We
had had a baboon free night but Stef met a man from one of the other
sites this morning and the baboons had been a problem for them. What
they had done we are not really sure but Stef was given the feeling
that it was pretty bad. The main reason people come here is to go
walking in the hills. There are two separate trails, one 10km the
other 17km, which lead you up the side of the mountain and on to the
plateau above. Neither of us was really in the mood for walking so
we decided to head on to Sesriem instead.
At the camp office they called ahead to see if Sesriem had
availability which they did but we were told it would on be on their
overflow site. We were able to transfer the extra night we had
planned to spend at Naukluft to Sesriem and we were soon on our way.
The road out of the park came and went and we turned right back onto
the D854 down to Sesriem. It was a relatively short journey but on
the way we passed a couple of nice looking lodges, again making me
want to ditch the tent in favour of being clean and dust free.
Our welcome at Sesriem was a bit beyond belief. Rather than
welcoming us to this national park, the parks admin woman gave me a
grilling. She was really rude in the way she spoke to me growling as
she asked why we had changed our booking and barking at me that we
had wasted money as we couldn’t get a refund on our park entrance
fees. It wouldn’t have achieved a huge amount but I felt like
barking back and using a popular expletive of a four letter word
followed by “off”. Instead I just kept calm, let her get on with it
and walked out without saying thank you.
We were not in a proper campsite but were also not really on
the overflow site which is a large open field by the entrance. The
proper sites all have a large area enclosed by a low stone wall with
space for a couple of cars and a campfire. Our spot was simply under
the trees next to the ablutions block with a few stones in the sand
for a campfire. Having checked it out it was still early enough for
us to go out and about in the afternoon so we headed down into the
next national park, renowned for its sand dunes.
The dunes were amazing. The sand here is red and the light
plays off the dunes producing warm glows of reds, ochres and golden
yellows. We stopped at Dune 45 and went for a walk up the ridge of
the dune. I was in my sandals and soon had to turn back because the
heat of the sand was burning my feet. Stef carried on up further but
had much more fun bounding down the dune than he had climbing up it.
Enormous red dunes of the Namib desert
A road has been laid through this part of the park which leads
down to the main attractions, Sossusvlei and Dead Vlei. Dunes line
the road one either side creating on huge row of sandcastles all
melding and merging in with each other. You could see the wind
whipping the tops of the dunes as we went. It is about a 60km drive
from the main park camp to the vlei’s. Normal cars can only
go so far and from there a 4x4 shuttle service takes you the final
few kilometres. No knowing what the road would be like, and not
really wanting to get stuck in sand without knowing how to get out
again, we decided to take the shuttle service. We had to wait until
they could fill up the car, which only took a few minutes as a
German tour group arrived not long after us.
It was a sandy track, deep sand in places, for those last few
kilometres. Our driver dropped us at the car park for the Dead Vlei,
telling us how to get there and saying that he would pick us up
again in about an hour and a half at Sossusvlei. Without the benefit
of aircon or the wind created by the 4x4 we soon began to feel the
relentless heat of the sun as there was no shade on the walk to the
vlei. We again bumped into the South African couple who we first met
in Twyfelfontein. The chap was bounding up the dunes and was soon
walking along a ridge. The lady was more cautious, having only
recently come out of a plaster cast on her leg.
The chap seemed to be able to see the way from the top so we
followed his instructions. This turned out to be a dodgy move as he
led us up a very high dune before we realised we weren’t really
going in the direction we wanted to. From the height we reached we
could just see over a further dune that looked more like a dam.
Beyond that was the flat expanse of the vlei. We slithered our way
back down the dune, walked across a dried out pan and then made our
way up the dam like dune to reach the vlei.
If you wanted to make a film that was based in the future when
the world had almost run out of water this would be a potential
candidate for the set. In the wet season the vlei is probably full
but today it was bone dry. The gnarled and shrivelled trunks of
trees stuck up from the ground looking as if they had been burnt.
Beneath our feet, the ground shifted from hot sand that was hard to
walk on to a solid and firmly dried out mud flat with splits and
cracks a centimetre or so deep. There was a very other worldly feel
to the place and had it not been for the South African couple we
could have been the last people on earth.
This illusion was soon shattered. As we made our way back to
the road a backpacker style tour group was coming the other way,
obviously short on time to make it to the vlei and back again based
on the speed with which they were walking. Fortunately for us, the
4x4 chap who was picking us up had seen us coming and stopped to
wait for us on the road before carrying on round to Sossusvlei to
pick up the Germans. He was a very welcome sight. Walking across the
sand, and especially up the sand dunes, was not easy going and with
the sun beating down on us too it was also very hot work.
Chilled at Dead Vlei
We made our way back to the campsite, parked in our very sandy
spot and Stef went to work getting a fire lit. There was no hope
really of having a braai so we cooked our steaks on the gas stove,
no meant feat because it was very windy and we had to stand
stratigically placed so that the stove didn’t blow out. The Germans
that we’d shared a 4x4 with at the vlei were in the site next to us
but frustratingly they chose to walk through our site to get to the
washrooms rather than walking around the outside. It gave Stef a few
minutes of pleasure though as he rearranged our site to block as
much of their direct route as possible.
They were quite a large group, 23 people in all, and were
staving in a Rollende Hotel. We had seen one of these before, I
think in South America. During the day they all travel in a high
sided coach which pulls the hotel behind it. The hotel is little
more than 8 rows of triple height bunk beds which are divided so
that each bed is its own little cubby hole. To me it seems like a
claustrophobic way to spend a night, particular as some of the
nights here have been very hot. A kitchen folds out of the back and
a canopy rolls down and out to provide a bit more private space.
Amazingly there was a real mix of ages travelling this way, one lady
was over 80 years old. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves and
there was a pretty convivial atmosphere.
We had planned to spend this evening starting to think about
our next country, South Africa, but the combination of hot sand,
rude women at reception, a steak dinner washed down with a bit of
wine took its toll. Instead we spent the evening playing gin rummy
before sleep got the better of us and we headed for bed.
