"Desert in bloom" must sound perfectly surreal; well, it looks perfectly surreal as well. From afar, flat barren meadows look like someone has been painting in the mountains and spilled a whole bucket of paint onto the grass below. “Accidents” like this are seen everywhere: orange, yellow, red blotches of daisies by the pound catch the eye and make it hard to concentrate on driving. Finally I gave up and went swimming in these flower pools. Up close, Africa’s flora is strange and magnificent. Just watching the intricate cracks on the bark of an aloe tree can take the whole day, not to mention curly, spiny, and down right obscene plants standing inches tall above the dry ground, that made me crawl on all four for a better look.

a desert in bloom