Sunday, 14 March 2010 11:33
Date: 08/03/10Location: Lafenis Game Lodge, KeetmanshoopMiles travelled: 475 miles over three days (149 - Solitaire to Sesriem, 326 - Sesriem to Keetmanshoop)Weather: 41ºC, unbelievably hotToday we mostly listened to: CD Magic After leaving Solitaire we headed for Namibia’s number one tourist attraction - Sossusvlei. When one pictures a desert, sand, sand and more sand is probably what springs to mind and having been through quite a few now we’ve come to realised that none have really been like a sterotypical desert - with the exception of the Namib at Sossusvlei. It consists of huge, rolling sand dunes, baking 40 degree heat, water mirages and dead trees.In all we spent two unbearably hot days at Sesriem (the nearerst town to the national park). With it being almost impossible to visit Sossusvlei in the middle of the day, we opted for visiting at the relatively cool times of sunset and sunrise. The latter was better, mainly because I forgot to bring the wine at the sunset visit - much to the annoyance of Ric, Git and Pim! For the sunrise visit we decided to walk up Dune 45 - one of the larger dunes in the park, which has a great view of the sun coming up over the rest of the desert.
We had to get up at 5am in order to make it up to the top of the dune in time. It was totally worth the early start! It was a half hour drive from Sesriem, followed by a 20 minute, tough hike to the very top. It was impossible to climb in flip flops or trainers so, despite seeing the biggest scorpion ever the night before, I opted to go up barefoot. We made it to the top just in time to see the sun peeking over the horizon and sat for an hour on the top of the dune. At about 8am it was getting too hot so we began the descent - which was much much quicker than the climb up. After visiting Dune 45 we headed for Sossusvlei itself - a barren landscape of cracked earth and dead trees, which occasionally floods. The last time there was water there was in 2001!!! Unable to stand the heat after 10am we headed back to camp and spent the day trying to stay cool - without much success!Two days was definately enough time in Sesriem! The environment is so harsh that it really starts to effect a person. Both Ric and I found that it was almost impossible to drink enough water to stay rehydrated, we permanently had a fine layer of sand all over us and our skin was itching from the blistering heat. So this morning we packed up early and decided to head off in search of a cooler climate.It is also Dickie’s 29th birthday today, so for the next three months it is that glorious time where he is the same age as me and cannot annoy me by saying….‘I’m 28, she is 29!’. Before leaving we managed to have a slap up omelette for breakfast and Dickie opened some presents - including a giant giraffe from Pim and Git. We’ve been joking all the way through Africa just how easy it is to purchase these wooden giraffes and now we have one! The rest of the day consisted of driving….a lot. We were keen to find a camp that had a restuarant and bar where we could celebrate, but we didn’t find one until Keetmanshoop, much further than we planned to go.So this evening we have eaten and drunken a lot! I ordered steak, but I’m not sure which animal it came from. It certainly wasn’t cow on account of the gamey taste. Given that we are staying on a game farm it could have been anything from Kudo to Zebra and I wouldn’t know the difference!