Why we love chasing the full moon

Text and Photo Nina van Schalkwyk

I n my mother’s walk-in closet, there’s a row of champagne bottles, still corked, at the top of her cupboard. They were presents from her loved ones for her 60^th birthday. My mother loves champagne. And she’s keeping those bottles of bubbly for very special occasions. Every full moon, we take down one bottle, get in the car and chase the day to its end, where we watch Luna rise up over the horizon, and toast with champagne.

What is it about the full moon that is so enthralling? Why do we love it so much? It’s as if the moon pulls us out of our daily lives to hunt down a little bit of magic that we need in our daily lives.

A little bit of magic. The magic is in the moment, though. It’s in having the people you love around you. It’s in taking time out of a busy day, packing a cooler with plastic champagne flutes, the chilled special bottle of champagne, and making our way to a special place previously picked out for the view we might have.

Previous spots have included Regenstein, an estate a couple of minutes out of Windhoek, where friends of ours live. We drove up the side of a mountain, only to find that our view of the moon was partly obscured by the massive mountain. We shifted our position a bit and found a better angle to observe it as it rose, like a spotlight from outer space.

Another time we saw the glowing orb ascend through coastal mists along the Skeleton Coast. The eerie atmosphere pulled us out of the house, onto the cool, dewy sand. The moon was half-hidden behind the thin clouds. Yellow. As if werewolves were out that night.

We once saw the full moon over the Namib, from atop the magnificent Spreetshoogte Pass. That night, when we were already in bed, we heard something outside on the plain and looked out and saw zebras, their stripes highlighted against the rocky backdrop illuminated by the moon. We watched in amazement as they sauntered ahead of us, snuffling, snorting. They held us in a dream the whole night long.

Keep your eyes on the page for more in the Nina’s Namibia series.