Namibia - Sand Dunes and Sunsets, June 2018

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Namibia – Sand Dunes and Sunsets, May 2018



This country’s name is derived from the Namib Desert, considered to be the world’s oldest. Lying due north of the Western Cape, the name means “vast place” and has the least rainfall of any country in sub-Saharan Africa. Two very well-known areas here are the Skeleton Coast and the immense Namib Sand Sea. The red sand dunes created by the strong onshore winds are the highest in the world, and due to the location of the shoreline at the point where the Atlantic's cold water kisses Africa's hot climate, often causes extremely dense fog to develop. Sounds like the kind of surreal place I need to be!



It was a 3am wakeup call for my morning flight from Johannesburg to Windhoek, the Namibian capital city. The charm of the city lies in its harmonious blend of African and European cultures and the friendliness of its people. Since independence came to the country on March 21, 1990 it has been characterized by a vitality born of a sense of freedom and pride in self. Windhoek is often described as one of the cleanest capitals in Africa and visitors are surprised that this city, considered to be part of deepest Africa, offers all modern amenities that conform to some of the world’s highest standards. These include hotels, banks, post offices, gyms, libraries, museums, car rental companies, health facilities, railway transport, airlines and estate agencies amongst others.







A well-constructed and regularly maintained road network from Windhoek provides access to majority of towns, nature reserves, parks, safari lodges and tourist destinations in the country. Public transport consists mainly of taxis, while a bus service provides transport to and from residential areas. One of these roads will transport me directly from the airport to Swakopmund – I’ll get to explore Windhoek before leaving the country in a few days.







Swakopmund (German for “Mouth of the Swakop”) is located just 240 miles west of Windhoek and sandwiched between Atlantic rollers and the Namib Desert. It was a 4-hour drive on a 2-lane highway all the way, and as we ventured closer to the coast (Windhoek is in the center of the country), the vegetation changed dramatically. For the majority of the drive it was endless savannah with low-lying Acacia trees, but then it became desert in all directions – it looked just like I-15 going thru the desert to Las Vegas! As the bus approached the city, a band of white and grey fog covered the area and the temperature dropped at least 15 degrees. By the time I was checking into my hotel, the sun had been blanketed out by the mist and everything had a hazy covering.



Dinner on my first evening here was at the Tug Restaurant, located at the end of the Swakopmund Jetty and overlooking the beach. The restaurant is designed and built around an original tugboat at the bar and in the upper bridge and is famous for its fresh seafood, especially oysters. It was dark and quite cold when I arrived but once inside, it was warm and snug. An excellent seafood soup, followed by fish and chips and topped off with crème brulee….what more could I ask for? The meal was fantastic, the place was packed with locals but after such a long day, that hotel bed was calling my name.



For the next couple of nights, I’m staying at the Swakopmund Luxury Suites located just a block from the beach. The rooms are simply gorgeous- everything is white – and a large outdoor balcony. Excellent air conditioning, strong Wifi signal and a super comfortable bed, I’m a happy camper! With no restaurant onsite, vouchers are handed out at reception and can be redeemed at any of 4 local restaurants in the immediate vicinity. Just steps away from the front door is Café Anton which opens at 6:30am. It’s a small café and an even smaller buffet table with very limited choices – as usual, eggs cooked to order. I went with scrambled eggs and bacon and when that dish arrived, I swear the eggs were yellow rubber pellets and the bacon was greasy. Thank god they had that wonderful dark, dense, nutty German bread – I went with two toasted slices of that instead along with some Brie Cheese and apricot jam, some yogurt and granola. So breakfast wasn’t a complete loss.



