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Sesriem Canyon

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Our last stop was at Sesriem Canyon. It is 30 meters deep and 3 km long. Jan and Alex walked all the way to the bottom, I stayed about half way, not wanting to do the steep climb up again. It was really pretty where I sat on an acacia tree waiting for them (not one of the old ones).

Sesriem got it’s name from Six Thongs, the number of joined leather ox-wagon things necessary to pull up water from the canyon
After this stop the driver picked up our permits, and then we headed back towards the lodge. On our hour long drive back to the lodge we also saw many ostriches, springboks, and several oryx. They are quite easily spotted, since there isn’t anything for them to hide in.

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Deadvlie, Sossusvlei, and Breakfast by the Dunes

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Deadvlei is a clay pan. When it rains, the last time in 2011, the water stays for a few months. The trees are dead Acacia trees, estimated to be 900 years old. Pretty amazing! It is strictly prohibited to touch the trees.

From Deadvlei we had a 1 km, fairly flat, hike in the sand to get back to the car. Kind if like walking on a sandy beach. We then went to a picnic site for our breakfast. Yoghurt, fruitsad, sandwiches, egg, juice and coffee. It tasted really good by then, we had been up since 5, a long drive, and a hike up Big Daddy’s arm. At least we had some cereal this morning before we took off. The time was now 10.30.
We also drove by Sossusvlei pan, another clay pan, before heading off toward our next stop.
Sossusvlei is a combination of two languages, nama and afrikaans. Sossus – is the nama language for a gathering of water, the dunes stopped the water from the river here.
Vlei – is the Afrikaans word for valley or wetlands.

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Climbing the Arm of Big Daddy

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The landscape here is more beautiful again. The sand/gravel is in shades from brown to rusty red, with touches of grey stones. The little grass there is, is golden, and the few shrubs are green. The dunes are in different shades of brown, terra cotta, and rusty red.

The dunes get their color from the iron oxide. This is said to be the oldest desert in the world. The dunes are now more or less immobile, the stability is due to the iron oxide, magnetite, and some vegetation. They are also among the tallest dunes in the world, some over 300 meters.
The river only flows after a good rain, the last one in 2011. Along the Tsauchab river, acacia trees are growing in a row. Despite the lack of rain they are still green, thanks to their roots being about 60 meters long, and let them tap in to the underground water.
Driving inside the Namib-Naukluft park we saw ostriches, a black backed jackal, and several oryx. The animals are adapted to the desert and can survive without water for a very long time. The Atlantic is close enough for mist to come all the way here. The water from the fog, and the grass they eat, is enough for these animals to survive on.
The dunes at Sossusvlei are star shaped, this can only be seen from above, though. We made a stop to watch the sunrise. The rising sun gave the dunes a beautiful red shade!
Big Daddy rises about 350 meters above sea level. We walked about 1,1 km up on the arm of Big Daddy, to roughly 150 m above sea level. From a distance the edges of the dunes look quite sharp, especially in the morning sun when one side is in the shade and the other in sunlight. In reality it is really soft, fine sand. Walking in it you sink down a few centimeters, making every step a bit heavy.
To go down Alex ran, and reached the bottom of the dune in no time. Jan and I walked, by digging the heels into the sand and sliding down, a step at the time. That was fun! Just like walking in deep snow, without getting cold and wet. Once we got down to Deadvlei, half the dune was in our shoes.

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Through the Night to Sesriem

