Blogs from Sossusvlei, Namibia, Africa - page 8

We had set our alarms to go off at 4.30 am and we had packed up the whole camp except for our tents of course. We planned to be at the park entrance at 5.00 am so as to be at Sossusvlei to see the first rays of the rising sun hit the dunes. We were all awake at 3.00 am and up before any alarm went off! Disaster - Ian’s car had a flat tyre! So we set about changing the wheel with all rapidity in the dark. A filthy dusty job and the last thing we needed today. But it was done speedily and we set off as fast as we decently could to find that the 40 miles to Sossusvlei was a tarred road! We made good time and were in position to ... read more

23 Sep - early breakfast of tea and cereal then strike camp for first time. All packed and boarded bus ready to go by 7.20am! Long drive through South Africa to reach border with Namibia. Lunchtime stop at town called Springbok. Stop for supplies at Spar (!!). I get 1.5l of local red and white wine for 70 rand in total ie GBP4.50, everyone seems pleased with my choice, esp Errol. We cross our first African border. As a seasoned traveller, I'm quite au fait with these now! Two stage process - all clamber out of Priscilla, fill out departure form at RSA immigration border. Drive through no-man's land, all clamber out of Priscilla again, fill out arrival form at immigration border in Namibia, back on the truck. V uneventful and takes less than an hour. ... read more

This was something that we've been looking forward to ever since we booked this trip over a year and a half ago. Thankfully, it lived up to our greatest expectations. We arrived at the famous 'Dune 45' (which everyone climbs) and started up it for sunrise. Climbing a sand dune is a lot harder than it looks. It's deceptive how large the dune actually is and in the initial excitement we basically ran until we got a few steps in and realized our legs couldn't hold us up anymore. We decided to stop just below the peak and enjoy the sunrise rather than exhaust ourselves pushing for the top and potentially missing the moment. Then we had a blast as we slid down the side of the massive dune (much more fun than going back the ... read more

October 2004 Welcome to Namibia - our first African experience. This was getting away from it in the truest sense of the description. We’ve been to emptiness before - outback Australia and the deserts of the Western USA - but Namibia is the king of the destinations if you want to be away from everybody else. Windhoek International Airport is only international in the sense of you can fly overseas. There didn’t appear to be too many formalities awaiting us as we landed from Frankfurt early one morning in the Namibian spring. We were taken into the centre of Windhoek to collect a few provisions - more of the city another time - and headed out to a campsite at the Dan Viljoen National Park in the hills above the city. A few of the group ... read more

I don’t remember the first time I learned of the Namib Desert. My first images of its mountainous red dunes probably came out of the pages of National Geographic Magazine or one of my early school textbooks. Regardless of where I first learned of them, I have been drawn to the dunes of the Namib Desert since I was very young. I almost traveled to Namibia back in 2003, but I abandoned the journey when I discovered that it would have cost me the same amount of money to do a two week trip to the area as it would have cost me to visit Southern Africa for several months - The idea of going on a long trip had been floating around in my head since I had returned from Nepal a year before and ... read more