Visit to Sossusvlei - the Long-awaited Namib Dunes, Nov. 3-5, 2006

If you can only choose one place to visit in Namibia, that would be the Dunes, which are representative of Namibia worldwide. The Namib Desert is one of the most fascinating places on earth and home to a wide variety of desert-adapted plants and animals that are found nowhere else in the world. Most importantly, the magnificent Namib dune fields are dynamic in color, which ranges from cream to orange and red and violet; and in shape, which shifts with the wind and is sculpted by wind into a variety of distinctive shapes.

Stretching all the way from the Olifants River in South Africa to the southwestern parts of Angola, the most spectacular section of the desert lies between Luderitz and Swakopmund of Namibia. And the most visited spot for these indescribable dunes is Sossusvlei, which is located close to the coastline of the country. Sossusvlei, a large ephemeral pan, is set amid red sand dunes which tower up to 200m above the valley floor and over 300m over the underlying strata. This is the most accessible part of the 300km-long and 150km-wide sand sea that covers over 32,000 sq km of Western Namibia and contains the world’s highest, oldest and arguably most picturesque dunes.

Our journey to explore the dunes started after about five-hour’s drive from Windhoek to Sesriem, where we stayed at Desert Camp in a double room with cooking facilities including Braai (BBQ) equipment. It was a rough drive, since most of the roads are covered with gravel and we had to drive under this condition after sunset for more than an hour – it was a tiring and intense process. Another thing I find driving on these roads is that always, there is nobody around – no cars, no people, just us and some animals from time to time. The scenes around kept reminding me of the movies I had watched, like The Hill Has Eyes, Woof Creek, Hostel, Chainsaw Masacre…I just hoped that our car wouldn’t break down. Anyways, once we arrived at Desert Camp, everything turned out to be alright – the room seemed nice and comfortable, the staff seemed really friendly and genuine (that’s one thing I find about people in Namibia), the views inside the Camp were so unique and African, and the thought to be able to see the dunes just a few hours away…

We got up early and arrived at the gate before sunrise, when the gate will only be opened. Entry fee for people and vehicles were charged. We wouldn’t be able to see the dunes since the opening time of the gate – only people who stayed at the Sesriem Camp inside the gate could do that. We drove on the paved road directly to the 2X4 Car Park, where a 4WD shuttle must be taken for the last 4km to Sossusvlei. It was a great feeling to see the dunes finally – it was just impressive. There were already many footprints ahead of us and we started climbing. To be honest, I was quite nervous after a while, when I suddenly recognized that I was up high walking within the narrow space stepped by people on top of the dunes. Under my feet, on my both sides, there were the steep sand dune slopes with a degree of almost vertical. I was quite scared and afraid I would fall down the dunes and into the huge carter down the bottom of the surrounding red dunes.

The view from the dunes was just great and the meandering top edge of the dunes reminded me of the Great Wall, which does share similarities for the shape, the length and the greatness. The sun started to become quite strong from 8am - the heat from the sun seemed so close to you and the color of the sky and the air kept telling you that it was another hot and dry day in Namibia. After becoming more familiar with the texture of the dunes, I was more comfortable with walking and playing with them. Ruth and I kept taking pictures for each other with different poses and I decided to slide down the dunes with my feet first – it was not the really steep dune though. However, it turned out that the sand got a good hold of you and you wouldn’t really be able to slide down as you wish. We ended up walking down the hill of sand.

After Sossusvlei, we took the shuttle to Dead Vlei, where trees that have died for 800 or 900 years inhabit. It was impressive to see those black and crackled dry trees display their lives with various gestures, although literally they are dead. The reason why they could ‘live’ for this long is because there are no insects, such as ants or termites, living in the area to dispose their dead trunks, hence the Dead Vlei that we know today.

It was only 11am, but it was already too hot to be exposed under the sun. Most people would leave the dunes and come back later afternoon for the beautiful sunset views. On our way back, Ruth and I stopped over at Dune 45, which is a very popular dune due to the fact that it is 45km from Sesriem and 45 dunes from Sossusvlei. The color was red and it contrasts perfectly with the blue sky and the dry yellow grass bottomed the dunes, as well as a few sporadically trees with green leaves. I walked up a little just to get a better view surrounding Dune 45. However, the higher I were up there, the more I wanted to climb a few more inches to get a better view – I then actually ended up climbing to the top of the dune under the parching sunlight at 12pm. It was a good experience though, and Ruth got a photo of only me on top of the dune.

Later that day, we stopped over at a little shop outside the gate and it was proved once again why people would like a cold beer in a hot day. Coincidentally, at the shop, we run into a few members from the Etosha tour last weekend – it is a small world, what else can I say. We also visited the Sesriem Canyon, which is 2km-long and 30m deep, 4km south of the Sesriem headquarters. It was carved by the Tsauchab River through the 15-million-year-old deposits of sand and gravel conglomerate. We didn’t have time to hike down to the canyon mouth, but we did enjoy the marvellous view from atop.

Before the end of the day, we decided to say goodbye to the dunes, since we planned to leave early next morning. The best option would be to watch the dunes at sunset. Elim Dune is a popular spot for this purpose and there we were. It is different from the dunes we visited earlier that day in the sense that it does not have a smooth surface due to its widely grown grass and plants on the dunes. The scenery was great; however, it became quite windy, which made it much less enjoyable to be on the dunes with the sand flowing around. Moreover, on the way to climb up to the higher spots, we spotted fresh traces of straight lines or curved lines on the sand, which we supposed to be those of snakes’. I just couldn’t continue going with the thought of the fatal black Mamba and other Namibian fatal snakes, and stayed until the sun was set.

Sesriem is a great place to be, however, there is one disadvantage – there are no restaurants around, ‘because everybody brings their own food at the camp site. We stopped by the Sossusvlei Lodge, which is a high-end and fancy accommodation place, hoping to get some food there. They do have a restaurant, however, they only had buffet at a quite expensive price for the Namibian level. We finally decided to stay and ended up tasting all the exotic meat of crocodile, king lip fish, hartebeest, eland, ostrich, etc. and many more options were provided. I have to admit that it was an excellent dinner and no regret for spending the money. Unfortunately though, I do not have photos to show you this nice place – the battery of my camera went dead and Ruth’s was broken. It was a pity because I know how good we would look in the picture. Just imagine, we were sitting on a open patio with the desert land and plants in sight, the wind was blowing gently with the tropical looking quiver trees standing steady, the sun was set and candles were lit on each table, buffet staff were extremely friendly and polite, guests were enjoying the dinner and exchanging smiles and greetings with each other with plenty food and wine and beer aside, and me and Ruth, we were smiling gracefully with great satisfaction after the great supper…