This coastal town is one of those great traveler way stations along the African road. At once an adventure capital and a surreal colonial remnant, part destination in its own right and part launch pad for an exploration of the Skeleton Coast and Namib Desert, this is a city with as much personality as it has sea frontage. One artifact of the German colonization includes an old museum/store, selling genuine artifacts from the 19th century. Swakopmund, especially out of season, can feel like a holiday town along Germany’s North Sea and Baltic coasts transplanted onto African soil. But the city is also thoroughly African, and its multidimensional appeal ensures many people end up returning again and again. As with other Namibian cities there is no public transport, but the city is small enough to get around easily on foot. All the major attractions and facilities are downtown and be aware: it's hard to get a taxi in the city center.



Fun Factoid:



Swakopmund was used as the setting for The Village in the 2008 British television production of The Prisoner. Its quaint buildings and unusual appearance made a perfect replacement for Portmeirion, where the original 1960's series of The Prisoner was set.



The next morning started out as quite chilly with heavy overcast and lingering mist, so reminiscent of San Francisco. It was a drive some 20 miles south along the coast road seamed by mighty dunes, bringing me to Walvis Bay. The town is situated on the shores of a wide lagoon dotted with innumerable sea birds, pelicans and white flamingos (real ones, not the pink plastic variety so popular in Florida!). Walvis Bay had already been discovered by Diaz as early as 1487 but was founded only in 1793 by the Cape Dutch, and two years later annexed by the British. In 1910 it became - like the entire Cape Colony - part of the South African Union. After Namibia's independence, the only deep-sea port on the Namibian coast remained under South African rule and only then, in 1994, did the former South African president F.W. de Klerk return it to Namibia.



Today, Walvis Bay has about 50,000 residents and is a busy harbor town. Most people are employed at the modern harbor terminal and in the booming fish industry. Another production branch is the processing of sea salt. The salt fields cover a very large area and annually produce around 400,000 tons of high quality salt, most of which is exported. The lagoon is the scenic feature of Walvis Bay and marks the southern end of the Skeleton Coast. It is one of the most important wetlands of southern Africa and is the hibernation area for thousands of migratory birds.



Arriving at the jetty in Sandwich Harbor, I boarded a twin-hulled catamaran which can seat 40 people – there were probably less than 20 for this trip. Everyone gathered at the front of the boat so the Ranger could begin his safety briefing. He had barely gotten started when a small seal by the name of Leo, leaped out of the water and landed on the deck. This ranger has been hand feeding Leo since he was a pup and he is now so tame, he visits each catamaran as it leaves the harbor. This was closely followed by two adult pelicans who perched on a side railing and waited their turn to be hand fed some fish. It was simply unbelievable how tame this seal and the pelicans were – one of the pelicans actually rode on the shoulders of one of the crew for photographs. It was an amazing cruise – we were entertained constantly with the arrival of other pelicans (one with the improbable name of Romeo), plus a massive seal called Nicholas who must have weighed in at least 900 lbs. I had a seat at the very front so was able to take the most impressive pix during this 3-hour water adventure. During this time, alcohol was flowing and when we went inside the cabin, there were platters of finger foods: deviled eggs, sandwiches, oysters, calamari, meatballs, fish sticks and god-only-knows what else – really delicious and all washed down with champagne. It doesn’t get any better than this, I assure you!



Walvis has a massive oyster industry, with a total of 4 million shipped out on a weekly basis, 80% of this harvest going to China. Seals number around 100,000 and they breed out on a sandy peninsula at the far end of the harbor, which separates the open ocean from the protected breakwater area. On this same peninsula, cormorants also number in the thousands and form a black line along the beach. We got to see dolphins leaping at the side of the catamaran and even jellyfish floated by to say hello. There are four species of jellyfish here, only one is venomous called the Box Jellyfish, transparent blue in color but is rarely seen, as it stays in deep water. The first ones I glimpsed from the boat were a deep orange and yellow, known as Compass Jellies – I saw a boatload of those (no pun intended). Next up by the boat was a white with red stripes one called a Brown Ridged Jelly, followed by a Gorilla Jelly which apparently is very large and white in color – didn’t see any of these.



