Advertisement
Published: October 3rd 2006
So we are on the road to Sossusvlei. Other than the fact that I have no clean clothes and have not showered, I am feeling much better and am looking forward to reaching the dunes. We passed through a little town called Rehoboth and it felt like we were in the real Africa, I could tell because I was uncomfortable. But that's what it is all about, I like that feeling. As you get off the main highway and head into the little town the road became gravel again, the houses sparse with clothes hanging from the lines and children wandering the streets. There are people on bikes going about their daily business and there are so many different sounds and smells. Sounds of Africa - it is nice to be away from the city. We went into this one gas station only to find out they were out of fuel so we headed to another. With the tank full it was time to get back on the highway and head to our destination - the sand dunes! Finally. I remember being back in Vancouver shortly after my house burned down, swamped by all the ramifications that came with it,
and seeing a picture of a little tree against this humungous dune. It looked like it didn't stand a chance amongst this giant but it survives. Not only survives, but flourishes, just like I knew I was going to. I knew I wanted to get to this place that was empty, remote and free of society and I was finally on my way.
We eventually came to the point where the highway driving comes to an end and you turn off onto this gravel road. We would spend about 4 or 5 hours on this road and it is incredibly remote. Over the entire time we were on this road we only saw 4 or 5 vehicles. The landscape was stunning and I was in my glory. Miles upon miles of nothing but Africa. We drove through beautiful canyons and mountains with the road reaching up so high we could see for miles around us only to come back down into deep valley's that were so beautiful they took your breathe away. There were many times I would come around a corner and I would actually gasp it was so gorgeous. I just drove and savoured every
second knowing that one day I would look back from where ever I was living and only dream of being in this place. I never wanted this road to end.
After a number of hours we were finally coming to the end of our magical road. Off in the distance you could see big mountains with nothing but sand surrounding them. It was a little teaser before the dunes. You could see mountains and sand but not mountains made of sand - yet. The miles just went on an on. It was getting later and I swear I started to wonder if Sossusvlei even existed or if it was just a practical joke - get the tourists to drive a gravel road that never actually ends. Then we saw a sign for Sesriem which is the final stop before the dunes. It is the only place you can actually stay at and can only enter the dunes between sunrise and sunset. We were finally at our destination. It was a good thing we had picked up some food in Rehoboth because I can tell you there was nothing much around unless you wanted to eat sand. We were
very remote and I was very happy.
I headed on into the office to get my camping spot and I was dismayed to find that the two men working there were not that willing to deal with me, they just brushed me off. I could tell it was because I was a woman on my own. They really pretended like I wasn't there and spoke to me as little as possible. They wouldn't look me in the eye or even acknowledge the question I asked. As a matter of fact, they acted irritated when I asked a couple of questions about how things worked. When I asked them to show me how to get to the spot I was camping, they pulled out a hand drawn map, pointed to the spot and then banged the map down upside down on the counter and looked at me with a blank stare. All a part of the experience I guess. It was a creepy feeling to feel how women must feel when they are not equal in society. They wouldn't give me my own spot and put me in an overflow area beside the bar. We were the only
ones sent there so I wondered how "over flowed" they really were. The funny thing is that I knew they didn't want to talk to me so when I got back to the car after leaving the office, I decided to think up a few more questions that I should probably ask them, he he. I went back as cheerful as ever and asked them 4 or 5 more questions until I couldn't think of anymore. I lingered just a little longer than I needed to and with an extremely polite "Thanks for all your help, it is really appreciated" and a smile I was on my way. They were really uncomfortable and it was really funny.
Off to the overflow we go, lol. Of course it was dark by now because it wouldn't be par for the course if we arrived organized in the daylight. So we had to try to find our spot in the dark which was next to impossible. We found a nice tree instead. We pulled in and set up under this tree and it was starting to get quite windy. It had been a long day and we were tired so
we decided to just go to sleep. We could really use a good nights' rest before conquering the dunes in the morning. We had to get up at 5:30 in order to catch the sunrise from a dune. At about 1:00 in the morning I woke up to find the wind howling so hard that the one side of the tent was almost touching the opposite side it was being blown so hard. I was almost on top of Jordan with plastic in my face on one side and a kid snoring on the other. I swear I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz and I feared our tent was going to be carried off into the sky. The wind storm was loud, obnoxious and mighty and it finally woke Jordan up. Now we were both awake with the tent rattling like a kite in the wind. There was no use trying to sleep in this atmosphere so we packed everything up and went and slept in the car. We woke up in the morning only to find that massive amounts of sand had been blown around and our car had been somewhat burried. As I attempted to
drive off to make my dream of watching the sunrise over the dunes come true, I put the car in reverse and the tires just spun and spun spun in the sand. We were stuck. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That is what I thought and just went back to sleep.
Later that day, after being towed out of our sand castle, we went on to enter the National Park and it was the most enchanting (tarred) road you could ever imagine. As you drove through the gates of the park you entered a landscape that looked like a scened out of the movie "The Land Before Time". It was mesmerizing just driving and I had tingles down my arms just looking at the land changing from mountains of rock to mountains of sand. We had entered another world. We eventually arrived at Dune 45 and tried to climb it but by this time of the day it was scorching hot and the wind had not calmed down much at all. As we were hiking up, we were getting sand blasted in our faces and legs. It felt like sandpaper scraping you. We made it
about half way up then decided it was enough. I have never been more disappointed in myself than standing there trying to come to terms with the fact that I would not get to the top of Dune 45 but I was exhausted and had just gotten over food poisoning, a very long hard drive and a sleepless night. We decided to just drive the beautiful road through the park and head back to camp.
