Southern Africa - Day 9

Tuesday, 21 January 2020 - Namibia

Today we had to leave at 5.15 a.m. (!!!) it is really very quiet here even during the day, more so at night. Pitch dark and not a sound. So when Clever came calling at 4.45 a.m. (his idea of a wake up call) I got a shock and luckily I didn’t scream. 

We had a quick breakfast, then off to the dunes to climb up the famous Dune 45. I think I already mentioned that the dunes here are reddish as there are iron deposits underneath them and as it erodes, the iron gets exposed to the air and becomes a nice rust colour. The dunes begin about 55 km from the Atlantic coast. In the morning the wind blows from inland to the ocean and in the afternoon the wind blows from the ocean to inland, and this process shapes the ridges formed on the dunes. Depending on the pattern of the ridges, there are different types of dunes for example the star dune and the linear dune. Honestly, I can’t tell the difference. 

The sand dunes here have all been numbered and I notice that only Dune 45 has tourists climbing it. Clever says that the government only allowed one dune to be climbed, and the rest is prohibited from any kind of human activity as they want to preserve its natural processes. Apparently they chose Dune 45 to be accessible as it is one of the easier ones. 

I didn’t necessarily want to climb Dune 45, climbing is really not my thing and then there is nothing to hold on to if you slip - I guess you just roll down 😅. But then the others in their 70s were doing it so I did it as well 🙄. Coming down was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be, in fact going up was the scary part. My shoes and socks were full of red sand when I came down, not very comfortable. 

Then we took a 4x4 transfer to drive through Sossusvlei (meaning the Living Valley) to come to a place near the Deadvlei (meaning the Dead Valley). From here we had to hike a bit to the Deadvlei. It really looks deserted, whiter sand with dead trees everywhere. It’s beautiful in a creepy way. It is dead because the river from the mountain that passes through Sossusvlei is blocked and cut off by the dunes  so there is no water, no moisture and very little oxygen. Nothing survives here, hence the Dead Valley.

In the distance there was the highest dune in the Namib desert, known as the Big Daddy which stands at about 400 m high. Jay and Jack climbed a very steep part of a sand dune and I am just amazed with Jack because he turned 72 today and he drinks like a fish! You really need a lot of stamina to do it and I really don’t know how he does it. At my age I think I would need 3 hours to do it 😅. I blame it on the genes. 

On the trek I saw some sand beetles and a sand diving lizard. These lizards will dive into the sand when it feels threatened, and then you just scoop it up sand and all and you’re supposed to eat it raw and alive - food for survival in the desert if I’m ever stranded there one day. 

Then we drove to Sesriem Canyon. The last part of the drive was really bumpy and things were flying and rolling everywhere in the truck 😂. I saw some wildebeest and springboks but couldn’t take any pictures as everything was shaking too much. ‘Ses’ means 6 and ‘riem’ means rope. There are ponds in the canyon when the river flows through it, and in yesteryears the locals used to put ropes down the canyon to take water from the pond. In the end the canyon was named Sesriem. Why 6, I don’t know. Probably it was started with only 6 ropes.

The canyon gives colour to Deadvlei because of the clay (whitish in hue) that gets swept into the valley. Many birds make their nests here, such as pigeons (I saw many here) and owls. We trekked down into the canyon and along the bottom, then out again. And then we were done for the day.

We ate our packed lunches back at our hotel. I washed my shoes, socks and long pants. The sole of my left shoe is giving way and I have no glue with me. I think I will use plasters (it’s the only sticky thing I can think of) to hold them together temporarily until I can find some glue. Then I wrote this blog and tried to take a nap but I couldn’t I know not why.

For dinner I tried ostrich, blesbok, hartebeest and kudu 😱😱😱. Of the 8 bushmeat I’ve tasted so far, I like impala the best but I will not eat it again if I don’t have too. Africans in general are great meat eaters, as confirmed by Clever and Taro. Jack announced that he will be buying drinks for everyone on occasion of this birthday. How sweet. The staff at the restaurant did a birthday song with a cake and everything and for once he was speechless due to embarrassment I think 😂.

Some of the others wanted to have a few more drinks after dinner but I was feeling sleepy so I excused myself and went to bed.