For the first two hours the mist still lingered over the entire harbor area, giving everything a surreal feel but after our tapas lunch, we emerged onto the deck to brilliant sunlight, a gorgeous cloudless blue sky and everything took on an entirely different look. Romeo returned to perch on the gun whale for the ride back to the jetty and in the sunlight, I noticed the fabulous colors of his enormous beak and gullet. The beak itself was pale blue, pink and violet which was a stark contrast to his brilliant white feathers and pink. The gullet was a vivid yellow, his legs and feet were orange – this guy was definitely a flying rainbow! Rates for this half day cruise are approximately R800 per person adult.



Disembarking back at Sandwich Harbor, it was a quickie drive along the lagoon, where I was lucky enough to photograph a group of white flamingoes standing in the shallow water, before they took to flight like a convoy of airplanes departing from an airport. Back to the hotel for a couple of hours before the afternoon’s adventure with the Living Desert Company. Two luxury 4x4 safari vehicles arrived at 2:30pm and we were off into the desert dunes for a nature lesson (or two, or three) with our guides. Whatever these two desert veterans didn’t know about this fabulous environment simply wasn’t worth knowing. We were out riding the incredible dunes until 6pm, watching the play of light and shadow race across the surfaces as the wind and sun worked their magic on the sands. The curves, the angles, the peaks, the valleys – these winds are natural artists, forming sand creations that are a delight to the eye. What an incredible day! I was too tired to bother with dinner when returning to the hotel, so one hot shower later I was face down and sound asleep.



Departing Swakopmund at 8am the next day, the fog was thicker than the previous morning, giving the town a total ghostly look and feel. Today we are headed south for the next destination – I’m going glamping! It’s approximately 180 miles until our lunch stop at Solitaire, a small way station with a restaurant, a bar, a café and some bathrooms which we all very thankful to see. The four-hour drive from Swakopmund to Solitaire is across total barren, arid desert with nothing, and I mean nothing, in the way of a building, a human being and most of the time, not a single other vehicle on this gravel/salt/dirt highway. And what does that equate to, you ask? Using bush toilets of course…bush meaning you go behind the nearest bush and drop your drawers to relieve yourself – literally! What a hoot. We did this a couple of times and wouldn’t you know it, the moment you’re sighing with relief, here comes a car or a bus – all you can do is smile, wave and hope to hell they don’t have their cameras at the ready. Hey as the old saying goes, it’s like dying, when you have to go, you have to go. LOL We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn on this drive – I have now physically crossed the three major imaginary latitude lines of our planet (Tropic of Cancer, Equator, Tropic of Capricorn) – definitely something to celebrate.



Some 30 minutes after we left Solitaire, we turned off towards the mountains and got our first view of where we will spend the next two nights – luxury canvas chalets/tents standing tall on stilts – about 25 in total, all erected a very short walking distance around the main lobby, restaurant and bar complex. Our bus remains parked way down at the base of the mountain, and the Moon Mountain Lodge’s 4x4 vehicles drive down for pick up and transport to the reception area. My assigned chalet #5 was directly across from this main building but higher up the mountain. It’s a large square unit with windows on three sides – no glass, just screens and heavy canvas privacy covers that zip up the sides. A wooden walkway surrounds the chalet and on one side is my own private swimming pool – can you believe this - is this the place to stay or what? It’s no bigger than a square jacuzzi but just like the king-size bed inside, the views are stunning. As this was my first time glamping naturally I had to christen the occasion, so I went skinny-dipping – geez it was cold! As I sit here on the bed typing this, the canvas privacy covers are completely unzipped on all sides and I can see for at least 50 miles off to the far horizon in three different directions – it’s just breathtaking, it’s awe inspiring – check out the photographs. A small refrigerator contained bottles of chilled sparkling water and the room is furnished in solid wood pieces, forming small tables and a lounge chair. Door handles, shelves and the toilet paper holder are all made out of narrow tree branches. Only the roof and the top half of the walls are canvas, the lower portions are solid wood plastered over. The ever-present wind is blowing thru the unit and despite the very warm temperatures out in the sun, it’s wonderfully cool and comfortable. The shower and toilet are in separate small rooms at the back behind the bed’s headboard, there is no air conditioning (not needed this high up the mountain), no Wifi, no television, no phone….I’m out in the middle of nowhere and having the time of my tiny life, in my canvas suite! Rates here vary by season: from mid-November thru mid-June (low) R1579/1930 per person double. R1813/2163 single. High season is just the opposite, with prices ranging from R1930/2455 per person double and R2222/2455 single. But considering the current exchange rate of R12.47 to the US Dollar, pretty reasonable for such a stunning location.



