Thibault Gerbaldi is a local, self-taught photographer and a passionate traveler. His love for travel and photography has taken him to various parts of the globe, including Namibia. 

This series is part of a project called “The Sands of Time” which depicts the timelessness of the Namibian land, reflecting the striking contrast between the permanence of nature and the ephemerality of our passage on Earth.

Thibault has used his passion for photography as a way to share with others his experiences in developing countries as well as raising funds through selling prints and books for the Forgotten International Foundation, a charitable organization on which Thibault serves on the board of directors.

Stretching from the south of Namibia up into Angola, the Skeleton Coast is one of the most inhospitable places on earth. This 300 miles eerie coastline, called by the Portuguese sailers "the Gate of Hell", is strewn with shipwrecks and bleached bones reminding us of how impermanent civilization is. The golden windblown dunes of the Namib Desert reach right to the dark blue Atlantic Ocean, leaving a stark yet fascinating landscape. Sand dunes rise majestically and glow orange in the sunrise. They change hue through the day, meandering through reds and yellows before turning to silhouette at dusk. North of this inhospitable coastline, on each side of the Kunene River in the heart of the Kaokoland live the Himba, the last surviving nomadic pastoral tribe in the country, a tribe that grows nothing and eats only meat, surviving wars and drought.

 Tall and slender, this proud yet friendly people are noted for their unusual sculptural beauty, enhanced by intricate hairstyles and decorations. From a distance, the Himba look like the desert's mirages - their skin glowing like copper from the ochre slathered on to protect themselves from the sun. In so many ways Namibia blows away any preconceived notions about what Africa should be. It expresses in a majestic way how powerless against nature and time we are. Humans often believe we can bend the world to our will and that our reign will be permanent. Namibia offers a simple and powerful rebuttal to this notion.