Blogs from Sossusvlei, Namibia, Africa - page 9

Africa » Namibia » Sossusvlei June 18th 2007

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

In the land of giant sand dunes

Africa » Namibia » Sossusvlei May 15th 2007

Tropical

After another 4 hour drive - it takes at least 4 hours to get anywhere round here - we are at the Desert Homestead. Like most places it is in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere in this case is on the outskirts of the Namib Naukluft park and near the tallest sand dunes in the world. The journey here did have one highlight and that was that we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn. There was a huge sign to inform us of this fact so needless to say we had to get out to take a (well several) photos. Today we headed to Sossusvlei in search of the dunes and after a slight bit of driving in the wrong direction we found them. They were huge - over 300 metres in places. As well as seeing ... read more

Soosusvlei

Africa » Namibia » Sossusvlei April 11th 2007

Climbing Dune45

Tamsin

Tue 10th We made the truck leave an hour later than planed so Steve, Nick and I could go Quad biking again. The weather was clearer, so the views more spectacular and as there was only 3 of us we went over more jumps (well up cliff faces that then flatten out so as you go over at speed the wheels come off the ground). Unfortunately with only 30 mins left travelling at 70km/h I slid down a sideways slope and headed over a grassy mound flew into the air, just as I landed hit another knoll and again all 4 wheels left the ground. When the bike landed I managed to stay on it for a few more seconds before flipping over the front - luckily to the left and the bike went right. ... read more

Bushmen Trail

Africa » Namibia » Sossusvlei March 8th 2007

The Legendary Dune 45

flyingfox

A long ride on the truck along the wild wild west of the Namib desert, WeiL and I arrived at Sossusvlei right at the peak of the desert heat. The truck was turning oven-hot from hours of baking under the African sun. The wind did not help either as it was very hot and dry. It was more likely for anyone to get windburnt by simply sitting by the window. Miles and miles, the scenery was mainly that of desert plains. Isolated. Desolate. It would be a surprise to see anyone walking down the dirt road at this time. The temperature out there was probably bordering between the high 40's and 50's celsius. The sun seared anything beneath it. Sossusvlei was a harsh place. But perhaps not to the springboks, impalas, kudus, and ostriches. They ... read more

Day 193 - Sand Dunes

Africa » Namibia » Sossusvlei January 11th 2007

Sand dunes

mrandmrssimmonds

The day didn't get off to a great start when we realised that there was no water available. Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come in lesser developed African countries but unfortunately it almost certainly is. We took a few hours to drive to Sossusvlei, a salt pan in the central Namib Desert. It's famous for the huge, red sand dunes that surround it and stretch for miles and miles. After the heat of the day started to subside at about 4pm we went for a guided walk in the desert. This was absolutely amazing not just for where we went but also for what the guide was telling us. He was incredibly good, walking on 80C sand in bare feet and at a pace that would challenge a cheetah. The ecosystem here has ... read more

It doesn't seem like you're in an African country.

Africa » Namibia » Sossusvlei November 20th 2006

Deathvlei

2Brothers3Continents

At November 8 of 2003, our illiterate and now sadly re-elected president, made the following comment: "I'm surprised because if you arrive in Windhoek, it doesn't seem like you're in an African country. It's so clean and beautiful." I know he was extremely stupid making this comment, because to begin with, it offends all the African countries at once. But, in a way, we couldn't stop ourselves of doing the same comment when we arrived in Namibia. So Clean, so developed. The Caprivi strip, up north, beside its stunning beauty, wasn't much different from the other places we have been before (We still had to be careful with one crazy wild hippo that was running around our camping side at night). But, once we crossed the red-line (A fence though the north of the country that ... read more

Sossusvlei and Namib Naukluft

Africa » Namibia » Sossusvlei October 14th 2006

Me on Sossusvlei

janees

The next day we had a long drive mostly on gravel roads - to the Namib Naukluft National Park, passing by the turning to Sossusvlei (which we would visit the following day). It was a long journey, and the beautiful road from Luderitz to Aus (the road that had been so beautiful on the journey down) was spoiled for David, who was doing the driving, because there were lots and lots of little birds on the road, who did not really seemed inclined to fly off until the very last moment, and so as David said it was ‘carnage’. He did keep tooting the horn and slowed down, but it was not nice! The mist caused by the Atlantic and desert air stopped literally in a line about 60k inland - it was a strange experience ... read more

Ostrich standing by the road on our journey to Namib Naukluft

Helmringhausen to Sesreim

Africa » Namibia » Sossusvlei October 5th 2006

Dawn dune climbers

jenron

to be updated... read more

Srange desert landscape with dead forest

Dessert and Dunes

Africa » Namibia » Sossusvlei September 23rd 2006

To show how steep this dune was

Sparkie

Ok, the day started at 5am and we headed straight for sand dune 24 or 48- the number eludes me right now but it was scary looking! It was far steeper than yesterday’s sunset one and the ridge that I, and about 50- 100 other tourists, had got up to walk across was narrow to say the least. My pictures from this bit of the tour are pretty spectacular. It was also bloody freezing and windy but still we began this awesome climb. It was tricky, when you stopped to rest for a moment as you had to stand as far left or right of the ridge as possible to you could let other people pass but on several occasions I either helped some poor person who began to slip dangerously quickly down the dune or ... read more

Strange view resembling earth from the dune

Brief history of Namibia

South Africa occupied the German colony of South-West Africa during World War I and administered it as a mandate until after World War II, when it annexed the territory. In 1966 the Marxist South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) guerrilla gr...more history

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