The Namib Desert - Our Final Days in Namibia

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Departing Walrus Bay and the Atlantic Ocean we traveled due east over the sand dunes and into the Namib Desert.  The desert extends as a wideband starting south of Etosha National Park and running due south to the South Africa border.  The Kalahari is to the east, separated by a large mountain range, and the Atlantic and dunes are to the west.  It is a vast wasteland covered in rock and sand...with a remarkable amount of wildlife, landforms, plants, trees, and intense landscape.

We traveled for several hours and landed at a desert resort where we met a local guide for an interesting visit and talk about the desert.  Fritz was from the San People, animated, as pleasant as can be, and spoke with very entertaining gestures, finger snaps, head nods, and verbal clicks and pops...the later a characteristic of the local San dialect.  He shared with us many plants and animal facts, and told us about the formation of the dunes.  While we were gone Vincent prepared a great lunch and we ate at the resort.

We continued further south and into the center of the Namib and ended up late in the date at the Hammereid Game Ranch Resort where we would stay for two nights. We upgraded to a room for a change...the price of $20 USD per night was something few could resist.  The game ranch raises Oryx for the market and we enjoyed a meal of it on one of our nights.  Mild and tasty, most of us devoured the poor beast with little regard for its unique beauty...smile...I was sad as I chewed on him as well.

We rose early to climb Dune 45 at the national park.  The red sand dunes were stunning in the early sunrise light.  Everyone by Andi and I climbed the mound...some 1600 ft to the top.  I reached the first plateau and decided I had nothing to prove.  Following the assent, we road 4X4s to the next dune, Big Daddy, even taller, and this time only seven made it...Bobbie, of course, being one of them.  The highlight at this site was the "Dead Place."  A hard ground pan long ago void of water, with dead trees, some as old as 600 years, standing sentinel to the hallowed ground.  We wandered the site for a few hours snapping loads of photos until the midday heat was more than tolerable.,

 Nearby we visited a small canyon and the source of the small river that used to run all the way to the ocean, now blocked by the dunes.

Riding the 4X4s back to our truck, we had lunch under a few living trees before driving back to the resort.  The planned one hour return was hampered by one of our tires losing its recap.  The truck did not have a working jack...WHAT YOU SAY...and we limped back with fingers crossed that there would be a jack, or another truck at the resort to help us out.  We made it and sure enough, another truck was there to assist and remedy our challenge.

We rose a bit later than normal...ah, an extra hour of sleep, and drove further south and into the really arid part of the Namib.  Our campsite for this night was a small resort hidden in a quiet ravine.  The hotel was over 80 years old, constructed of desert stone and mortar.  After lunch, a short drive took us to within 150 km of the border, and to the Giant's Playground, and the Quiver Tree forest.  The playground is an area of interesting landforms, mainly huge piles of stones that look as if they have been manually stacked by giants.  We wandered the area for an hour before departing to another site nearby.

At a family-owned resort, we were entertained by several "tame" cheetahs as their owner fed them fresh meat and we stook within the enclosure snapping photos.  This was quite a treat being so close to these beautiful critters.  On the resort farm was also the Quiver Trees, aloe plants only found in this area of the world, and looking more like trees.  The visit provided plenty of photo opportunities before returning to our camp and a quiet night far away from any artificial light.  The almost moonless night provided endless star gazing.

We got an early start as usual and were one the road and driving across a plantless plain of sand and rock to the Fish River Canyon.  We stopped halfway at an interesting resort that features old, rusted cars from the '30s, '40s, and '50s.  Then it was on to the canyon for a 2-mile walk along the edge taking photos and admiring the views.  The Fish River Canyon is the second largest in the world, dwarfed only by our own Grand Canyon in Arizona.  After our visit, we proceeded to a well-hidden canyon known as AiAis and the hot spring spa resort within its depths.  The warm pools provided a nice change and recharge.

We left later than normal the next morning...things winding down...and a short two-hour drive brought us to the Orange River, the border between Namibia and South Africa.  There we were surprised by all of the vineyards and even more stunning, the migrant camps of underpaid, overworked workers.  One toilet for thousands of people.

Our one night stay was in a posh resort with real grass at the river's edge.  A lovely pool and a cool breeze softened our stay.  Today was also Fungai's 40th birthday and we surprised him with a cake, streamers, and well wishes.

We departed early for our border crossing into South Africa.  Goodbye Namibia.  You were grand.