Thursday 20th November
A night in a real bed, luxury, BUT we were both awake early and left for Sossusvlei Dunes at 5.30am. The staff were already up and gave us our packed breakfast and coffee or tea before we left. Back to Sesriem to the Sossusvlei Dune Park. It opens at 6.15am, we were there about 6.30 am and were the 36th vehicle through the gates. The road was tarred through the reserve which made travel more comfortable. We stopped a few times en route to the end of the valley, to take photos. We left the tarred road for the last 4km, BUT we hadn’t put our tyre pressure down for soft sand and had a few worrying moments, where we had to reverse for a bit to try again without getting bogged down in the sand. We saw dune 45 that Sarah and John climbed, quite a few were doing it, it was a bit of a procession and we decided not to do it (too hot, too crowded, and too much of a whimp). We drove on to Sossusvlei and did the walk to Dead Vlei. It took about 11/2 hours, and was really hot on the return journey. The dunes are amazing, they go on for miles towards the coast and the length of Namibia. The colour is astounding, a rich amber/ terracotta colour. The shadows created by the early morning sun make it beautiful. We’ve taken a few photos and hope we can give a bit of an idea of the scale and beauty.
Back at the Lodge just after lunch, lazed, plunged, read and researched the next leg of our journey.
