Sesriem, Namibia

The first few nights of our tour have been just one-night stays and it has been hard to leave some of them without having had the opportunity to really appreciate their facilities. But we stayed two nights in Sesriem so that we could visit Namib-Naukluft National Park in the Sossusvlei area, (roughly translated to dead-end marsh) sight of these amazing huge, and old sand dunes. Our guide wanted to be in line when the park opened at 6:45 am so that we could get out onto the dunes before it became too hot and crowded, which meant a 4 am wake-up call. Ugh. But believe me by afternoon, we were grateful for the early start.

We drove into the park for about an hour after the gates opened, our destination Dune 45. It’s named 45 because it’s 45 km from the park entrance, but other larger but overwhelming huge dunes were named Big Daddy (the tallest at 1000 + ft) and Big Mamma. These dunes are some of the highest in the world and were created by sand being washed down the Orange River and washed out to sea, only to be picked up by the winds and blown back into land here. The sand is a bright orange, with a lot of iron in it. Innocent put a tissue over a magnet, and rubbed it in the sand. The tissue came out covered in iron powder.

In the picture of Big Daddy below if you look carefully you can see tiny specs along the rim which are people that have started at ground level, and are walking across from left to right over the first hump, to the valley on the left, and then across and up to the crest in the middle. We were very glad not to be attempting that but rather trying to tackle Dune 45.

Our guide gave us some great advice about going without shoes to do our climb and to follow in someone else’s foot steps as we climbed. The sand was silky smooth and at this early hour, still cool to the touch. Imagine how difficult it is to walk on loose sand, and then add a high incline! And we’re talking 560 ft. And walking in the footsteps of someone else really did help. The first part of the trail was quite broad, but as we climbed the path became narrower and passing people coming down was a little challenging. You didn’t want to get off the path because the sand was loose there, and the slope was pretty significant. It wouldn’t have taken much to tumble all the way down to the valley floor. I didn’t climb all the way to the top. I knew that I had more walking through sand to do and didn’t want to completely ruin my SI Joint. Several of us rested on a bit of a plateau, took pics and then headed back down. Two of our group made it to the top and get top honours. When we returned, our guides had tea prepared for us. They’re taking such good care of us.

We then headed further into the Park toward the Sossus Vlei area. Once in the vicinity we waited for a lift by 4X4. In ancient times, the Sossus River flowed through this area of the dunes and trees grew in the valley. But when the river dried up, the trees died leaving this unique area of dried and bleached clay and skeletons of trees called Dead Vlei. It has to be one of the most iconic Kodak moments in Namibia.

Our very resourceful guide managed to secure our return to the parking lot with a drive-by some other areas without having to wait for another lift. We left the park to have lunch just outside the gate and then re-entered to head to the 3 million year old Sesriem Gorge. Sesriem means “six belts” in Afrikaans and the gorge was named Sesriem because it took 6 knotted belts to reach down to the bottom of the gorge to get water from the river bed. We were able to get down into the gorge over some pretty rough steps, with the able assistance of Innocent, to walk along the floor of the gorge. The gorge only floods every 8 – 10 years and it’s overdue so we were hopeful that it wasn’t our misfortune to be there for the next instance. But it was shaded and a much-appreciated cooler temperature, and a very enjoyable walk. The erosion of the sides of the canyon over the years, showed layer after layer of flooding and placement of rocks.

Then it was back to our hotel for a sundowner, and another fabulous buffet. Tonight we were entertained in the dining room by the staff of the hotel. Was great fun.