evening we were greeted by the beautiful sunset and a stunning full moon as we set up the camp for the first night. This incredible campsite was reasonably priced and on the doorstep to the entrance of the national park, Soussvlei. We cooked our first camp meal viewing the moon and sunset whilst warding off the local mosquitos.
At 4 am we began preparations for the day ahead to the Soussvlei sand dunes. Sossusvlei is in a conservation of the Namib-Naukluft National Park. It is a tremendous attraction of large red dunes almost 400 meters, rated with some of the highest in the world.
After driving for miles of dense desert, out of nowhere we chanced upon Soltaire services, greeted by an outdoor museum of old 50’s car wrecks half buried in the sand in the middle of nowhere.
This region is situated just below the tropic of Capricorn, in the middle of nowhere, it feels like being part of an old western movie.
We were the first in the que to enter the park, our car was named number 1 on the officials list. This next drive was the most incredible scene and sunrise experience. It felt outer planetary, uninhabited and ancient, the depth and serenity of color was so vibrant and rich, unimaginable, remote and open, the road was smooth vast and completely unbroken. The surrounding massive dunes hugged the skyline like multifaceted layered and lavish limitless icing on a cake. The colors of the high dunes were a mixture of pink, red and orange which signifies a concentration of iron in the sand resulting in an oxidation procedure. The older the dune the more depth of red it appears in color.

When we got to the sand road, we swapped the gear to 4-wheel drive, driving in extreme concentration I was nervous, there were plenty of stories of cars getting stuck in the sand. With the Mangla Charan mantra and a tenacious approach, we made it to the footfall of the sand dune, now preparing to embark on the climb to big mama dune. It was an estimated 1-hour trek to the top (for someone who is fit). There are many traces left in the sand by insects/beetles and other small animals, jackals, reptiles that are able to live with little water. We met some large local antelope species called Oryx, grazing at the base of the dunes whose demeanor we decided were particularly goat like, specifically how they stare. This pilgrimage was an intense kriya that took us 2 hours, walking uphill in sand makes you take 1 step forward and 2 steps back.
The trick is to walk barefoot in the last persons footsteps, where there was a good mold formed for the next persons foot, as long as you place your foot accurately with strong gravitas.
On our backs were guitar, violin, tripod and a drone to capture the magnificent beauty that we knew was awaiting. We passed someone suffering from vertigo who was supported in breath- work by a local guide. We only had a small bottle of water in intense heat and little sun block as we thought it to be a shorter journey. It ended up being a 5-hour trip and needless to say we got sunburn. I wanted to stop many times particularly on the steep parts. We kept up and made it, HOORAY! At the summit we rested and ate sandwiches. Other tourists and guides spotted our instruments and asked if we would play for them. We felt like we were busking, as they all applauded at the end, some asked for Spotify and download details, which all felt so surreal, then we found out many at the summit came from the Uk!
As we had been the first to que, we were the last ones to leave the summit. The best bit was running and sliding down the sand, I wished we had a surfboard for at least a part of it!

