Desert hikes and camping under the stars on a budget safari in Namibia

This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK). 

It’s a few too many minutes after midnight, and I really should be asleep. But instead, I’m binge-watching — live and screen-free. My current obsession, a YouTube sensation, has just waded into the water hole up to her belly, then out again. She’s now marked like a honey badger: her top half silver-grey from dust; lower half dark from the water. For a rhino, it’s a strong look.

Earlier, I’d watched a gaggle of leggy supermodels bend gracefully towards a mirror: wild giraffes, preparing to drink. And in an earlier…