Liz & Richard's 2010 African Adventures

Off to Namibia in the morning – probably not too many posts until our return to Toronto

We’re not expecting much internet connection – considering several of our lodges don’t have power.

If we can do a brief updates we will – otherwise catch up with us upon our return to Toronto mid March – thanks for reading!

 

Liz and Richard

Namibia!

Namibia is remarkably beautiful - climbed dunes yesterday before dawn and sat and watched the sunrise - have hundreds of photos - hope to upload one or two in the next couple of days.....

A few sand dunes pics

From our visit to Sossusvlei and Dead Vlei -

 

We climbed up one of the dunes to watch the sunrise – you can see our foot steps in the pic below – it was breathtakingly beautiful! (two reasons to go for sunrise – the views are beautiful and it’s cool – that afternoon it was 42 degrees C!

 

 

Sun rising over Deadvlei

 

The Namibian Dunes – Part 1 - Sunrise

We’re out of sequence, but the dunes are top of mind.

Liz has booked Sossus Dune Lodge inside the Seriem park.  It’s exotic – very functional, good food, friendly staff and it’s 42C – making the pool a delight…everything one would expect from a Liz selection.  More about the lodge later and the delights about a world where the hot and cold water taps don’t matter.

 

Up at 4am the next day.  Dawn itself is just getting out of bed and the last star has yet to turn in.  Randy, our guide, picks us up and we’re off through the desert.  Saw an oryx staggering home from a late night oryx bar – we do love oryx!

So here we are – Liz and Dick – straddling the crest of a red sand dune, 120 feet in the air, waiting for the sun to come up

 

Randy is meanwhile employing full body choreography to explain the evolution of these pink sand moving mountains.  It is a perfect travel moment

The sun erupts over the horizon and the world changes

As the sun ascends, the dunes perform a chromatic ballet…purples becomes pinks, grey turns golden

For some strange reason we have become fascinated with dunes over the years.  A perfect barchan dune is a particular favourite

All around us the intense blue sky and the wedges of luminate and dark sand compose momentary abstract paintings

One starts feeling artsy.  Everything is lovely.  The inevitable photos of sand ripples start to appear

   

Against the pink sand, in the early morning light, even our footprints look good

But then a lizard’s paw marks…and their actual owner…jolt us from reverie to reptilian

       

A brief backtrack.  The advantage of Sossus Dune Lodge is that we’re the only lodge inside the park the lodge is very near the park gates), which means we can be on the furthest dunes prior to sunrise, and avoid the crowds. (note from Liz – the campers inside the park can leave the gate about 5:30am and the gates open to other lodges at about 6:15am)

Randy drove us out in darkness (we left the lodge at 4:30am) … yes there were oryx wandering home … and we climbed the flank of the “Big Daddy” dune in grey dawn, with Deadvlei behind us.

As you’ll note in the shot below (taken as we left hours later) there are a lot more people later in the day.  The 3 figures on the dune ridge are where we watched the sun come up

Back to real time! As the sun rose we moved down from the apex of the dune to Deadvlei – a dead lake.  Randy has some magical way of walking on th3e sand without sinking in – Dickie staggers and Liz is becoming a sand ballerina

  

Liz’s technique does have one drawback in that it requires regular dumping of sand ballast..but then, she never tips over

The Vlei is a dead lake bed, strangled by the advancing dunes.  From a distance it appears innoculously boring (a bunch of dead trees).  Up close it is photogenic comparable to the Grand Canyon at sunset

See part 2 for LOTS of photos of Deadvlei!

The Namibian Dunes – Part 2 - Deadvlei

The long dead trees are 600 years old.  The floor is a salt pan, fractalated by the burning sun evaporating the rare rains.  The result is a set design from a Tim Burton movie.  As the dawn migrates across the lake bed it is stunningly beautiful – the trees, the shadows, the tessellated floor, the ancient wood

                

  

  

As the sun rises we move out of the vlei.  A young lady – retracing our route – is silhouetted against the dunes.  The heat is turning the salt pan into a frying pan

 

While walking out we are accosted by a small bird.  It is an experience from our time in Galapagos.  We stop and put down a capful of water and the bird drinks.  Thirst trumps fear

Across the dune valley recently arrived tourists are climbing Big Momma.  The heat is becoming intense. We are glad to have done our dune climbing in the pre dawn cool

Into the truck and a short drive to one of Randy’s favourite spots where we have a bush breakfast.