When we got back to camp Jordan and I were both so tired that we slept for almost three hours in the car. We ended up back in the park late that afternoon and were able to climb a little higher up Dune 45 to watch the sunset. The wind was still strong but the heat of the day had dissipated and it was tolerable if you didn't go too high where the wind was still very forceful. We sat there for a couple of hours and just watched the valley from high above with it's vastness and animals and trees. It is the most free feeling I had ever had and I could see why I was so out of place
in the city sometimes - this is the atmosphere I really crave. In true and utter happiness we watched the sun sink behind the mountains and it was the most blazing, pink African sun you could ever imagine. I looked like a fireball or meteor sinking out of sight.
With that we drove back to our campsite through the park with the sun setting and a pink hue in the sky. We saw the animals coming out for the night, the rabbits, the dassies, the springbok, ostrich - the valley was just coming to life while changing colors as we were driving. As we arrived back and entered the campsite we saw the overland tour companies gathered around their fires cooking steak and burgers for their clients who were comfortably sitting around with coffee's and hot chocolates. This made it harder to come to the realization that we were completely out of food with the exception of a loaf of bread that had been submersed in the melted ice water all day. There was to be no dinner for us or camp fire for that matter. We had not gotten any wood - just call us Mr.
and Ms. Prepared. So now all we had to do was find our campsite as we had been moved to some really off to the side spot that was hard to find in the day nevermind in the dark. We are driving, looking for it when, BAM! Stuck again. The sandstorm had created deep pockets of sand in the road and we were stuck in one again. I could instantly forsee that this meant that we would still be stuck early morning and that would mean missing sunrise again. No way. I went to the little bar they had there and bought this guy a beer if he would help get us out, and he did.
We eventually arrived back at our little spot and it was our intention to set up our tent and try to heat up what was not water logged of our bread thing that we still had left. After climbing dunes in the hot sun it would be nice to have something at least. So we start to set up our tent and light the little propane stove we have to dry out our bread when a big tarantula goes running across
our path. That's it. Game over. I don't want anything more to do with this camping outside stuff - not here, not tonight anyways. We re-pack the tent, dry our bread out without our feet touching the ground and decide to call it a night - in the car once again. Hang on, we have left the doors open and the interior light on. There is about 200 moths swarming in the inside of the car around the light. There are now red ants, a stick-bug and moths trying to share with us the only place we have left on earth for some peace. Screw that. I become super-mamma with my plastic bag in hand. Out goes the stick bug! Hiiiiyyyaaa!!! Red ant = dead. 200 moths = dead (after about 10 minutes I got everyone of those suckers). We climb into the car, put our sleeping bags over our heads and call it a night once again. Off to sleep we go.
We woke up in the morning ready to tackle the dunes. Today will be a better day for it, it is nice and early so it isn't too hot, there is practically no wind
at all and we have had a good nights sleep. Aside from no food for the past 20 hours or so, everything is great - and it stayed that way the entire day. We headed back to Dune 45 and managed to climb the entire thing. Not only that but we were the only ones up there. A bit earlier in the morning there are tour buses and loads of people. We waited a bit longer and had the whole thing to ourselves. We sat at the very top and looked out over the valley for a very long time. Again - true happiness. Getting back down the dunes is sooo much fun. Running down feels so free. On our way down a tonne of people started to show up and it was funny that we had this little window of opportunity to be at the top of the dune alone. What a treat. We headed back to our car and then carried on to Sossusvlei.
When you get to the end of the road (which is where Sossusvlei is), you have to take a 4x4 shuttle in to the heart of the dunes. Dune 45 is
beautiful, but at Sossusvlei you are completely surrounded by dunes, you cannot see anything else for miles and miles. They are both beautiful, just different from each other. Even the shuttle was a lot of fun. When we finally arrived at the dune called Sossusvlei we were already really tired from the accumulation of the past number of days combined with no food and climbing big sand dunes. Jordan didn't really want to climb it but I would have none of that. Up we went. It was soooooo worth it because the view at the top.....I could never even describe it. It is not just a view, it is an energy. Again, we sat up there for a good hour or so until we got the pleasure of sliding down it. It was freeing, soothing, liberating, awe inspiring, it was so many things all in one. I tried so hard to make myself go down for so long but it was so hard leaving the top with that view, knowing I may never see it again. That view along with the feeling of freedom, remoteness and serenity was definately a highlight in my life. I eventually found myself at the
bottom of the dune walking back to shuttle.
After a quiet ride back to the car it was time to drive back through Namib-Naukluft National Park for the last time. Again, just as beautiful as ever. I will miss this place, tarantula's and all. Even the nasty man that didn't like girls...........
It was a long drive to Walvis Bay on the gravel roads - six hours to be exact. We arrived about 10 minutes before dark (see, I am getting better) and just decided to stay at a hotel. I needed my own room with a movie channel, a hot shower and a good meal. This was a good choice because Jordan and I stayed in bed for three days and watched movies. We did not even leave the hotel with the exception of me going to the grocery store. The past three days were so relaxing and both our bodies needed it. Now we are refreshed, feeling good and ready to move on to Swakopmund where there are many things to do. I am glad we have our energy back so we can enjoy them.
Love Heide and Jordan
xo
Advertisement
Tot: 0.076s; Tpl: 0.046s; cc: 10; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0204s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Heide and Jordan
Heide and Jordan
Green with envy
Hey there guys! I finally figured out how to read your blogs. What a wonderful adventure and journey of a lifetime. Wow!! Ilga kept me up to date. Keep safe and have fun while I enjoy my new shade of green. Shauna