At 5:30pm the evening’s entertainment commenced. Boarding the now-familiar lodge 4x4s, we are off for a “sundowner” experience with snacks and drinks served on a nearby mountain peak, to watch the glorious sunset across the desert. I swear, I’m in paradise here. We drove f or about 20 minutes around to the other side of the mountain and into a flat savannah plain. Here chairs and a table were set up, complete with beer, wine, water, soft drinks and a platter of snacks – all to be enjoyed as we watched the sun sink behind the mountain range. It was a glorious sight to be sure. The lengthening shadows slowly moved across the earth’s surface, turning the rocks into streaks of many colors and the western skies were a palette of pink, blue, gold, purple, magenta and violet. Nature humbles you with displays such as these. Dusk followed by twilight was fast approaching – time to return to the Moon Mountain Lounge for dinner. And what a buffet dinner it was – the food was delicious and all local recipes. By 8pm, I was climbing thru the darkness towards my tent, when I turned around and saw the full moon rising in the eastern skies. It bathed the entire countryside in a flood of soft silvery light, and with no ambient light to distract, the stars sparkled in the black firmament like diamonds on velvet. From my front verandah, Venus reigned supreme in the heavens directly in front of me – what a way to drift off to sleep.



Awake the next morning at 3am, I was surprised at how still and totally silent it was. Off in the distance tiny pinpricks of light glowed, evidence of other camp sites and of course moonlight still bathed the earth in ghostly silver. No wind at all overnight and the temperature was mild – certainly not what I expected given this location.



New day, new destination. Driving south yet again for another hour, I finally arrive at the Sossusvlei Lodge which is the gateway resort to the largest conservation area in Africa, the Namib-Naukluft National Park. Sossusvlei is possibly Namibia’s most spectacular and best-known attraction, characterized by the massive red dunes that surround it. Sossusvlei is a large, white, salt and clay pan and is a great destination year-round. In this area are some of the highest dunes in the world - reaching almost 1,200’- providing photographic enthusiasts with wonderful images in the beautiful morning and evening light.



Again it’s a 10-passenger safari game drive vehicle with open sides. This trip, blankets are a necessity as the air temp is probably mid 40’s, but once the jeep is in motion, the wind cuts like a knife and it’s bitterly cold. Another hour-long ride brings us to Dune #1 at the start of these incredible red-sand dunes which are definitely the highest in the world and stable which, for sand, is amazing. As the sun climbed higher in the deep blue African sky, the mercury climbed alongside and I could finally cast aside the blanket. No matter how many times you see Dune #45 in travel magazines and advertising literature (it’s the most photographed dune of them all), pictures simply don’t do it justice – it’s massive and a deep golden red shade. Spent an hour here while the more fit of the group climbed to the very top where, I’m told, you can see all the dunes spread out for miles. My days of climbing sand dunes are far behind me!



Another famous location here is Deadvlei, a “dead marsh” which lies between the largest dunes. It is a forest frozen over millennia and is startling to see. Large petrified trees stand as if guarding a wilderness, now only visited by thousands of visitors every year. Its surreal landscape captures the imagination. Trees in a desert is an unusual enough sight but there is always the occasional oasis. Sometimes though the water dries up completely and given the right conditions, reminders of life can be left behind. It is estimated that these acacia trees have been dead for more than nine hundred years. Their twisted and contorted branches immovable even against the occasional breeze, Sleepy Hollow comes as it were, to the desert.



