Up early this morning for 5:00am breakfast and 5:30am departure. Mamsy explained that all camps start early, returning to camp for brunch, siesta, then afternoon tea (beer), and back out for an evening excursion. We are up a half hour early to beat the crowds heading to the very popular giant red sand dunes of the Namib Desert. There was a group up even earlier than us who were taking a hot air balloon ride that morning………at $700 US per person for a one hour ride and my fear of heights, we decided to take a pass on booking that excursion for tomorrow.
Up, up and away, in my beautiful balloon
We were partnered up again with the German couple, and found we had travelled to many of the same places, particularly European ski destinations. Nice folks. Mamsy was full of information, and even stopped at one point along the way to use the windscreen as a blackboard, drawing a map of Namibia with a sharpie to help us get our bearings and describe how the dunes were formed. Winds in some locations were variable, and created star shaped dunes, while others with constant prevailing winds created the crescent ridge like shapes, much like the snow drifts I hope are not building in my driveway at home right now. All dunes were numbered, and did not move like those in the Sahara, and their red colour (stunning) was because of the iron component in the sand. Our target dune for the day was numbered, but had also been named “Big Daddy”. We would find out why.
Jutta sizing up Big Daddy.
Big Mama was across the road
Big Daddy came into view, and Mamsy stopped to describe our options……..get out here, cross an open plain, then start climbing, or continue to the parking lot for a much longer route to the top……..easy choice, and we were out of the truck and on our way. It didn’t take long to separate the group. Lightweights were easily the winners, and Jutta and Dirk continued on while Ricoletta and the burro headed back down. Tough sledding for me in the sand. I figured my elevation gain per stride was probably about 6 inches, but I was happy to make my way over a connecting ridge and down to the flat plain below, “Dead Vlei” which I had seen in so many of the promotional pictures of Namibia.
Trees that died 800 years ago but still standing because of a deep root structure and the lack of parasites that would eat the tree here in the desert
Jutta and Dirk joined us after a successful climb of Big Daddy…….305 meters gained according to Dirk’s wrist computer…….Jutta was pretty happy, and rightfully so. The best part they said was the decent which took about five minutes, using that downhill snowshoe technique into the deep sand.
Jutta is one of those ants at the top
After snapping a million pictures, we were back into the truck, and heading home……….magnificent scenery along the way…….saw a few ostrich, and wondered if they would be on the menu that night??????
For our evening excursion, we decided to head south and visit a canyon that has been carved over millions of years by the seasonal water that still hits the desert. Sundowners that night were at an awesome spot. The pictures tell it all. We love our Mamsy.
So now we come to one of our memorable moments so far on the trip. Yes, we decided try the sleeping outside option on the roof of our suite. All started quite well as the bed was made up beautifully, the full moon was out, there was an abundance of stars in the sky, we had indulged in a few glasses of wine with dinner, so we jumped in the sack, the most uncomfortable bed ever, couldn’t get the mosquito netting in place, tried to put the moves on Jutta and ended up dislodging the support slats on my side of the bed…….crack, crash, bang, game over………we lasted maybe fifteen minutes. Hilarious. Couldn’t get to sleep back in the room we were laughing so hard.
Another travel day tomorrow, and although our flights were cut back from three to two, we realized the one leg that was replaced would have taken us up the Skeleton Coast…….hopefully we get another chance to see it from the air later.
Front entry and greeting area Little Kulala
First wildebeest sighting of the trip…….amazing that anything can survive in the desert……45 degrees today
HUGEBLOGSITE 
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