7/22/19
Today we drove South along the coast to Walvis Bay where we watched some flamingos for awhile. We then turned inland on a main highway that is dirt in its entirety. It was beautiful scenery the whole way, ranging from dunes to flat desolate desert to rugged desert mountains. There was some very interesting geology, and we stopped at some nice viewpoints. For lunch we stopped at a place known as Solitaire, which was an old German ranch with lots of old, rusty cars. Elisha and I hung out our laundry during our hour lunch, and it dried completely (It hadn't dried in Swakopmund b/c it was so humid and chilly). Today we also passed the Tropic of Capricorn. We arrived to our campsite at Sesrieng (a campsite in the sand), where we chilled in the afternoon. There was a cute oryx wandering around camp. For dinner we had sweet n sour meatballs, and we sat around the fire a bit afterwards.
7/23/19
We had an early morning, pre-dawn departure into the Namib Nauluft NP to climb up dune 45. On the 40km drive there were dunes on both sides of the truck that were beautiful to look at as the sun began to rise. One side would be flaming red and the other side shadowy grey, with an obvious defining line snaking along the dune crest. When we arrived to the base of the dune, there were about 40 people in front of us, but I managed to scramble past everyone to get to the front, to get some pristine dune photos without everyone in them. We watched the sunrise from the top as the dunes turned bright red. Then a heavy fog rolled in. On the way up, our feet had been FROZEN! So cold as the temperature was about freezing. We had decided to go shoeless b/c of the sand. Once on top of the dunes, we were able to warm our feet up by digging them deeper into the sand where the sand was warmer. But on the way up, my toes had gone basically numb. The view from the top of the dune was stunning. Dunes as far as you could see. I love dunes. They are just so beautiful. I love their curves and lines and shadows. We descended down (by running with huge long strides down the steep dune face). It was a lot of fun to run straight down hill.
Next we drove to Sossusvlei and boarded a 4x4 for a sandy ride to the Deadvlei trailhead. A short walk brought us to a flat, white salt pan surrounded by red dunes. Within the salt pans were a scattering of dead trees. The dead trees on the white pan, with the red dune backdrop was ethereal. It would have been even more amazing if there had been blue skies, but the fog still hung around.
There was a large dune at the end of the pan--big daddy dune--that I of course wanted to climb, but we had limited time in the area (1.5 hrs). Jodi convinced me that I could do it, so I sped up the dune. There were amazing views from the top as it was the tallest dune around! The white pan shimmered below like a jewel. The way down was awesome! Almost 1000 feet of fast running, straight down in the soft sand. At such an angle, your strides are super long and you almost feel like you are flying.
We then drove to our campsite at Bethanien. The drive was beautiful through desert and desert mountains on an extremely bumpy (washboard) dirt road. Along the way we saw springbok, oryx, ostrich, and dik-diks. For dinner we had pepper chicken with rice. The overnight low temperature was 29F.
Today we drove South along the coast to Walvis Bay where we watched some flamingos for awhile. We then turned inland on a main highway that is dirt in its entirety. It was beautiful scenery the whole way, ranging from dunes to flat desolate desert to rugged desert mountains. There was some very interesting geology, and we stopped at some nice viewpoints. For lunch we stopped at a place known as Solitaire, which was an old German ranch with lots of old, rusty cars. Elisha and I hung out our laundry during our hour lunch, and it dried completely (It hadn't dried in Swakopmund b/c it was so humid and chilly). Today we also passed the Tropic of Capricorn. We arrived to our campsite at Sesrieng (a campsite in the sand), where we chilled in the afternoon. There was a cute oryx wandering around camp. For dinner we had sweet n sour meatballs, and we sat around the fire a bit afterwards.
7/23/19
We had an early morning, pre-dawn departure into the Namib Nauluft NP to climb up dune 45. On the 40km drive there were dunes on both sides of the truck that were beautiful to look at as the sun began to rise. One side would be flaming red and the other side shadowy grey, with an obvious defining line snaking along the dune crest. When we arrived to the base of the dune, there were about 40 people in front of us, but I managed to scramble past everyone to get to the front, to get some pristine dune photos without everyone in them. We watched the sunrise from the top as the dunes turned bright red. Then a heavy fog rolled in. On the way up, our feet had been FROZEN! So cold as the temperature was about freezing. We had decided to go shoeless b/c of the sand. Once on top of the dunes, we were able to warm our feet up by digging them deeper into the sand where the sand was warmer. But on the way up, my toes had gone basically numb. The view from the top of the dune was stunning. Dunes as far as you could see. I love dunes. They are just so beautiful. I love their curves and lines and shadows. We descended down (by running with huge long strides down the steep dune face). It was a lot of fun to run straight down hill.
Next we drove to Sossusvlei and boarded a 4x4 for a sandy ride to the Deadvlei trailhead. A short walk brought us to a flat, white salt pan surrounded by red dunes. Within the salt pans were a scattering of dead trees. The dead trees on the white pan, with the red dune backdrop was ethereal. It would have been even more amazing if there had been blue skies, but the fog still hung around.
There was a large dune at the end of the pan--big daddy dune--that I of course wanted to climb, but we had limited time in the area (1.5 hrs). Jodi convinced me that I could do it, so I sped up the dune. There were amazing views from the top as it was the tallest dune around! The white pan shimmered below like a jewel. The way down was awesome! Almost 1000 feet of fast running, straight down in the soft sand. At such an angle, your strides are super long and you almost feel like you are flying.
We then drove to our campsite at Bethanien. The drive was beautiful through desert and desert mountains on an extremely bumpy (washboard) dirt road. Along the way we saw springbok, oryx, ostrich, and dik-diks. For dinner we had pepper chicken with rice. The overnight low temperature was 29F.
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