Again, the small birds come begging for water – we, of course, comply

 

As we leave the park we stop at the famous “Dune 45”.  It’s the most accessible dune from the entrance gate, especially for those wanting to see the sunrise. But Randy thinks it’s too crowded!

 

The drive out in daylight reveals vistas we missed in the morning darkness, including a massive wall of dancing crimson sand

And at last we get a photo of an oryx – not a very good one, though!  We are falling in love with oryx.  They prance across the scaling hot sand, have gorgeous colour and straight black horns.  As we write this we are in northern Namibia, have seen dozens of oryx and still don’t have a great shot (this one is blown up from a telephoto through the windshield)

And then Randy pointed out the Namibian crop circles.  On one side of the valley are circles 5 to 6 feet in diameter that are biologically dead.  Randy told us no one knew why.  We – with hubris – said we would find out.  Internet searching proved that “no one knows why”.  Points to Randy. We continue to search.

Next – Sossus Dune Lodge

The Namibian Dunes – Sossus Dune Lodge

Liz here – I think I looked at every lodge within striking distance of the Sesriem gates – twice!  There are some lovely choices, but I kept coming back to Sossus Dune Lodge due to its position within the park.  It is run by Namibian Wildlife Resorts (NWR) which is government owned and runs lodges/campsights in Namibia parks.  It’s less than 2 years old and there weren’t many reviews but ultimately its proximity won me over.  NWR is certainly taking advantage of its position as we had a full 2 hour advantage over people staying outside the park gates (we left the lodge at 4:30am for Deadvlei; the gates don’t open until approx 6:30am for those staying outside – and at 5:30 for the campers staying in the park - and there can be a line up to get in at that hour).  As you’ll read, we were very happy with our choice and highly recommend it. OK Richard – back to you.

 

Some notes on the lodge – great place, wonderful staff, good food – a definite must do experience.

The lodge is a series of individual pods joined by elevated walkways with a central pool/dining room/bar complex…at the base of a mountain.  The little rectangles below are the individual pods

 

The central unit crouches beneath the mountain – our pod is the first on the left…closest to the pool and bar) Lucky #13~

Franz runs a good bar, there’s a comfy lounge and at 42C you love the pool, plus good food (not French 3 star but the equivalent of a Toronto neighbourhood restaurant – except the beef and lamb – we’re still having a problem with African red meat)

The best part was the view.  We dined overlooking the desert and mountains.  Mornings and evenings were a symphony of colour changes with the rising and setting sun.  Our photography is a failure here.  It looks grey and boring – reality is far better

Our room was unique and charming.  The mosquito net was unnecessary, but the jet turbine scale fan was essential in the heat

One delightful feature – they had set up an artificial waterhole in front of our room with a night light (it’s hidden in the bushy thing upper right).  The springboks and numerous birds were frequent visitors.  Apparently everyone else saw an Oryx, but they continued to elude us

So what is it like to live in 42 degrees celcius?

• since the water (pumped from 300 feet down) is stored in above ground tanks all water is hot water.  We came to believe that the hot water was actually cooler and made for a more tolerable shower – but Liz just jumped in the pool
• depending on windows and locations, sitting on a toilet seat can be an interesting experience.
• we had to put the i-pod in the fridge as it overheated – has not been quite the same since that day
• you do not walk barefoot anywhere
• Liz was concerned her contact lens solution would melt her contact lenses

There was a lovely symbolic moment as we left.  A rainbow appeared over the lodge.  It had been a golden time for us….note that the rain was evaporating before it hit the ground

Liz and Dick go Duneriding!

We take obnoxious pride un having ridden on or in everything – hot air balloons, the Concorde, tanks, hydrofoils, camels, cave rafting, etc.  Quad biking on the Namibian dunes was a must try (we have deleted sky diving and bungee jumping from our “must try” list, however!)

The day started badly with a Gilles Duceppe moment (only Canadians will understand) – Liz and Dick in hairnets – apparently concern about baldness germs infecting an otherwise hirsute gene pool

We then mounted our bikes and our trusty guide Ernst (who was wonderful) set off across the dunes. 

