Desolate and beautiful

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Trip Start Jun 25, 2006 Previous
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  Seserim, Namibia
Friday, December 1, 2006

He Said:
Departing Windhoek, we headed south into the desert. The Namib Desert is mostly scrubby, dry brush land but there is a significant portion that is huge sand dunes. The area we entered had dunes that were renown for their size and stunning red color (due to a high amount of iron in the sand). The landscape was striking and rich in color. The blue sky, red dunes, serrated rocky brown peaks, green acacia trees and golden yellow grass combined to make a palette that seemed too vivid to be naturally occurring. An early morning dune climb to watch the sunrise was like scrolling through every hue of red in the color spectrum.
Our destination, Sossusvlei (pronounced sauce - soov - lie) was part of a river that once flowed through the desert eastward to the sea. Over the millennia the water gradually dried up and dunes periodically encroached, surrounding sections of the valley with sand. This created a peninsula of dry riverbed that goes straight into the middle of the Namib. At the end of this finger of riverbed, close to the center of the desert is an area where there are tree snags that have been dead for centuries coming out of a cracked limestone ground and completely surrounded by red sand dunes. It is one of the most surreal, desolate and uniquely beautiful places I have ever seen. I am really at a loss to explain how otherworldly the landscape appeared. I loved it! When you look at the photos, you might have a bit of déjà vu, as it has been a shot location in a number of movies and TV spots over the years.


She Said:
So, this morning we all got up at 4:30am in order to arrive at Dune 45 before sunrise. Dune 45 is the easiest dramatic dune to climb, and is so named because it is 45 km from the closest town and 45 dunes from Sossusvlei. When the alarm went off, I was thinking that no sand mound could be spectacular enough to get up so early. But, in hindsight, it is definitely one of the best sights we have experienced on this trip. We climbed up the steep slope in the moonlight to the very top... barefoot (since it was sand, very difficult to walk on with shoes). As the sun rose, the place absolutely popped with color - the dunes turned red, the sky bright blue, and the dry riverbeds sandy white.
After the climb, a local guide took us on a walk around the dunes and through the dry riverbeds, pointing out local plants, lizards, and spider nests. He was quite an animated speaker and had an interesting philosophy regarding marriage, which he was kind enough to share. Apparently, the husband is actually the "owner of the wife." The best way to maintain harmony in the relationship is for the wife to have a "honey tongue" which keeps quiet most of the time and, in the case that it actually speaks, only says sweet things. Very enlightened! Whatever...I guess I wouldn't survive in the desert.

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A few of our crew on Dune 45	Another at Sossusvlei	Desert flowers	Katie at sunrise
Sossusvlei	Sunrise on the dunes	Us at Sossusvlei

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