Namibia Continued

14 - 17 MAY 2011

SWAKOPMUND, SESRIEM AND SOSSUSVLEI

Alas no flamingos

Checking in at the Dunedin Star in Swakomund tonight, we are joined by Claudia, another Chameleon employee as Deidra is returning home to Windhoek tomorrow. Dinner is at Swakopmund’s famous Lighthouse restaurant (I do seem to focusing on food here, don’t I?) and yes it’s at the foot of a lighthouse. The local oysters were delicious but oddly enough for a fishing port, there is only frozen fish available but it was still yummy, accompanied by plenty of good South African Sav Blanc and we were all happy campers. I head off with Deidra, following her until she admits that she is lost. And worried. OK, I reassure her and we call into a flash hotel to get a map, directions and reassurances that it is safe to walk around here at this time of night. Phew!

Sunday, most of Swakopmund is closed today but walking around with Inga, viewing the colonial buildings on a gorgeous sunny morning is very relaxing. IT’s Sunday so a lot of places are closed but this also adds to the peacefulness as there are few cars about. Inga has visited here before and knows her way around while I pick out a few interesting buildings from the LP map. Meanwhile Chris and Kaash have elected to go quad biking. Later Jacqui kindly tries to spot a flamingo for me nearby but no go. L

Leaving Swakopmund, we travel through Walvis Bay and past a platform that is used by many birds for nesting and is harvested annually for the guano – there is money in bird poo! Then heading inland our travel this afternoon takes us through the varied landscapes of the Namib-Naukluft National Park: from the plains of Ganab to the speccy mountains, canyons and gorges along with the largest dunes in the world and nearly 50,000 sq km of natural beauty. We stop to check out a couple of Quiver trees, so called

A Quiver Tree

because the branches were used by the bushmen to store and carry their hunting arrows, then at the Tropic of Capricorn. We also stop at the fabulous Kuiseb Canyon and bridge. This area was where a couple of germans hid from English internment for 2 ½ years of WW2, with their dog. One of them wrote a book ‘The Sheltering Desert’ if you are at all interested in tales of survival. More driving by the lovely Franz finally gets us to the Desert Camp, Sesriem just after sunset. We are all installed in our very comfy standing tents where most of us hole up away from the desert cold, despite the lovely campfire lit for us. Soon enough we are being fed (again) a great dinner cooked on the fire and this time I don’t even have room for dessert. I am told that this pudding is a local specialty and when I ask what gives it the ‘traditional’ flavour so the packet is retrieved from the bin to find that is actually a sticky toffee pudding. OK, I’ll try a tiny piece. lol The cold wind soon sends us all to bed with the knowledge that we’re getting up to meet at 5.15am, packed and ready to leave. And when we do, it is soooo cold, but without the wind this morning. There is much discussion about the fashion etiquette of socks and sandals and I note that Jacqui has not succumbed, but I’ll tell you that I did and also wore socks on my hands as gloves (Thanks Deb Nelson for that tip). Our truck lines up at the park gates (we are 10th in line) leaving us time for more photos.

We enter the park and watch the sun rise on our way past some ‘fairy circles’, unexplained phenonema in a limited area around here but can be found all the way up to Angola. These are pretty near perfect circles of absolutely no growth whatsoever, which are appearing in a plain of grasses. Later in the day we hear a few different explanations, the most likely being dance circles made by faeries! NO, not really but I liked that one the best. We pass Dune 45, very popular for climbing and photo opportunities before reaching the Sossusvlei car park where we swap to the parks’ 4wd transport (open and freezing) into the dunes. A short walk through the desert we arrive at the very spooky looking Deadvlei Pan, a large expanse of dried white clay, punctuated by ancient dead camel thorn trees that are black from being incinerated by the sun. We are surrounded by dunes, including the highest one here Big Daddy, which all have a star formation caused by the winds giving them the sharp crests. We have a lot of time here to explore and I attempt climbing one dune which is really hard work – I make it half way to take photos, then watch an aussie bloke older than me scramble to the top! Walking back out, we meet up with the truck for brunch before walking around to Sossusvlei for more dune climbing. I elect to walk around the water lying between the dunes and the silence here is wonderful, very reminiscent of the desert in Wadi Rum, Jordan. Soon enough we are heading back together towards the Sesriem Canyon. This one was formed by the thousands of years of erosion leaving a narrow gorge 30-40 metres deep with plenty of fresh water at the bottom from the recent rains. Late afternoon we drive out towards the Namib Desert Lodge, a huge setup popular with tour buses with very comfy rooms. We install ourselves, settle on verandahs with a few drinks on this our last night together before heading to the restaurant for another buffet. I am going to have to fast next week, I’m sure! Tonight’s buffet includes a springbok stroganoff and baboutie, a traditional south african dish and a great breakfast buffet the next morning. Our last tour day includes a stop at Solitaire, a place that has made a name for itself due to the quirky surrounds, old cars and delicious bakery operated by Moose! Apple pie for lunch en route back to Windhoek. mmmm

FACT: Namibia has received 120cm of rain this year – the usual total is around 60cm nationwide. Thus the countryside is lush, the dunes are all tinged with green and the desert has much water lying between the dunes, an amazing sight that greatly adds to my viewing pleasure.