Day three has brought another glorious day in the Namibian heat. We had a more leisurely start to the day with breakfast at our hotel. We popped to the shops to stock up on supplies as we were heading into the Namib desert for two nights! The first leg of the journey was 240km on the B1 to Mariental. This is main north-south road in Namibia and there were sufficient cars on this for us to overtake one or two! In this small town, but district capital, I tried to organise an internet connection by getting a local SIM for my dongle. After visits to a few places, I found the right shop. I thought I was onto a winner until it transpired that my dongle is locked and I couldn’t use it with a SIM from the local network! I had left Kit in the car, and despite it not being 11 yet, it was getting uncomfortably hot. It was clear that it was going to be hotter than the day before. We gave ourselves the luxury of air-conditioning as we carried on west toward Maltahohe. We had been a little anxious about doing this, as we had only just had the radiator replaced after Jeepy overheating over Christmas in Lesotho. Maltahohe was an even smaller district capital. The size of a small village in fact. We filled up at the petrol station, potentially the last for over 500 km of dirt roads. 
The next 2 and half hours took us through plains with small shrubs and scattered trees, then down into a valley with green grass, numerous trees and birds. Thereafter the landscape got steadily drier and vegetation sparser until we could see the red sand dunes on the horizon. Our camp for the next two nights became clear as we approached the edge of the desert. Our “tent” turned out to be a rather luxurious one, with running water, electricity and even a kitchenette! We unpacked Jeepy, through on our swimmers and made our way to the plunge pool. Our fellow guests that were already enjoying the cooling waters warned us it was cold... they were kidding! I have never found a swimming pool more pleasant... looking out at the desert with a hot breeze passing over the pool. 
After the dip, we prepared for dinner at the neighbouring lodge. It was a splendid buffet meal in a gorgeous setting. We watched the sunset and the starts come out. Feeling satisfied we headed back to our tent as we were going to rise before dawn to experience the dunes of Sossusvlei!
The next 2 and half hours took us through plains with small shrubs and scattered trees, then down into a valley with green grass, numerous trees and birds. Thereafter the landscape got steadily drier and vegetation sparser until we could see the red sand dunes on the horizon. Our camp for the next two nights became clear as we approached the edge of the desert. Our “tent” turned out to be a rather luxurious one, with running water, electricity and even a kitchenette! We unpacked Jeepy, through on our swimmers and made our way to the plunge pool. Our fellow guests that were already enjoying the cooling waters warned us it was cold... they were kidding! I have never found a swimming pool more pleasant... looking out at the desert with a hot breeze passing over the pool. 
After the dip, we prepared for dinner at the neighbouring lodge. It was a splendid buffet meal in a gorgeous setting. We watched the sunset and the starts come out. Feeling satisfied we headed back to our tent as we were going to rise before dawn to experience the dunes of Sossusvlei!Bird of the day: Black-chested snake eagle
4-legged animal of the day: a large lizard (name to follow)
Oh you are making me so jealous! It just looks amazing. Definitely worth a trip next time we have two brass farthings to rub together!
ReplyDelete