Namibia's Southern Side

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June 14th

After four days of waking up when we liked, getting up at 5am was quite the chore. But we did it and got our things loaded in record time, and the truck left Swakopmund on time at 6am.

Right behind us was the African Travel Co. overland truck, another group of passengers but on a sub par version of the trip we are on. (African Trails Rocks!). In all seriousness there are many other overland truck companies, Dragoman, Nomad, GAP Adventures, the list goes on and on. Most of the other trucks are filled with 20 or more people and our small group of eleven aren’t envious of them at all, we’re a pretty tight knit group and being smaller allows us to get to know eachother pretty well.

One of the main reasons we got up so early was to make it to the Namib-Naukluft National Park a little bit after lunch so that a few of our group could join the tour into the Sossusvlei with the group from African Travel Co. (hereby referred to as ATC). Since we had all woke up so early and Swakopmund was so damn cold, we all jumped back into our sleeping bags and went back to sleep.

After a few hours went by and it was warm enough to jump out of the sleeping bags we were pleasantly surprised by the terrain that we were passing by, it was pretty spectacular. All of Namibia has to be honest, we’ve all enjoyed the scenery immensely. We drover through the Kuiseb Pass, an awesome canyon full of neat rock formations and great views. About an hour or so later we came across an interesting sign on the road, we were on the Tropic of Capricorn, it was a good photo opportunity before we continued on towards Namib-Naukluft. We stopped at a very small town named Solitaire and it was a chance for us to empty our bladders and fill our stomachs, namely with the famous apple pies they cook in the one horse town. I didn’t try any of the pies but I did take some photos of the antique and rusted cars that littered the parking lot and entrance.

On we continued and before long we were at the Sesriem Campsite in the Namib-Naukluft. After setting up the tents and having a quick lunch we jumped back in the truck to drive about 35 kilometers north where the tour would start for the people interested in going to the Sossusvlei (Google it!). I opted out of that journey, primarily for monetary reasons, it was $40 that I probably should have spent but I’m really trying to watch the pennies. While half of the group went on the tour the other half of us stayed in our sleeping bags to avoid the cold desert winds. A couple hours later the trucks returned and we headed for a special sand dune called Dune 45. About thirty of us began the 20 minute trek up the dune to watch the sunset from the top. The view was stellar and to watch the sunset from such a place made it really special.

With our minds thinking about dinner we headed back to Sesriem Camp. World Cup Fever was in most of our veins and so when we got back to camp the first place a few of us headed was the television in the bar to find out the results from that afternoon. After learning the results from the day (Holland beat Denmark and Japan beat Cameroon) we showered up and the cook group got dinner started. Luke and I headed over to the bar to watch Italy and Paraguay square up on the pitch. It was an even match and ended up being a draw, shame cause I really wanted Italy to lose, especially to a Latin American team!

Not long after the match ended we headed back to our tents to get bundled up and warm. Nicio and I had to share a tent because campsite rules only allowed six tents and since we were both the notorious snorers it was an easy decision to cast us off like leppers. Haha! We didn’t wake eachother up the whole night but rather it was the wind and cold, but we managed to survive the night.

Hope you like the photos and post, until next time, Pura Vida!

-Brendan “Avila” Mahoney

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