There was an incredible sand rumble sound that occurred as the sand hit over one another at a frequency creating a rumble sound as if the dunes were singing to us, it literally created a musical note that we moved with. On the other side at the bottom, was an area called ‘Deadvlei or dead valley” there was a prehistoric stillness there, it felt like being in a bowl, there was no sound, the earth underfoot consisted of a massive white salt cracked clay, which was a salt dry lakebed. It had formed hundreds of years previously after rainfall, when a river had flooded, consolidating small pools which allowed camel thorn trees to grow.
When the climate adjusted, drought kicked in and dunes formed around the area, this then obstructed the water to return. The trees could no longer survive with no water, yet they dried out and were still standing 7-800 years later. The heat allowed them to completely dry out forming tree skeletons, which has attracted many photographers capturing the incredible beauty in the landscape. The last walk to the car with no water in the extreme heat and sunshine felt crippling. So grateful were we, that we had a mini fridge as part of the camping equipment, storing our favorite Namibian juice. It felt like heaven on earth to drink juice after that long walk and extreme heat.
Now the road ahead was 8 hours to Walvis Bay on the most horrendous gravel road which shook our skeleton to the core. We were concerned despite the robust structure of the truck, whether we would make it, only 4 cars past us during the whole journey which felt relentless. The Land scape changed dramatically. We moved through several different terrains, from desert to short green winding hilly paths, to a lot of mundane, muddy barren flat empty roads which became dull and monotonous. We became completely exhausted and eventually by nighttime, we arrived in Walvis Bay staying in simple camping lodge to rest for the night. Walvis bay is famous for exporting of salt all around the world.
The coastline surrounding was named ‘skeleton coast’ by the indigenous people, the coastline is said to have been familiar to shipwrecks and taken thousands of souls overtime.
Next morning, we had booked sandwich bay dune guide. Andre our guide was a 70-year-old Namibian Crocodile Dundee character. He had been a paramedic, driving instructor, fire fighter and found his passion and love to speed drive and helter skelter tourists at the sand dunes.

We shared our tour with orthopedic surgeon from Bristol Children Hospital, who was there to lecture other doctors in the region on club foot. Andre insisted to knock back his first hit of the coffee before we began, at this point I knew we were in for a roller coaster ride. Adi Priya thoroughly enjoyed it. I, on the other hand was on the edge of my seat with mostly my eyes closed, Andre insisted we drive at high speed. I had tried to console myself that as I was in the car with 2 doctors and an ex-paramedic, I was probably in safe hands.
The coastline was beyond beautiful. We played on the dunes, saw dolphins, seals, and jackals. Needless to say, with Andre’s enthusiasm for daredevil tactics, we got stuck on an extremely high and vertical dune. It was a bizarre experience to be in a suspended car at such an angle it seemed to defy belief. The beauty of the dunes hitting the ocean was beyond my imagination.
We got back safely and decided to drive to pelican bay, along the road, we were stopped by a small man called Francis who we employed as a guide to pelican bay, if we didn’t have the guide, we would never have seen all the seals, and pelicans and would have got lost. It was misty, and not possible to see which direction we were driving, particularly as we couldn’t see the horizon or orientate. Francis directed us whilst gripping hold of his knee and stating that women are the best drivers in the world. Eventually after a lot of sand driving, we came to light house and saw thousands of seals. The baby seals seemed abandoned by their mothers, as we had managed to get very close to them.
Next morning we drove to spitzkoppe canyon, we were grateful for tarmac roads after so much rough road driving. This region holds shamanic rock paintings that date back 4,000 years. The granite and breathtaking mountains in this region rise up out of a very flat landscape, making it scenically extraordinary and dynamic.
The sunset colors are strikingly beautiful. It’s hard to fathom the proximity to the coastline lays only 2 hours away. On arriving, we negotiated with management to fly drone as there were so few people around. It is a popular area for hikers and campers, yet we had arrived just before the holiday season, staying at a very rustic and a more basic camp site that was serene and quiet. The night sky was filled with bright shimmering stars as we escaped the light pollution here, we could gaze at the stars and listen to the local wildlife. Adi Priya’s iPhone camera got some incredible photos of the stars with the canyon in the background. =or our last piece of Namibia, we visited the Himba tribe sharing music and dancing. The women we met were intrigued with our look, they had never seen turbans, guitar and violin before, we chanted, and laughed, celebrating in the desert sun together. One of the women held Siri’s arm firmly and asked what we ate to be so strong. I demonstrated sun salutation to explain yoga and our bodies, they showed us their initiation dances, and the holy fire. They showed us the famous red ochre cream that they pound into pieces and mix with butter. It moisturizes and supports their skin as well as blocks hair growth on the body. They bathe using smoke. Like many in these regions, locals live in poverty, going for days without food, although we had been assured the government will drop off basic food parcels of corn porridge food for those who sign up. We stopped and connected with several locals, bantering with the kids, who always seemed so rich in spirit.