We arrived in Sossusvlei on July 27th and spoiled ourselves for three nights at the Sossu Dunes Lodge.
Sossusvlei is located in the Namib Desert in the Namib-Naukluft National Park, the largest conservation area in Africa, and boasts some of the highest sand dunes in the world, some reaching up to 400 metres. The red sand makes for spectacular photography, especially in the early morning or late afternoon.
On the morning of the 28th, we drove 60 km to the dunes, where we hiked about 1 km to reach some of the dunes in the photos and attempted to climb them, but it was extremely hot and dry, and heart attacks are not in our itinerary.
The next day, we visited Sesriem Canyon, located less than 1 km from our lodge in the park. The canyon’s birth dates back between 2 and 4 million years, when continental upheaval resulted in the creation of most of the westward-flowing rivers in the Namib Desert region. Today, the Tsauchab River only runs after good rains fall in the nearby Naukluft Mountains.
The canyon is a testament to the river’s long-past prime some 15-18 million years ago, when the gorge was created by the river’s once-sweeping movement. The canyon is up to 30 metres deep at points and is roughly 1 km long, with a width that ranges between 1 and 3 metres, flattening out as it approaches the iconic Sossusvlei.
We arrived at Aus-Klein Vista camp located just outside the town of Aus on July 26th.
Aus is located in the Aus Mountains above the plains of the Namib desert and the village was formerly the site of a prisoner of war camp in 1915 used to house German inmates from the First World War.
Our campsite was fantastic, private yet exposed to the local wildlife. Oryx, ostrich and springbok wandered and fed nearby.
We arrived fairly early in the day, so we headed out on a 2-hour hike up through a rock-strewn mountain path to arrive at the most incredible view of the plains of the Namib Desert far below.
Later in the evening, we cooked pork chops over a wood fire while watching springbok feed nearby. After Joyce went to bed with her hot water bottle, I sat by the fire contemplating life, the universe and everything, like I usually do when staring at the stars.
I occasionally shone my flashlight around the surrounding area, and to my delight, an African wildcat approached my spotlight. It was about four times the size of an average house cat and, of course, I didn’t have a camera on hand. We definitely made eye contact, as we were only about 15 feet apart from each other. A very cool experience.
The next day, we had a very long journey ahead of us, but we definitely had to go about 200 km out of our way, round trip, to visit the famous ghost town of Kolmanskop, once called “the African Siberia,” where once upon a time many people found wealth in diamond mining.
Most of the houses and buildings were constructed between 1908 and 1910 and now stand abandoned and are slowly being reclaimed by the desert sands. The wind was howling, and after a very short time, we were covered in a fine sand dust. My camcorder shutter became jammed, and our trip back to Aus to continue on to Sossusvlei would become an adventure we didn’t anticipate.
Backtracking to Aus, the wind blew waves of sand across the highway, which was fortunately paved and smooth going. The wind was strong, but I didn’t think it was so strong that it would cause the truck to become sluggish climbing a small hill. After several cars flashed their lights at us and I realized I had the gas pedal to the mat, we figured something was definitely not right. So we pulled over in the middle of nowhere to check things out.
Well, damn! The pop-top of the truck had popped up and the tenting canvas was in tatters. Shit, both of the top latches had released. Well, not quite. One latch released while the other had literally ripped out of the steel-moulded canopy top. Now what? What do we do? How do we get back to Aus? (Good thing Aus isn’t spelled OZ, ha ha!).
We had some thick string that we used to secure our water supply (another story), but no way would it be strong enough to secure the pop-top. I put on my MacGyver cap, thought holy crap, now what, but didn’t say this out loud because Joyce was, shall we say, a little panicked, and came up with a plan. We had a tow rope stowed in the truck. Hopefully, it would be long enough to secure the top and get us back to town. It was, just barely, within inches, but it worked.
We slowly headed back to Aus, bought a strap and ratchet at the local gas station, secured the top, and made our merry way for the next 5 1/2 hours, driving several hell-highways en route to Sossusvlei.
It took 1 1/2 days for a technician to meet up with us in Sossusvlei. He fixed everything, and now we will be paranoid for the rest of our trip. What will happen next?
We departed Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in SA on the 25th and endured 340 km of bone-wracking gravel roads leading us to the Quiver Tree Forest Rest Camp.
We stayed one night and nearly froze to death in the cold wind that blew through the desert landscape. The wind was so strong we could hardly keep the fire going, so we settled on a package of soup mix and an unknown type of sausage/hot dog that we grilled on a fork over the smoking, blowing fire. The smoke infiltrated every fibre of our clothing and camper truck. Needless to say, my copilot was not too happy, so I filled the hot water bottle and sent her off to an early 8:00 pm bedtime.
The quiver tree is one of the most interesting and characteristic plants of the very hot and dry parts of Namibia and the northwestern part of the Cape Province of South Africa. It is not actually a tree but an aloe plant. The plant is called a “Kokerboom” and was named as such because some Bushmen and Hottentot tribes used the tough, pliable bark and branches to make quivers for their arrows. “Koker” is the Afrikaans word for quiver.
