While life around here revolves around the water, equal – if not greater – adventure can be had in a vehicle. For most travellers, venturing to the thumb of Namibia involves a lot of time in a car just getting there. Once you make it to the thumb, a slower pace is recommended. Between small towns and villages (which are scattered throughout the region in all shapes and sizes) traffic is common. Haste is non-existent, except for the odd free-range chicken dashing across the road. Look out the window, get out of the air-conditioned car, and engage with the quaint shops, shebeens and people with centuries worth of stories to tell.

This is the greatest adventure: not necessarily going further, higher, more extreme, fast paced; but slower, thoroughly, looking closer, really becoming present in the thrill. That of being close to a killer crocodile which, despite being the uncontested alpha, still scurries into the water when we approach. Seeing hippos bob up from under the water, where there was nothing a second ago, and the sheer size of their jaws when they yawn. Paying attention to the evolutionary wonder of birds, their endless variations, calls and colours. But also the people who live alongside these rivers, whose daily adventures on the banks of the Kwando, Chobe and Zambezi are a rare privilege to witness. TNN