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(29 June)
This morning our wake up call was at 5 am, 5.30 a light breakfast of coffee and cereal, then we headed off. It was pitch black dark. Stars were twinkling in the sky, and there was only a sliver of a moon.
I’m glad we’re not doing the driving through the darkness ourselves, going south on washboard roads. Even though our main reason for booking a tour is not to get stuck with our rental car in the sand. Plus the driver/guide can tell us all about it. It’s a small group, apart from us mother and daughter from Russia.
We passed a herd of oryx, the driver stopped and directed the headlights towards them. This herd contained both male and female, we were told it was a nursery. We saw three baby ones, less than 3 weeks old. Normally male and female live separated.
A springbok ran across the road, and there was a cape fox on the road side.
We passed through an area owned by the government, it has the same status as Namub-Naukluft. Here some animals have been re-introduced from Etosha, part of the reason is to spare Etosha. Mainly antelopes, wildebeests, hartebeests, mountain zebras, and giraffes. I’m kind of wondering in what kind of vehicle a giraffe is transported? With its neck sticking out? They have even re-introduces some rhinos. The other day a female rhino and it’s baby was found on the property of our lodge. The rangers were called, and the rhinos are now walked back into the sanctuary. Since there are no fences they can wander freely. The rangers, however, need to be able to check up on them occasionally due to poachers.
A bit before seven, as we turned off to go the last 12 km to the entrance of park, in Sesriem, a shade of dawn was starting to show in the sky.
I asked the driver what language he spoke, he said Afrikaans, and Damara language. That is a click language, they only have four clicks.
Even this early it isn’t so cold here. Our driver is from Windhoek. He told us there they have no heating in their houses. They sleep with two or three blankets, and a hat over the ears. They go to bed early at night because of the cold. Some people use hot water bottles, but no heaters or fire places.
We’re the tenth car through the gate at Sesriem. Entered at 7.30 for the 64 km drive to Sossusvlei, another hour roughly. The first bit is tar, the last 5 km or so just sand (4×4 only).

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South East around the Namib-Naukluft Park

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(28 June)

This morning we left our little cottage near the beach behind us. Before leaving Swakopmund entirely, we stopped into Two Beards to get some coffee, and also sandwiches for our lunch later.

At Walvis Bay we headed east into the desert again. The desert here is more of a gravel desert with larger stones and smaller rocks. Everything is a beige/grey color, rather ugly unlike the other deserts we have passed through.
Just outside of Walvis we passed by the salt works. And later Vogelfederberg (Bird feather mountain), to visit it a permit is needed. The same goes for driving on other roads other that the two major ones. The reason being that the Namib-Naukluft Park is home to the nama people.
 As we drove east the landscape changedm, we went up hill slowly but steadily. It then got steeper as we crossed over part of the Naukluft Mountains, with serpentine roads up through the Kuiseb pass. We passed the Kuiseb canyon. It wasn’t safe to stop and take pictures since there were already many cars. It is a dark grey/black deep, but not very wide canyon. From there it was serpentine roads down hill through the Gaub pass.
After turning south we soon passed the Tropic of Capricorn. The three Capricorns in our car got out for a photo.
When we got close to Solitaire we saw an oryx, and three zebras next to the road.
In Solitaire we stopped for a fika, coffee and apple pie, at Mc Gregor’s bakery. We also got help at the gas station to empty our jerrycan, and then topped up the tank. Solitaire is a small settlement on the outskirts of the Namib-Naukluft National Park, and the only petrol stop between the coast at Walvis bay and Sossusvlei (roughly 400 km).
After our fika we had less than 20 km to our lodge, Namib Nukluft.

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Quad Biking in the Namib Desert

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(27 June)

Swakopmund is the place for adventure sports in Namibia. We settled for Quad biking in the  Namib desert. It was a fun way of getting out into the desert. We did a one hour tour. Alex was really excited to be able to drive his own quad bike up and down the golden dunes. It gave a different feel than just seeing the dunes from a distance.

Shades of dark can be seen all over. This is iron filings from the eroded ship wrecks here on the Skeleton Coast. Over time the sand has filed away steel from the ships that are buried under the sand, then it spreads with the sea, the sand, and the wind.

Our guide used a magnet to collect a small amount that he then used to write in the sand.

That was our cool adventure for the day.

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A Leisurely Day in Swakopmund

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(27 June)

Swakopmund is a small costal town sandwiched between the Namib desert and the Atlantic Ocean. Some of the older buildings in town holds a German resemblance, showing it’s German history.

