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Namibia-#100!!!
05 Jan '11
How do you make a German tourist crazy?
Assign him a seat on a 20 seat aircraft, then tell only 50% of the 18 passengers "sit anywhere you like."
Good Lord! Amusing at first, and then you just wanted the music to stop so they would all grab a chair.
Late into Windhoek, just before dusk. I saw my first ever "Yield to warthogs" road sign. Had an eponymous beer to celebrate my 100th country!
06 Jan
Early morning flight to the airstrip nearest the Red Dunes. I was really trying to get "stark and desolate beauty" flying over this terrain, but all I could feel was "God-forsaken". Really, really bleak. Can't imagine any reason other than the colonial pissing contest that 3 European nations would fight the aggressive Namib tribe for this nasty bit of scrub and sand before they even knew there were diamonds underground.
Here's something interesting (to me, at least): Namibia has only two permanent rivers. They make up the country's north and south borders. All other rivers last 3-4 hours at a time, and only during the rainy season. From the air, the easiest way to to tell a (dirt track) road from a river bed is that rivers have some green on either side of them.
Settled in to the "Little Kulala" lodge. Certainly the funkiest lodge in which we've stayed. Spacious adobe huts that are glass on the desert facing and large, private fenced in deck sides. Double shower, double vanity and an extra private shower outside for good measure. They don't look like much from the outside, but they are fabulous! There is a large pillowed sectional couch under a thatched palapa, 2 large divans and a small plunge pool on our deck. There is also a little upstairs patio where they will make up the bed for you if you want to sleep under the stars. Pretty impressive. Sadly, the Namib people seem to lack the hospitality gene.
Had a great lunch, afternoon on the deck and our evening drive to Siesriem (6 rope) Canyon. Strangest rock there! A limestone conglomerate, full of large smooth igneous rocks. This was ocean bed not very long ago (in geologic terms). I guess the river tears thru here at a helluva pace when it rains in the hills east of here, but now it is only humid, and there is no standing water whatsoever. Another remarkable sunset, this time w Windhoek beer. This lodge doesn't do a communal table, but we invited our pilot, a gal of about 20, to join us for dinner. We learned a lot about the country. For instance, the government has figures of 52% unemployment, but the people assume it is much higher. Interesting girl. Staff out for a bit of singing and dancing during dinner. Did some great star watching from our deck before turning in.
Game here: Oryx (beautiful), springbok, ostrich, jackal and apparently some cheetah.
07 Jan
04:30 wake up call for 5:30 departure for the dunes, an hour away in the national park. Just missed sunrise, as there was a lot of backing and forth-ing for the guys with whom we are sharing the jeep. One has a G.I. bug, so just David w us today. A real shame, as Brian was the one that wanted to come here so badly.
To dune #45 just as the sun was full up over the horizon. The dunes are truly red in the morning sun, full of iron oxide. Lots of folks already up top, and we began our climb. Easier than some days, as there was a very heavy rain 2 days ago, so the sand was moist and a bit packed. There is sadly no way to catch the beauty and magnitude of these things w a camera. We walked all the way to the far edge of the dune, further than all but one guy. Much harder to walk when you are breaking trail, the crest of the dune. After taking far too many photos, we walked back, and ran diagonally down one side. Couldn't fall if you tried, as each step sunk into the wet sand. Tough lifting your feet each step. So nice to get some exercise after 6 days sitting in a jeep!
Drove on to Sossusvlie (soft-sand valley). A group of three German girls that we had spoken w up on the dune had themselves stuck on the "4X4 only" road. Our driver got out and stopped them from spinning their wheels, hopped in the driver's seat and drove them out. The technique is exactly the same as snow, with the exception that throwing sand under the wheels wouldn't help much here ;-) He was now about 50m ahead, and he motioned for us to join him, so Gus got behind the wheel for his first drive in Africa.
Walked into the Deit Vlie (death valley), a clay pan full of dead trees that the shifting sands had cut off from the river about 900 years ago. Now this river never does join the Atlantic, which is about 90kms west of here. The sand has made this valley a dead end. A bit more dune walking, but by now the temperature was really getting up there! We drove a short distance, and parked in a picnic area under "Big Mama", the third tallest dune. Had a great, well deserved lunch (@ 10:30), watched w interest by a jackal. Clearly he has been fed before. (Bad tourists! Bad!) Then home. Would have loved to have slept, but even w our little a/c thingy, it is too hot in the room. About 40 today outside in the sun. Dry, tho. The wind kicked up a mini sandstorm in the afternoon. That was interesting to see, less fun to taste.
Originally, we were going to do just 2 nights here, but thought we would like to do the sunrise balloon ride over the dunes, so added an extra night. That ride is $600 pp for an hour, and we just couldn't justify it, so we will hike w the boys again tomorrow before they fly out. This lodge is definitely a one trick pony, and we would have left on the 8th but they were going to charge a criminal amount to change our flight and hotel.
For an evening drive to the red granite hills for a bit of a climb and our sunset drink. Around 21:00, the wind shifted and became wonderfully cool. We had our most comfortable sleep yet w doors and windows open. No mosquitos here!
Off to Swakopmund on the coast next.
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