Into the Namib Desert – Solitaire/Sesriem/Sossusvlei/Duwiseb/Aus

Nov. 9 – 13

As I mentioned before, Bobo Camper, our RV rental company, provided us with a mechanic for the next part of our trip. This is comforting, but also a bit unsettling, as we are wondering how bad this can get. We drove on gravel and dirt roads in all the big parks before, Krueger, Chobe, Etosha, and then up to the remote San settlement. Can this be any worse? Trust me, it can.

Rodney the mechanic, and Renate, our guide, will be leaving last, so they can stop and assist all the stranded RV’s along the way.

We are leaving Swakopmund, and into the desert we go. It is worth every ounce of discomfort, from the dust, the noise, the shaking of the car. Every night we find screws, and nobs and other parts of the car, on our floor, we don’t know where they are from. Everything is covered in a thick layer of dust, we can’t keep up with the cleaning. But, as the saying goes, no pain no gain. And we are royally rewarded, the scenery is breathtaking, and changing often. I was hoping to write on my blog, getting it ready for the next time we would have internet (days and days away, but it was totally impossible)

It takes us two days to get to Sesriem, the jumping off point to Sossusflei. Sossusflei are the red dunes that stretch from Sesriem all the way to the ocean where they simply spill into the water. Like Victoria Falls was a highlight for Warren, Sussusflei is a highlight for me.  I want to walk up one of these red, red dunes, and I have been training for this exact thing for months now. After Waterberg I have high hopes. But first we are going on a flight over this area, all the way to the ocean and back. It is a sunset flight, not all of the group is doing this, as it was not included, but we are going. It was absolutely, incredibly beautiful. We flew so low, as if we could almost touch the sand, and then along the ocean, totally remote and wild. Not a soul out there.

The next morning we get up at 4.30am, as the drive to the dunes is around 60 km. It is still dark outside, but slowly it gets brighter. By the time we get there, it is almost sunrise. There are two dunes you can walk up, one is not so high and most people went on that one. Rosa and Eugene, our new friends from the trip, go up that one. But Warren, Monica and myself, we choose the big dune further away. So far we are the only ones. It is difficult to walk on sand, it feels as if we take one step forward and two back. But we make progress. The sun is up now, the colours start to develop, the sand gets redder and redder. It’s a long way to the top, we stop often, we have to look around, we cannot believe the beauty. Pretty close to the top we see an Orynx, it comes straight up on one side of the dune, over the top, and down the other. How does it survive up here, amongs all this sand? Incredible.

I almost made it to the top, only a little bit remained, but I was satisfied. Warren went and marched up to the top, and Monica and I started on back. It was a wonderful experience.

Swakopmund beach, the Atlantic ocean is pretty rough here, and only 15deg temperature....

It's nice to see some vegetation, Namibia is very dry, not much grows here. This is a welcome feast for the eyes....

Warren came across this group of ladies, they let him take their pictures (for a small fee of course!)

Interesting hair style....

We went to Kuecki's pub for dinner one night. It was very tasty, service was great, and beer I don't drink, so no problems there!!!

After Swakopmund, we drive into the desert....

Gravel and dirt road, this one was really bad....

The views are beautiful....

We crossed the tropic of Capricorn...

These are the red dunes of Sossusflei, from our plane ride ....

Sooo beautiful....

Do you agree?