Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia to Orange River, South Africa 15-17 August 2008

Today was our last day in Namibia and we certainly covered some distance in the two weeks we were here. A total of 3,800kms and most of that was in the desert on dirt roads that were actually better than the Tanzanian tarmac roads. As long as we had at least one of the tarps up, the dust was bearable but the cold got a bit much at times. I think I likened being in the truck with the tarps up to being in a convertible but with less style (?) but things got so chilly that the sleeping bags and blankets came out and this is what it was like – people wrapped up like mummies, hidden under blankets and jackets or whatever was handy.



Euan and I didn’t get the sleeping bags as there was huge potential for sleeping bags to get trashed and we need ours to last so opted for the bank robber look instead



After a few hours of driving through the desert and a minor hiccup where we got stuck in the soft sand, we were into the hills that were a bit of a surprise after all the flat sandy unchanging scenery

The road was so wide and there was stuff all traffic so we weren't entirely sure why we pulled off the road in the first place (a very polite driver). Out came the sand grid thingys (I am sure there is a technical term but basically they're big grids that are put under the wheels to give traction and you keep doing this, driving the truck forwards, pulling them out and putting them back until the wheels are on firm ground) and there was a lot of digging going on.

Once on our way again, I felt the truck going uphill so looked up from my book (I’ve read 13 books in about 7 weeks) and had a mad scramble for my camera. We’d gone from dry, bare, off-white flat desert to rolling hills that were black rock covered with a straw-yellow grass. The contrast was incredible and I missed the best bit but hopefully the below gives an idea of what it was like



We weren’t long in this sort of scenery before it flattened out again into more desert but this time a reddish sand. We were heading towards Sossusvlie, a field of red sand dunes in the Namib-Naukluft National Park. We didn’t go into the Park as we were running late and we wouldn’t have had enough time to explore the dunes so opted to camp up on the side of this road (below) and head in early the next morning



We had a lovely but chilly night under the stars and nearly full moon (albeit on the side of the road with jackals on the scrounge).



It was an 0445 rise for an 0600 start for reasons that weren’t clear until we were through the Park gates and saw the dunes in the early morning light



The sun caught the dunes and turned them a deep red colour but the bits that were in shadow were black and the contrast was stunning



We got to one of the larger, more accessible dunes, creatively named Dune 45 (because it’s the 45th dune from the dune field of Sossusvlei) and headed straight up it after a few ground shots. This is my one attempt at semi-creative photography (sorry).




Dune 45 is 150m high and the wind was blowing the sand rather viciously over its ridge.





This is the view from one side of the dune (the road runs straight down between the dunes)



The dune isn’t high but you do feel like you’re on top of the world for some reason that I can’t explain



I thought I could lean into the wind but it wasn’t that strong (or I’m too heavy) and I headed down the slop instead



It was great fun running down and you could get a kind of ungainly moon-jump going on until…



the crocs filled with sand and weighed about 3kg each and dragged my leg down, down, down until I ground to a halt



Sossusvlei was more dunes but a field of them this time. Unfortunately the sun had risen and the shadows were just a slightly darker shade of the sand rather than the dramatic black and red contrast of the early morning.



We had another days driving after the dunes but really it seemed just down the road as the landscape didn’t seem to change much. We weren’t overly impressed with the choice of campsite and it was almost like we were camping on the moon had it not been for the prickly bushes, cacti and small trees. This was what we were camping on:



It was just rocks and more rocks and if you needed to pee, you had to brave getting trapped in thorny trees that held you prisoner for a bit until you patiently untangled yourself. I’m clearly not very patient and ripped my pants.



The great thing was that we were treated to a lunar eclipse that night – what are the chances? In the middle of nowhere in Namibia and seeing what turned out to be very nearly a full lunar eclipse?! The awful thing was were were sleeping on rocks but the funniest thing was that the next morning, up drove a 4x4 with a seemingly grumpy Namibian man and lady (and their happy dog) wanting to know what we were doing on their land and why weren’t we staying in their campsite just down the road. Brilliant. We’d already made many jokes about “Oasis’ fiscal policy” but this capped it all off. I think we had a total of 10 or 11 bush camps in Namibia, mainly because the cost of camping had increased so much. Pass, whatever the reason, it kept us occupied and made us appreciate power, running water and other things we take for granted.

It was today that we were heading for the South Africa border and had a long drive before we reached Fish River Canyon. The canyon is apparently the second largest canyon in the world behind the Grand Canyon in the States. I’ve not been to the latter but Euan assured me that this was similar and it did seem impressive.





We hit the border on sundown and were stuck there for two hours due to some papers for the truck not coming through. Luckily we all had beer or some other drinkable substance on board so started a mini truck party and amused ourselves while trying not to create too much of a disturbance. It was a late night by the time we’d got to the campsite (a proper one this time), got all our gear off the truck and pitched tents, helped with dinner and eaten it.