Red Dunes

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After Swakopmund we went further into the Namib Desert. Friday (28th) we left Swakopmund and headed towards Sossusvlei. The Namib Desert all around Sossusvlei is the desert that you see on all the postcards: big red sand dunes. We went on a walk in the dunes and learned all about the desert, beetles, lizards, etc. Our guide was perfect for his job. He was a little quarky, but you need that in a guide. He showed us how to catch lizards by throwing a hat so that they think the shadow is a bird. They then burrow in the sand and you can catch them. Their nostrils are smaller than grains of sand so they don't suffocate. He also showed us beetles that scamper incredibly quickly across the sand and roly-poly spiders that curl up in balls and roll down the dunes to get away from predators. Their nests have little trapdoors on top with velcro-like stuff holding it shut. The most interesting thing we learned was that springboks can go for their whole lives without drinking any water. They get enough from the meat that they eat. The desert used to just be sand but now with global warming there is sometimes rain so there is slightly more vegetation. Sossusvlei means "Place Where People Disappear". It was named that because people would go down into the desert and not come back, either getting lost and dying or getting killed by the San people if they felt threatened. We learned some about the San people and how their culture is disappearing.

After our dune walk we climbed Dune 45 for sunset. Dune 45 is the one on all the postcards. Very pretty with all the red sand! Our tour leader took us up the really looong difficult way rather than the short easy way around the back so we gave him a hard time about that but it was alright, just more of a workout. The sunset was really nice and it was nice to be up on top of a dune. Afterwards we did a combination of running/cartwheeling/tumbling down the dune.

Saturday was a long drive day. In the evening we did an awards ceremony. Each of us drew someone's name and then we thought up an award for them. Most peoples' were really good and entertaining because they all had stories behind them. My award wasn’t creative at all. I’m the only American on the trip so of course it had to do with that. I got the George W. Bush award for being one of the first Americans to visit Africa. It could’ve been for any American; it wasn’t specific to me at all. I guess that’s what I get for being from the States…

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Photos

We Made It! Top of Dune 45
Bear (Andy), Me, Will, Craig