The day after the end of EHRA we hurried off to Avis to pick-up our VW Chico - only it turned out to be a Toyota Yaris – thankfully with air conditioning. Southern Africa happens to be one of the few places where they are still manufacturing the “old VW Golf” – just as they continued to manufacture the VW Beetle in Mexico – it is everyone’s every day run-around.
Keen to get out of Swakop, where we really had spent enough time already, however pleasantly safe and German the place is, we headed off on our Namibian self-drive weekend to explore the Namib Naukluft Park and go and visit the highest and apparently some of the most stunning sand dunes and dry pans in the world – Sossusvlei – a large ephemeral pan surrounded by the dune sea (as it is known).
The trip to Solitaire, where we were to stay for the next two nights, was 240kms in distance, only 50kms of which was on tarmac road – the rest on quite poor gravel. When we started off we could have been in the middle of the UAE, less the expensive cars, with flat sand and power lines all around us and the rather grey sky and sand just merged into one. Eventually we spotted a hill in the distance and the landscape broke out into beautiful desolate undulations with long, yellow dry grass. On it went, up and down through river valleys and over the odd canyon. As we could barely go faster than 80km/hr on the road we arrived in Solitaire at around 4pm. Solitaire consists off a petrol station, a lodge, a small grocery shop and a bakery apparently renowned for its apple pie – and not just because it is the only bakery! It is delicious.
We were staying at a Guest Farm down the road where we were entertained by all sorts of small animals – meerkats, ducks, guinea fowl, guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens and springbok – the bokkies were vey cute when dancing over the meadows. Our hosts, Simone and Walter, were very friendly and we were treated to a delicious home cooked dinner of springbok stroganoff before hurrying off to bed in preparation for a long drive and long day at the dunes.
9 hours and 140kms later, at around 6.45am, we were at the gates of Sesriem - Sossusvlei National Park - still no change in scenery (or road surface!). A handful of Namibian dollars later we were in the park and, for the first time in 380kms, on a tarmac road. We sped to the dunes, parked our car and headed off for a hike to the dunes. The thirsty soil was cracked with the heat and the trees were dry and crackled. It was quite a hard hike through the soft sand and over some small dunes until we got onto the harder stuff.
The sand on the large dunes was a stunning red, changing constantly dependent on the sunlight. They were filled with emptiness but so evocative. These dunes are known as “dynamic” which means that they shift with the wind and their shapes are constantly changing. They are as high as 300m but when climbing up it seems at least double that height given that it really is a case of two steps forward, one step back. We really were not so sure whether or not we had bitten off more than we could chew until we were suddenly at the top, looking down onto another cracked dry pan (these are rarely filled with water). Treated to views of miles and miles of more dunes, we ate our packed breakfast watching some German tourists struggling up the other side! We merrily walked 500m or so across the top watching people body surf down – somewhat unsuccessfully. Eventually we headed back as it started getting hot to reach Solitaire 2 hours later for a well deserved rest before yet another delicious springbok dinner. Game spot of the day – a regal gemsbok (oryx) in the middle of the National Park – we also disturbed a desert hare on our hike.
The following morning we headed off early for our long drive back to Walvis Bay from where we were to fly to Cape Town. Along route we spotted bat-eared foxes, ostrich and jackals...and as it was such a clear day we did Sossusvlei all over again from the air!
Keen to get out of Swakop, where we really had spent enough time already, however pleasantly safe and German the place is, we headed off on our Namibian self-drive weekend to explore the Namib Naukluft Park and go and visit the highest and apparently some of the most stunning sand dunes and dry pans in the world – Sossusvlei – a large ephemeral pan surrounded by the dune sea (as it is known).
The trip to Solitaire, where we were to stay for the next two nights, was 240kms in distance, only 50kms of which was on tarmac road – the rest on quite poor gravel. When we started off we could have been in the middle of the UAE, less the expensive cars, with flat sand and power lines all around us and the rather grey sky and sand just merged into one. Eventually we spotted a hill in the distance and the landscape broke out into beautiful desolate undulations with long, yellow dry grass. On it went, up and down through river valleys and over the odd canyon. As we could barely go faster than 80km/hr on the road we arrived in Solitaire at around 4pm. Solitaire consists off a petrol station, a lodge, a small grocery shop and a bakery apparently renowned for its apple pie – and not just because it is the only bakery! It is delicious.
We were staying at a Guest Farm down the road where we were entertained by all sorts of small animals – meerkats, ducks, guinea fowl, guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens and springbok – the bokkies were vey cute when dancing over the meadows. Our hosts, Simone and Walter, were very friendly and we were treated to a delicious home cooked dinner of springbok stroganoff before hurrying off to bed in preparation for a long drive and long day at the dunes.
9 hours and 140kms later, at around 6.45am, we were at the gates of Sesriem - Sossusvlei National Park - still no change in scenery (or road surface!). A handful of Namibian dollars later we were in the park and, for the first time in 380kms, on a tarmac road. We sped to the dunes, parked our car and headed off for a hike to the dunes. The thirsty soil was cracked with the heat and the trees were dry and crackled. It was quite a hard hike through the soft sand and over some small dunes until we got onto the harder stuff.
The sand on the large dunes was a stunning red, changing constantly dependent on the sunlight. They were filled with emptiness but so evocative. These dunes are known as “dynamic” which means that they shift with the wind and their shapes are constantly changing. They are as high as 300m but when climbing up it seems at least double that height given that it really is a case of two steps forward, one step back. We really were not so sure whether or not we had bitten off more than we could chew until we were suddenly at the top, looking down onto another cracked dry pan (these are rarely filled with water). Treated to views of miles and miles of more dunes, we ate our packed breakfast watching some German tourists struggling up the other side! We merrily walked 500m or so across the top watching people body surf down – somewhat unsuccessfully. Eventually we headed back as it started getting hot to reach Solitaire 2 hours later for a well deserved rest before yet another delicious springbok dinner. Game spot of the day – a regal gemsbok (oryx) in the middle of the National Park – we also disturbed a desert hare on our hike.
The following morning we headed off early for our long drive back to Walvis Bay from where we were to fly to Cape Town. Along route we spotted bat-eared foxes, ostrich and jackals...and as it was such a clear day we did Sossusvlei all over again from the air!
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