The Namib Dunes - Sossusvlei
Trip Start
Jan 26, 2007
1
43
92
Trip End
Feb 06, 2008
Sesriem,
Namibia
Monday, June 11, 2007
I arrived in Windhoek at 6am after 20 hours of uncomfortably muggy bus ride. Took the free shuttle to this hostel and, once the travel desk opened, immediately booked a 3-day tour to the red dunes at Sossusvlei. Left at 8am for the tour company office, and by 10am was on the road towards the desert.
Sparing the details, it took us most of the day to get to Sesriem, the small village about 60k from Sossusvlei itself
Dead tree #1, Deadvlei
. It is enough to say that most of Namibia is a desert, and so most of our drive was through more desert-like and plains-like environs. Sossusvlei is where everyone says they're going to see the dunes. Vlei means place or open space or something, and Sossus apparently means where the waters end. So Sossusvlei is literally "the place where the dry riverbed ends," and in extremely wet seasons, where the waters create floodplains and slowly evaporate or sink into the desert clay. As it is, Sossusvlei is rather small and not all that stunning compared to the other nearby Vleis such as Deadvlei and Hidden vlei. But when people go to see the red dunes of the Namib desert in the Namib-Naukluft National Park, and they say they're going to Sossusvlei, they actually stay in Sesriem, either in a campsite or in a posh expensive resort. And the dunes they see are in a massive river valley, which includes many vleis.
So we got to Sesriem and then quickly zoomed 5k or so to the west to try to catch the sunset from the top of one of the non-park dunes. We were running a bit late and our guide said we wouldn't make it. However, I was determined to see the only sunset I would get to see, especially considering I only came to Namibia to see these dunes. After a lot of dune-deception and a hard 20 minute run/hike, I found myself at the top with about 4 minutes to spare before the sun disappeared
Dead tree #2, Deadvlei
. While the sunset itself was actually pretty disappointing, the experience of hiking the dunes was worthwhile.What was most worthwhile, however, was experiencing the desert itself. The silence of the desert is overpowering. It is so quiet that you aren't sure whether you're hearing a white-noise roar or nothing at all. It is a silence that pierces through even nearby light conversation. It swallows you up, etcetera. I enjoyed it. I don't feel like getting descriptive so I'll leave it at that.
After a very good bush dinner courtesy of our guides, we cooked some marshmallows over the fire pit. A jackal, the sneaky bastard, got into the tent I was sharing with another guy and stole my food out of my bag. From about 10 feet away. A jackal stole my breakfast. I was furious to the point of amusement. More a good story than a sad occurrence.
Less amusingly, there are indeed hyenas and more jackals in the desert. Three men were killed around 2003 in hyena attacks at the Sesriem campsite. One was sleeping outside, two were sleeping inside their unzipped tent. Hyenas ate them all. This little shared tidbit ensured that all of us would be diligent in zipping up at night.
We woke up to the freezing desert cold in the morning, in order to drive the 45k or so into the valley of the dunes for sunrise. Again we were a little tardy, so I had motivation to move quickly once we reached the famous Dune 45. We were to climb this dune and watch sunrise over the huge dry riverbed valley.
Dead tree #3, Deadvlei
The valley stretches east to west, with Sossusvlei and the end of the riverbed deep in the desert on the western side. Enormous red dunes, often over 300m high, line the valley on either side, extending fingers of red dune into the valley. The dunes here are star-shaped due to the various winds that shape them, rather than ocean dunes that mostly face offshore breezes or whatnot.
The sands of the Namib Desert are so red because they are enriched with iron. In effect, the dunes are rusting. They also have traces of magnetite which gives occasional dark rippling accents to the dunes. In the early and late sunlight, the colors are everchanging and absolutely saturated.
The dunes are elegant. That is the best word I found to describe them. Their ridges curve smoothly and elegantly upwards into the vivid blue sky, a thick red on one side and dark black on the other, at either ends of the day.
After hiking Dune 45 for sunrise we returned down the massive ridge to a full breakfast prepared by our guides. Fluffy eggs, crispy bacon, cereal with strawberry yoghurt, buttered and jammed bread. Then we drove a bit and hiked 6km through the desert in the early morning towards Deadvlei, by far the most spectacular part of my time in the dunes.
Deadvlei is a white-clay baked oval ringed on all sides by towering dune faces. It looks a bit like a hockey rink for desert giants. Half of the oval is completely desolate, just white cracked clay and nothing else
Dead tree #4, Deadvlei
. At the middle, in a stark line, black, dead skeletons of trees begin and stretch in a haunting forest to the boundaries of the oval. These trees died over 500 years ago but are preserved due to the climate. We first observed Deadvlei from a dune overlooking it, then ran-jumped down the face of the dune to the empty space below. It was deathly quiet. The blackened tree skeletons cast sharp shadows onto the white clay floor of the vlei. It was stunning. At noon we went back to Sesriem to our campsite and had lunch, etc. Unfortunately, we didn't return to the dunes again on our trip. The rest of the night was spent relaxing and chatting, and the next day we just left to drive back to Windhoek. If I ever go back, and I hope to do so, I will want to spend a lot more time at the dunes. They are impressive, photogenic, profound. The post doesn't convey very well how drawn to them I felt and still feel. The desert called me and I was sad we had such a short time there.
Returned to Windhoek, spent a night in a dingy hostel, caught the 20 hour bus next day down to Cape Town. I leave tomorrow on the Baz Bus for a 3 week trip to Joburg. Will be off the web from tomorrow 'till Joburg so talk to you all later.
