Back to the Kalahari

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May 28, 29, 30 – Bagatelle Lodge, Keetmanshoop, road to Sossusvlei

We travelled south from Na’ankuse, watching the Kalahari sands gradually take control of the environment. The last 50 km to our night at Bagatelle Lodge near the town of Mariental were crossing dunes that were running north south as far as could be seen. The dune is red sand about 100 metres high and each dune is spaced 500 metres apart. So it was a roller coaster drive across them. In the evening we transferred to Toyota 4x4 for a couple of hours of dune buggy excitement. Several spots offered Oryx, springbok and kudu viewing and concluded with dune top “sundowner” for beer, pop and chips and glorious sunset for the photographers.

Next day we continued south to the quiver tree forest near Keetmanshoop where the late afternoon sunlight was perfect for the photographers again. These trees have unique branch and bark form amidst rocky hills. Kayla and our other travel mates took pictures and Richard scoured the hills for examples of diabase rock.

This was the extent of our south direction and on May 30 we turned around north on pavement and then west on gravel towards the Namib desert - the culmination of Kayla’s travel expectations in Namibia. It took all day to get there, snaking through mountains of volcanic rock and valleys of sparse acacia and sandy soil. Finally at 4 PM we arrived in the Namib desert national park and were able to witness the sunset on the dunes – just enough time for the photographers to capture the sun and shade profiles of these dramatic red sand monoliths.

Accommodation tonight was within the park at a lodge with board walks to keep guests off the sensitive sandy environment. With windows wide open and warm desert breezes blowing we enjoyed wilderness silence and moon shining bright on the landscape.

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