Wednesday 4 June 2014

Off to the Dunes

It is day break so we are on the road again!   We are heading to the dunes.
Our drive is along C roads again and we make our way through two mountain passes - simply magnificient.  Another long tough drive but we are rewarded with splendid landscapes and a ton of photo opportunities.
We make the obligatory stop at Solitaire for apple pie and continue to our lodge about 30 kms to the south.  The lodge is set in the Namib desert with fossilized dunes within walking distance.
The lodge is approximately 60 kms (on a C road) from Sesreim - the gateway to Soussuvlei.  From Sesreim the big dune is about an hour away on a paved road.  Of course the trip took longer because we stopped along the route for photos and a dune 45 visit.
We did not climb "big daddy" but enjoyed walking around and exploring the area including Dead Vlei.
One suggestion - if you are interested in seeing the dunes in the early morning or late afternoon sun and lighting you may want to consider a lodge closer to Sesreim so that you will not have to drive too long in
the dark.
For us the lodge was a good base for exploring the area.
Besides the national park, a few other memorable moments: Taking a walk along hiking paths in the lodge area and enjoying the scenery with a setting sun, birds and the solitude of the desert.
Another enduring memory will be the night sky.  I am not an astronomer - but was fascinated by the number of stars we saw in the sky - so clear and so vivid.

From here we drove to Windhoek arriving in time for some shopping,  an almost mandatory meal at Joe's beerhouse ( very enjoyable meal with a mix of tourists and locals) and preparing to fly on to Cape Town to wrap up our trip.

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