Red dunes in Sossusvlei

I miss the adjectives to do justice to the landscape of Namibia. It’s just so unbelievable beautiful! Each and every extensive part of it. I can imagine that the landscape, except the roads, is exactly the same as hundreds or maybe even thousands of years ago. If it is the wide open white sanded dune landscape at the Atlantic coast, if you drive through the yellow grasslands with a view on a black mountain ridge or through a mountain pass with breathtaking views. It’s just nature everywhere you look! The occasional springbok, gemsbok or ostrich adds to the experience.

We’ve left the Atlantic (cold!) coast and drove to Walvisbaai. Famous for the big groups of pelicans and flamingos. Unfortunately they we’re not home (I can’t blame them, it’s grey and cold and rainy here!), so we continued our way to Solitaire. Solitaire itself is nothing but a petrol station and a campsite, but it’s famous for Moose’s apple-pie! Every bus, truck or car on the way stops to taste it. And yes, it is really nice ;) We’ve spend the night here to be well rested for the next day…the Sossusvlei!

Red dunes and dune-running
The 150 km drive from Solitaire to the Sossusvlei is again stunning! We left at 6 am to make it in time to catch the morning light. After about 80 km we reached Sesriem, the portal to the valley. From there it was still about 70 km through the Namib-Naukluft park. And there they were! It’s not that you suddenly are surrounded by red dunes, but gradually they appear on your left and right. First with some vegetation, but the different shapes and forms created by the wind are already visible.
At a certain point we reached the famous ‘dune 45’. The parking lot was busy with tour buses and the dune was crowded with people. Hmm, we’ll continue a little bit further.
We reached the parking lot of the Sossusvlei. From here on special 4x4 cabs take people to the furthest point. We looked at each other, had a short discussion with Bertha and decided to go for it. This was our main aim of our journey, so we could not back out now. And we have a 4x4, so we just went ahead. Slipping and sliding through the rough sand Tinus managed great!

And finally, we were there. We had made it! We were in the Sossusvlei, with Bertha! I felt so proud and euphoric!!! Wahooo! And it was beautiful. The red dunes actually look more yellowish when you see them up-close, but the dunes itself are amazing. And then the fact that this is just a small part of the immense Namib-Naukluft park. Do I remember correctly that this is the oldest desert in the world?

We picked a dune and started walking up on the rim. Oops, that’s actually quite hard haha. Out of breath we reached the top. What a view!!! We had our breakfast on the top of the world. On our left we saw the Sossus Vlei, on our right Dead Vlei. We looked down. Hm, this nice fine sand looks tempting. How about a run down? Barefoot we prepared ourselves and flew down. Wahooo! That was fun! Again! Too bad that you actually have to walk the whole way back up again, but it was so much fun! Running down the dunes almost feels like flying!

Exhausted and happy we looked for the way back to the car. Oh no! I think the car is this way, Tinus thinks the other way. We see nothing but red dunes for miles! It’s so disorientating! Which way is right? Which direction is the sun going? After a couple of hours walking around in circles Tinus was crawling on his knees begging the earth for water. Oh no, what if we never find our way back??? It was getting dark and cold now…

Okay, to be honest, this not really happened (don’t worry, I’m just joking!). The Sossusvlei is a very touristic place and there are people (and footsteps to follow) everywhere. But we were at a point were we saw nobody for a moment and could imagine how easy it would be to get lost here. How did people in the old days ever find their way back? It was very beautiful, but also very intimidating.

Happy, proud and tired from running down the dunes we made our way back to Solitaire. We praised Bertha for doing such a good job. She responded with some unexpected and loud rattling sound. We couldn’t find anything wrong with any of the oils and diesel and it disappeared after a while. Maybe she was just purring of pride?
When driving back, we realized that from here on, every kilometer we drive brings us closer to Malawi again. But first we have set a new goal! Reaching the Indian Ocean in Mozambique!!!

We’re in Windhoek now (Cardboard Box Backpackers) and will continue in one or two days for ‘the big drive’ trough Botswana and South-Africa.

How are you guys all doing? We’d love to hear from you as well! You know you can still e-mail us at amyopreis@hotmail.com !

With love,
Amy and Tinus and proud Bertha