Thursday 3rd October 2016

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At long last we have wifi again. It seems ages since I last made an entry. We made an exceptionally early start today. The aim was to leave camp around 4:30 to be at Dune 45 to see the sunrise. We finally left just after 5am and raced down tarmac road in the dark, still being fairly careful with no shock absorber. Time was running out so we went right to the end where the dunes are right across the road. We got on the first 4 x 4 to leave and hurtled through the sand as far as it would take us. We missed the sunrise as the huge dunes were higher than the sun. We found out afterwards that because of cloud the usual effect on the dunes from Dune 45 didn't happen. We walked across the sand and could see animal tracks but saw no sign of any living creature. We got down into a dip and waited for the sun to come over the top. It was a lovely sight, shining up all the beautiful shapes of the dunes where they had been moulded by the wind. When we got back to the road we were just in time to miss the hoards of people coming in. It was a real privilege and atmospheric to witness it with just a few others. Amazing!

We then made our way back to the camp site between huge dunes on either side of the road which we had not been able to see in the dark. We had a late breakfast while Christo replaced our shock absorber. He poor chap had had to drive hundreds of miles on gravel roads to pick up the spares. On the way he had a puncture, his battery holder had broken and let in tons of sand and his bumper, which he had swapped with one of the group as theirs was broken had finally fallen off altogether. To cap it all when he got back to the campsite late in the evening he had also got stuck in the sand! Poor chap was knackered but was still looking after us.

We finally got away calling first at Sesriem canyon, walking along the dry river bed, quite fascinating. Then set off to next camp site on probably the worst road yet. Thank goodness we now have the shock absorber but still very rattly and shaking everything. On the way we came across Glynn and co who had broken down. They were trying to phone Dave. Between us we came up with a number but no reply. Another van turned up, Alec and Alison and they agreed to go ahead for help. Simon then tried to bump start them pushing them in reverse and then got to use his newly purchased tow rope. They finally got started and we agreed to follow them to make sure they were ok. Christo finally came out to meet us and was relieved he hadn't had to go too far.

We were very hot and tired and on arrival found the peanut butter and mixed herbs had emptied themselves in the cupboard and mixed into a nasty mess that took a good deal of cleaning. Also the kettle had leaked and made a nasty mess on the floor! We cleared it all up , had a shower and then rewarded ourselves with a coffe milk shake in the camp shop to recover!

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