Into Namibia

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On the 20th we headed to the border crossing first thing as it was only a few kilometres from the campsite. We had to stamp out of SA and stamp into Namibia (all free). It took a few hours to process us all but we were on our way by 10am heading to the Fish River Canyon National Park. In the afternoon we arrived at the park to find a enormous canyon; 550m deep at times and 27km in width and 126km in length. It was absolutely stunning and I couldn't stop taking photos as we walked along the canyon rim where our dinner was waiting for us. Whilst we ate the sunset across the canyon (an amazing sight in itself) and behind us the moon rose!

The next day involved a full day of driving across desert landscapes but was interesting to me all the same! Gave lots of time to think, chat and listen to music whilst being covered in dust. We no longer had those tarmac roads! On the 22nd we drove into Namib-Naukluft Park to the small settlement of Sossusvlei to pick up our permits to enter the vast area of towering red dunes of the Namib Desert which stretches 2000km along the coast. We climbed up Dune 45 (45km from Sossusvlei) which used to be the highest dune in the area but is no longer as it has so many people climbing it, but apparently it is now the longest. Anyway, it still took a hard long slog to get to the top and it really didn't help that it was in the midday sun! The views were spectacular and the dune itself was pretty amazing. Lunch was waiting for us at the bottom so we ran down the sides, quite a task itself! On the drive out of the National Park we walked through a small canyon. That night we bush-camped on the roadside (the second night of bush camping - I was told that baby-wipe baths were the norm!). I was fine with that it was just that my hair was matted with dust and every other part of exposed skin! It was also my night for my cook group (me, Andy and Anna) to cook for the group. It was quite stressful getting everything organised to be ready at the same time but we cooked up a splendid thai green curry and malaysian satay curry, both of which went down a storm. Any suggestions for the next meal we have to do are welcomed!

After a 5 hour drive on the 23rd we arrived in Swakopmund, a small seaside town; our base for 4 nights and for adrenilin sports - wahoo!

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