I have never seen so much sand before, nor have I never had to eat so much of it, but Namibia is just one gigantic desert. I wonder what prompted the Germans to go “This bit! This pile of sand is the perfect section of Africa for us to colonies”, but they did and thanks to them the Nutella is easier to come by in shops.
We thought that we should really go and see some sand, as the sand at the entrance of the backpackers wasn’t that exciting, rather annoying actually. We trekked off to Sossusvlei, a salt pan in the centre of the Namib Desert to explore one of the world’s oldest deserts with the worlds highest dunes, some up to 300m. It’s nothing like any Australian desert I’ve been through before, it’s the postcard desert. The one with the really red sand and the dunes with no vegetation on them at all, and where you tracks are covered as soon as you lift your foot out of the sand. It’s was simply stunning, although surprisingly difficult to walk up, unless you’re right on the ridge, the sand will slide over you and make it impossible. Your best bet it to let the person in the front do all the hard work and walk in their footprints.
We walked to Deadvlei, a strange place, it was once a small lake fed by a river but over 900 years ago the dunes encroached and blocked it. Consequently the trees had no water to survive, the lake dried up and created a white pan. The trees never decomposed because it’s just too dry, so they’re just skeletons in the pan. It’s a rather spooky place, so the photos will show.
We finally got to catch a train in Africa, from the capital Windhoek to Swakopmund. Although it only takes three hours on the bus, the train trip is 10 hours overnight, but being my father’s son, I had to go anyway. It was comfortable, clean and safe and a lot of fun. I was a little suppressed when the movie they played had some naughty bits displayed, but I guess you can get away with anything in Africa. We woke a little late and according to our watches, missed the stop. It was still dark and we couldn’t tell where we were. We were relieved to find out the train was running an hour late and we hadn’t missed it yet.
The last city in South Africa I was in was Bloemfontein. I was at a bar fare welling the French Boys as they went back to Cape Town and noticed that there was not a single black person partaking in drinking, or rugby celebrations (the Springboks just beat Wales). Last night watching France get smashed by Netherlands in Swakopmund (Namibia) was in a well mixed bar. And unlike South Africa, blacks and whites were in social groups together, not just in the same venue. It made me happy – stupid South Africa and their Apatite.
Today I had my first taste of the real sand dune experience… and sand. Snowboards on our back, sand dune ahead and a whopping big sand storm all around. Our guide insisted that although it was quite large, and it the beginning visibility was less that 50m, that it would ease off. Clambering on up the dunes again we waxed up, strapped on, grit our teeth and down we went. Awesome! Not quite as sharp as snow, but still just as fun. Each time we climbed back up that bloody dune we promises it would be the last, but each time we boarded down we couldn’t resist it. I though lie down boarding was for girls and did mostly sand up, but after trying lie down didn’t want to go back, I even clocked over 70kms down “the twister”.
Next Stop Victoria Falls, so until then “Kala po nawa”
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