We Haven't Seen Another Car Since the Tropic of Capricorn

Make sure to see our first post from Southern Namibia here.

As much as we'd seen and done over the last few days, the highlight of our southern Namibia jaunt was still to come. The dunes at Sossusvlei are a vast expanse of sculpted red sand interspersed with dry lake beds. Like everything else in Namibia, they are far away from anything else, so first we had most of a day's drive to get there.

The roads on the way there were mostly straight lines through golden grasslands ringed by dry, rocky mountains. Usually the only turns were to make our way through those mountains and into the next valley. Once again, the landscapes were vast. Our one stop on the way was at Duwisib Castle, built by a wealthy German man and his wife from New Jersey early in the 20th century. It was a full on European style castle (although with local red stones) far away from anything else - very out of place seeming.

The Baron (as he liked to be called) re-enlisted in the German army at the start of WWI and was killed 2 weeks later; the Baroness (as she liked to be called) never returned to Namibia, or even placed a claim on the property.

As we approached Sesriem, the gateway to Sossusvlei, the landscape hadn't really changed, but somehow became more spectacular. We entered a nature preserve, and one after another, we saw warning signs for different kinds of animals. Springbok,

oryx,
zebra


- the signs were good predictors of the next animals we would see, so we were excited when one showed a giraffe, but it wasn't meant to be.

Sesriem is more on the tourist track than the other sites we'd been to so far, and we had our first encounter with the bane of the independent traveler, the Overlander. Overlanding is a popular way of travelling in Africa, in high-clearance, heavy duty buses, basically converted semis. Trips last from 2 weeks to a year, including journeys from Capetown to Spain or Egypt. We were sitting down to dinner when one such truck pulled up to the group site next to ours, blasting techno, flashing disco lights inside and bugle calls as the overlanders unloaded. Our worst fears didn't come true though. After a group cheer when they all got off the truck, they changed the music and settled into camp. We were actually glad for some music that wasn't our one CD.

After sunset and dinner, we called it a night early as we had an early wakeup to be at the gate when it opened at 6 so we see the sun coming up on the dunes. The next morning we set off in the dark for the 40 mile drive into the heart of the dunes. As the sun brightened the landscape, we could see huge dunes on either side of the flat valley. They were gradually closing in on us, and we reached the end of the paved road, and the start of the 4WD sandy track for the last 3 miles. As a warning to non-4WD users, a small hatchback sat stuck in the sand within 50 ft of the end of the pavement. We made it without incident, fortunate to be following some drivers who seemed to know the way through the different tracks.

We went straight for one of the dunes and climbed the ridge to the top, our pace slow in the sand. We could see we were in a sea of sand.

Having taken in the views, we took the quick way down - straight down the face, with the sand breaking our big steps, and we were down in a fraction of the time it took to get up.
Next stop was Deadvlei. Vlei means dry lake bed, and the dunes are scattered with them. Deadvlei is unique for all the dead trees which are still standing. It's a landscape of great color contrasts - the white of the lake bed, the orange dunes, blue sky, and the nearly black trees.

Instead of taking the direct route back, we walked through the neighboring vlei, and over untracked (except by a few animal prints) back the car. This route also took us across a steep sand slope, where we had to step up with every step to stay on course, and we ended the traverse completely winded. Once back on the beaten path, we found we had temporarily misplaced the car. But a little more wandering around the sand and we found it.

We drove back to Sesriem slowly, taking in the views of dunes which had been dark on our way in. Later in the afternoon we took a look around Sesriem Canyon, narrow gorge carved into the plain. Nothing like the Utah canyons, it was still interesting, particularly the alternating layers of rockier and smoother dirt in the walls. Near a water hole, there was also an eagle nest, but no birds to be found.

Our ambitious plans the next morning (today, Friday) to get up at 5:30 again to climb another dune were thwarted by the comfort of our sleeping bag, and we got our first good sleep-in of the week. The return to Windhoek took us through the familiar desert terrain. On the way, we went through a little outpost called Solitaire, where the bakery is known for good pies, so we got some apple pie for dessert tonight (to be eaten once I finish writing). As the bakery was the only bakery in miles (probably the only one outside Windhoek), it had quite a monopoly, giving Katie ideas of where to open KatieCakes someday... Shortly after Solitaire, we returned to the tropics passing the tropic of Capricorn and began the climb up to the plateau Windhoek sits on.

A bit of business taken care of and we're off to the north tomorrow. Probably about another week until our next update...