Blogs from Sossusvlei, Namibia, Africa - page 5

Hi everyone! Coming to the end of our time in Namibia now. We will be crossing the Orange River this afternoon and entering South Africa. Have absolutely loved it. I don't think I have been anywhere with more striking landscapes and huge open spaces. The wilderness just goes on forever - we travelled for a whole day through the Namib desert to a place called Solitaire and when we finally got there it was nothing more than a few outhouses. Apt name though…On the plus side there was a larger than life German baker there who made the best apple pie ever! Apparently Ewan MacGregor stopped here for some home baking whilst filming the "Long Way Down" series. We left Swakupmond a few days ago now. Had a really good time there - and yes, the ... read more

Solitaire to Sesriem, Namibia Delay because of the truck breakdown at Solitaire ment that we could not see the Namib desert dunes at dawn. We drove from Solitaire early and arrived at the dunes about 10:00 am. The sun was already beating down. We should have been there at dawn when it was cool.  We tried our best to climb up the spine of a dune in soft sand. A beautiful sight - red sand stretching away in all directions. Kayla was bitterly disappointed that the best sun conditions for photography were finished for the day before we arrived and there seemed to be no flexibility in our itinerary to try for a sunrise again. We returned from the walk early and sat in the hot shade waiting for the rest of the group. The 4 ... read more

China is off for few days of National Holidays, my office in HK is off for a long week-end....it's week-end time, and what do you do on week-end, you go on small trips...this time, Sossusvlei! Sossusvlei lays 4 to 5 hours south-west of Windhoek in the middle of the Namib Desert. There are no paved road to here, and a lot of gravels on the "road"...and, your tyres and windscreens are not really insured, so I took a tour! 3 days, 2 nights organized by Chameleon Safaris. We were only 7 for a bus of 12 seats, so all the room to enjoy the ride. The ride was smooth across the sem-desertic Namib Desert...I could have taken thousand of pics with all these views. The landscape is pretty similar to Arizona, but the vegetation is really ... read more

We have an immense stroke of luck on the way out of Luderitz. We get a text from one of the many couchsurfers C has been spamming since Cape Town. He is in Aus with a car and looking for people to go to Sossusvlei. We're 20 minutes from Aus and Sossusvlei is our next intended destination. We couldn't have planned it better! Our new French companion, N, is the only registered driver but is more than happy to play chauffeur and we set off north through the arid Namibian wilderness. 8 hours later and we finally pitch camp about 30km outside of Sesriem, the gateway to the dunes around Sossusvlei. Anticipating an early start we all turn in pronto and rise again while it's still dark. We are the second car to arrive at the ... read more

I checked in to a backpackers in Windhoek, I had about 9 days to fill before I started an overland tour in Botswana. After 2 days I realized that there was not much to see or do. Windhoek is the capital, but it is a small city. I decided to hire a car for 4 days and drive south to Sossusvlei in the Namib Naukluft Park, I ended up with a small Hyundai, it was fairly new and only had about 7,500 kilometres on the clock. After studying a map I decided to take the recommended scenic route, but about 2 kilometres outside Windhoek, the road turned to dirt ( I find it hard to even call it a road). It was a nightmare, I had driven on dirt roads, but nothing like this, there were ... read more