The first permanent European settlers were German who arrived in 1892. Because Walvis Bay had been annexed by the British, Swakopmund remained German South West Africa’s only harbour.

In the morning we visited the Kristall Galerie, a small museum right around the corner from us. Among other things it houses the largest quarts crystal that has ever been found. They also had a display of Pietersite crystal, discovered by Sid Pieters from Namibia. The fine examples were beautiful in a mix of gold, blue, rusty red, and brown shades.

During our time traveling through the desert we had a lot of game meat and beef. Since we’re now at the seaside we sought out a nice seafood restaurant for lunch. Then we were fit for fight for our quad bike tour (see separate post).

In the afternoon we had coffee and crepes in Two Beards Coffee, then went for a stroll down to the beach.

The town must be very busy in the summer, now in winter, not very. I kind of like summer towns out of season.

Tonight we’re making use of the washer and dryer, and will enjoy another home cooked meal. Then tomorrow morning we continue our drive south.

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Walvis Bay

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(26 June)

After our lovely lunch we headed south to check out the other town near by, Walvis Bay. It has a bit more of an industrial feel, and has a population of about 100 000.

The port has been important through history, first held by the British Cape Colony, then annexed by Britain, and later part of the Union of South Africa. After the end of WWI South Africa was given the UN mandate to administer all of German South West Africa as well as the Walvis Bay enclave. Later South Africa unilaterally decided to return it to the Cape Province. The UN wasn’t happy. When Namibia achieved its independence in 1990, Namibians lay claim to Walvis Bay. In 1992 South Africa and Namibia finally agreed that South Africa would remove its border crossings, and the two countries would administer the enclave jointly. In 1994 the Namibian flag was finally raised over Walvis Bay for the first time.

Outside of town there are salt works, which supplies over 90% of South Africa’s salt (we didn’t go there).

Walvis Bay is also famous for its flamingos. We saw a large flock of the greater flamingos, in a beautiful, light pink color, in the lagoon.

It looked like a fairly modern built town. Many buildings seemed quite new. There were also constructions going on of high rise buildings on the seashores.

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Two Beards & a Saint

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(26 June)

When I searched for great coffee and lunch (in that order) I came across this little place. The two beards are father and son, dedicated to roasting great coffee. The saint is  the restaurateur, serving delicious lunch dishes. A perfect combo. We spent a nice and relaxing lunch, with an added coffee break time at this cosy little place. Located in a pretty little garden. We ended our lunch by visiting the roasters, located on the 2nd floor.    We brought home Namib Desert, and African Sunrise.

Alex was soooo excited that we let him have one of the flavored barista coffees.

I think I have to go back there tomorrow, and may be a take away on the day we leave town.

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Swakopmund and the Skeleton Coast

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(25 June)

Our new temporary home is in Swakopmund. This is a town of about 45000.

The coast is called the Skeleton Coast, from Sandwich Harbour, south of Swakopmund, the Kurne river.  This treacherous coast – a foggy region with rocky and soaring dunes. It has long been a graveyard for unwary ships and their crews, hence its forbidding name. Once a ship was washed ashore, the fate of the crew was sealed. The harsh winds and dense fog that rolls off the South Atlantic have now eroded most of the ships that were swept ashore here. This section of the coast is among the most remote and inaccessible areas in Namibia.

We are in a small cottage in a sort of courtyard behind a larger building. To reach it we had to open and close two electric gates. Out large car just about fits in the driveway. It’s a lovely little place near the sea. Being winter it is pretty chilly, very humid, and quite windy. We have a large living room, with an open kitchen/diner, two bedrooms and two shower rooms. The indoor chill resembles the one in England. Luckily we found an electric heater. AND there is hot water in the showers. We even ha a washing machine and a dryer. Happy days!

After unloading the car we went to Shoprite to by breakfast and dinner. It’s nice to be able to cook for a change on this trip. TO be honest though, today, after the long car trip (7,5 hrs including breaks), we settled for pizza that we heated in the oven. It was ready-made, but not frozen.

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