Liz’s machine bore the scars of a previous rider

How were we to know?  Duneriding is incredibly fun.  Can’t take too many photos on the way but it is just too much fun

But it gets better.  Ernst – being no fool – asks what we’re interested in.  We explain we like reptiles – snakes? Yes! – off we go.

Suddenly Ernst leaps off his bike and starts digging by hand into a dune,.  He finally unearths (unsands?) a semi transparent gecko who was literally swimming through the sand.  The creature is magical – huge eyes, semi transparent skin, obliviously unafraid; what does it eat?  Drink?  The dunes are as sterile as an OR … or so we thought

 

The process repeats itself.  This time Ernest disappears into a large hole in the dunes to recover a shovel nosed lizard,  How he sees these creatures at this distance is a mystery, let alone catching them.  We are enchanted

Our enthusiasm for the two lizards is a challenge to Ernst.  What else would we like to see>  Snakes? Sidewinders? Yes, yes, yes!

3 sidewinders are quickly found in the sparse vegetation.  They are small – 8”-9” – but venomous.  Ernst describes a bite as painful, but not debilitating. We take his word for the experience

 

Best of all, they move across the sand with the classic sidewinder movement – see following video

 

 

On the way back we passed the horse graveyard.   In the very early 1900’s, when the Germans were colonizing Namibia, they used a lot of horses.  Those that didn’t survive the desert ended up here

On a cheerier note, we had much fun.  It you ever want to do Namibian Dune Riding – find Ernst at Outback Orange in Swakopmund.

A flight over the Dunes and the Skeleton Coast

Liz loves small planes, so it was off to see the dunes and the coast from the air.  We shared the plane with a charming frenchman and his two children.  The kids alternated between sleeping and throwing up

(Liz here – I would just like to comment at this point in the blog that moneybelts around your waist do terrible things for pictures)

The amazing feature is the scale of the dune field – they go on to the horizon

 

They are sculptural when seen from the air

We fly over the badlands we drove through on the previous day – some of the roughest land imaginable.  Somewhere down there is the road we survived.

In this strange land many of the rivers flow underground.  You can trace them by the lines of trees, but there is no open water

The desert is littered with old mining camps (generally diamonds) from the last century

 

Even in the most remote parts of the desert there are tire marks from prospectors and adventurers

Our flight takes us over Deadvlei – where we had walked just days before

Then out to the coast – it’s called the Skeleton Coast because the frequent fog and the shifting sand bars made it a mariners’ grave yard.  Wrecks are covered and then exposed by the marching sand.  The Edward Bohlen sank in 1909

The coast is dotted with seal colonies, until you reach “the wall” where the dunes meet the South Atlantic

One fun part (and possibly why the children were throwing up) is our pilot likes to fly low, really low.  We are at 250 feet above the beach or the right altitude for flying inside the nearby 300 foot high sand dune!

 

The large salt evaporating ponds look like a water colour paint box

Approaching Swakopmund we pass over the street grids for more vacation homes.  The owners will primarily be Germans or Namibians from Windhoek.  The place is changing very fast

And closing in stark contrast to the luxury vacation homes, a less well planned street grid – the shanty towns that blight most African cities.

Canadians have fun with seals = Oxymoron!

Cape Cross Namibia has the world’s largest population of fur seals – over 150,000 at the breeding season.  As Canadians we felt we had a cultural obligation to do our part.  Clubs in hand we set out to proclaim the true north, strong and free.  Unfortunately the cubs are black, not white, which meant the blood didn’t show, which ruined the fun so we took pictures instead

Liz, as always, found us a wonderful hotel overlooking the sea (Cape Cross Lodge) with an absolutely wonderful staff.  Following are pictures of our room, view and facilities.  Note it’s interesting and welcoming, but a very barren part of the world

(comment from Liz – if you are traveling from Swakopmund to Damaraland it really makes sense to stay here one night – it’s less than two hours from Swakop and makes the drive easier the next day – plus you get to see the seals)

 

The seals are fascinating – fighting, brawling, young searching for mothers, diving into the water, and others surging ashore….but it is the cacophony of sound that defines the experience, as hopefully the following video shows

 

 

(some would also say it is the smell that defines the experience!)

The scale of the colony is best seen from across the bay

Following some pics from the far too many we shot

 

And then into the Namibian interior - Damaraland