“One morning, I came to this glorious place
And first I saw the trees! The Truffula Trees!”
— Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
Namibia is known for its striking desert landscapes. What Namibia is not known for is its tropical northern zone and a distinctly wet rainy season. The North, as it is simply called, fronts the Angolan border some 370 miles (over 600 km) north of Windhoek and the most populated part of it—Ovamboland—lies far to the east of the Atlantic coast. Yet outside of the Caribbean, I’ve never seen a landscape more reminiscent of my home state of Florida than northern Namibia. The palm trees, the sand, the sandspurs, the clouds, the rain, the standing water, the mosquitoes, the absolute flatness: never have I felt so at-home in the geographical sense. I was expecting an ocean view or Hurricane Evacuation Route sign with every turn of a corner. This is how native Florida looks in the minds of native Floridians.
Have you ever been some place that looks almost exactly like your hometown/home region?