Sossusvlei

Of course we made a trip into Sossusvlei. This is the most famous part of the real desert, a usually dry chalky plain surrounded by red dunes. A tarred road leads 60km into it and then a sandy track continues for another 5km until it is stopped by the dunes. This time there were some puddles at the roadside and grass was growing on the dunes, a strange sight. We started very early in the morning to be there before the heat of the day. A herd of springbok was in front of us and bouncing to the right and to the left between the farm fences at both sides of the road. Eventually some of them got through and others let the car pass. This is the downside of all this farmland. Later we saw ostrich very close and oryx galloping across the road directly in front of my car.

For the sandy track I reduced the pressure of the tyres, realizing that I had forgotten the especially for this event borrowed compressor in the camp. Never mind, I just had to drive back the 60km to the park entrance and petrol station very slowly. Driving through the sand was quite an experience, very difficult to steer. People say you have to steer to the side the car is veering to in order to get it under control again, but this is just against your automatic reaction. Finally we arrived at Dead Vlei, a plain that had been cut off from the rest of the valley by shifting dunes with the result that water cannot enter anymore and all trees have died. It looks ghostly, this wood of black stems and branches. I decided to climb up the highest dune in the area, called “Crazy Dune”. Instead of going the normal long way along the ridge I went straight for the deep ascent. This is an angle of about 45 degrees and with one step up you slide half a step back. It took me over an hour, a lot of breaks and sweat until I reached the top. I was rewarded with great views over the other valleys and dunes. The way back took only 10min. Meanwhile it was half past 11 and over 40 degrees in the shade of which there was none. We drove back with the aircon on full power.

In the Desert Camp we cooled down in the pool and then just lay on our beds and waited for the day to pass. In the evening a strong wind came up which made the braai a difficult task. At night we listened to the barking of the geckos which can be amazingly noisy.