By this time, lunchtime was fast approaching, but first one more 10-minute stop at Sesriem Canyon, a natural gorge carved by the Tsauchab River, and dating back more than 2 million years. It is one of the few places in the area that holds water all year round. The early Afrikaans explorers in the region named the canyon after the fact that they had to use six (“ses”) leather straps (“riem”) tied together to create a rope long enough to lower buckets into the canyon below, in order to fetch water.



Final night here was another moon and star filled sky – casting that wonderful silvery light across the landscape - you really don’t need a flashlight to see where you’re going. Had the best sleep in a long time – 11 hours – obviously my level of exhaustion has topped out and I needed every second of that time. Once again, I kept all the canvas covers down to enjoy the fresh air cross drafts, and thankfully again, no wind and very mild temperatures all night.



Next morning it was a leisurely breakfast before bidding adieu to this wonderful location and making our way down to the bus at the bottom of the mountain. It’s 5 hours back to Windhoek, riding on the bone-jarring chitty chitty bang bang bus, with a lunch stop at a farm house enroute, in the middle of nowhere. Just 20 minutes outside of Windhoek, with our next hotel destination in sight, the air compressor up in the ceiling decided it had had enough and exploded! Immediately following the blowout, dust and dirt covered us all and it was a wild scrabble to get the windows open to vent it out. What a riot – no one was really sure what had happened for the first minute or so, and I sure don’t recall this being on the itinerary. So what’s next, the engine falls out and we walk to the hotel? LOL



Arriving in late afternoon, I checked into the River Crossing Lodge which is located high on a hill overlooking Windhoek, giving fantastic views of sunset and sunrise and visibility for miles in all directions. Individual chalets again, but this time not on stilts. Miserable wifi system, even in the main building, where the electricity would go out on a regular basis – but hey, this is Africa after all. A delightful dinner in the restaurant completed the day and once back in my room, I did the final packing for my long journey across the world and home.



A little bit of history:



The first recorded settlements were established because of the springs in the area. Around 1849 an Oorlam Captain, Jan Jonker Afrikaner, settled in at the strongest spring in the present Klein Windhoek. At the time, the place was called Fire Water by the Namas, and Place of Steam by the Hereros, both names being references to the hot springs. Historians differ on how Windhoek got its name. Some believe that Afrikaner named Windhoek after the Winterhoek Mountains near Tulbagh in South Africa, where Afrikaner’s ancestors had lived. In those days Windhoek was the point of contact between the warring southern Namas, led by Jonker Afrikaner, and the Hereros to the north.







In Windhoek, Afrikaner built a stone church for 500 people, which was also used as a school. Two Rhenish missionaries, Hugo Hahn and Heinrich Kleinschmidt, started working there in the 1840s; they were later succeeded by two Wesleyan missionaries. Gardens were laid out, and for a while Windhoek prospered, but wars destroyed everything.







Through German colonial expansion land was acquired, and this was followed by the declaration of the South West Africa territory as a German protectorate in 1884. The present Windhoek was founded on October 18, 1890 when Von Francois laid the foundation stone of the fort, which is known as the Alte Feste (Old Fortress). Since the mid-1980s, Windhoek has expanded consistently. Namibia’s Independence in 1990 brought considerable investment to the city center, as well as expansion of the suburbs and a general upgrading of the infrastructure.







Final day in Africa dawns and I’m greeted with another glorious morning as I checked out and prepared to drive to the Windhoek airport to connect with my early afternoon flight to Johannesburg. Unbelievable how great the weather has been for the entire time I’ve been in Africa – that has certainly not happened in past trips here. It’s three long flights between Jo’burg and Las Vegas….lots of hours to doze and catch up on the latest movie releases. Goodbye Africa, until we meet again……

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