The sun rises fairly late here so we only needed to get up at a civilised 6:00 am to fit in breakfast and still arrive at the gates of the Namib Naukluft National Park at sunrise opening time of 7:00 am. We are on the edge of the Namib Desert, a desolate stretch of land running parallel to the Atlantic coast. We had some light rain last night and more on our way into the park, but it was not enough to even settle the dust.
There are five or six resort-style camps here and a few standard camping areas. Our “camp” is self catering with an outdoor kitchen containing fridge, two-burner hotplates, and sink, air-conditioned cabin, shower and toilet. Even the tent camping grounds are fairly well set up, with shade shelters for tents - much needed because it is extremely hot during the middle of the day.
From the park gates, the road is sealed for 60kms to the area where 2x4 cars have to park. At the 45 km mark climbing is permitted on a 150m high dune, #45. We elected to climb this one rather than attempting the 350m “Big Daddy” dune later in the day. Even at 9:00am, this was a challenging climb, but worth the effort for the view of the “Sea of Dunes” viewed from the top.
From the 2x4 park we took shuttle trucks through the sand drifts to Sossusvlei, a salt pan in the heart of the dunes. The views were just amazing with towering red and gold dunes on all sides, contrasting with bleached salt pans.
We took a 3 km round-trip walk to Deadvlei, an area where seemingly petrified trees rise out of a long-drained waterhole. Being alerted to the need for hydration, we dragged along one of our 5 litre water containers. At the start of the walk we felt a bit silly among the small crowds trudging off in the 30C plus heat with their trendy water bottles, but half way back from Deadvlei, we could have sold our remaining water for a small fortune.
We expected to have paid about AUD12 each for the shuttle ride into Deadvlei. Nobody asked for any cash so we just mounted up and rode off. The park entry fees were a very reasonable AUD17 for the car and two personal permits.
Later in the afternoon we headed back into the park - the entry permit is good for the full day - to walk into Sesreim Canyon, a nice walk through some interesting rock formations and best of all, shaded and cool.
1 April, Desert Sands Boutique B&B Self-Catering, Swakopmund
Long haul back through the desert to Swakopmund today has left us still vibrating from all the shuddering and shaking of the badly corrugated roads. Our return journey has left us with an even stronger conviction that the road to Sesreim should not be attempted in a 2x4 sedan. Many pundits seem to encourage travellers to do the journey in sedans by just taking it slowly. We don’t agree. Most sedans are simply not r aobust enough to deal with the violent shaking that many parts of the road can dish out. “Taking it slow” sounds fine, but negotiating heavily corrugated roads at slow speed can do even more damage than travelling at just the right speed to hit the tops of the corrugations, but to do this, larger wheels, heavy duty suspensions and deep-ply tyres are required. Our advice is - don’t do it. Sure you might make it, but the chances of breaking down and needing to be recovered are just too high for us to see a sedan as a viable option on this road.
After an early start on our return journey , we had time for a short drive to the waterfront in Walvis Bay to see the flamingo colony. A quick shop and we were settled in for a couple of relaxing days in and around Swakopmund.
2 April, Swakopmund
Swakopmund supposedly has a population of about 45,000; to us it seems to be much bigger. The illusion of greater size could be related to the town’s main industry of tourism. Wealthier Namibians and South Africans holiday here along with increasing numbers of foreign tourists. We suspect that many of the houses are holiday homes, not occupied all year round.
Most of our morning was spent wandering around town looking at the architectural remnants of the German colonial period. Not much remains in an unaltered state, but the Germanic style has been replicated in many of the newer buildings, giving the town a distinctive European feel. The small city museum was a real find, with displays on every aspect of the region from the ethnology of the local inhabitants to colonial times.
To the north of the town lies the legendary Skeleton Coast. From the times of the early explorers in the 15th century, ships have come to grief on this desolate coastline. Even on a pleasant day such as we had today, the wind whips up the sea and a light fog hangs over the never-ending sand pans. We visited the wreck of a coastal trader that was beached just over a decade ago. Rusty, but still mostly intact, it was a forlorn sight resting bow in to the beach.
About 70kms north of Swakopmund is the once small outpost of Henties Bay. Today the settlement is booming. The great beach fishing along the Skeleton Coast attracts sports people from all over southern Africa and the town has become a provisioning centre for sports fishing and a holiday destination in its own right. A rather unique golf course has been built in the dry bed of the Omaruru River that runs through the town. The fairways are rolled sand, but the tees and greens are lush green turf. Stands of mature date palms throughout the course give the whole thing a rather Middle Eastern feel.
Having survived on lunches of ham and cheese rolls for the past couple of trips, we decided to treat ourselves to a seafood takeaway. Having been warned about the size of meals in Namibia, we went for a small piece of fish with a side of chips and a calamari burger and salad. The fish was at least 300mm long and the burger almost twice the size of a normal burger roll and several inches thick. No complaints about the quality though. Great value too at AUD16 all up. We couldn’t even get close to managing the salad. It came home as a side for tonight’s chicken.
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