The Dunes and Germans of the Namib Desert

After my friend Christy departed on Sunday, I decided to spend my last few days in Namibia seeing the dunes of the Namib desert, which are supposed to be some of the largest and most beautiful sand dunes in the world, in what is considered the oldest desert in the world at over 80 million years old. Since we had returned our rental car, I arranged for my lodge located in the Namib-Naukluft National Park, aptly named the Namib Naukluft Lodge, to transport me there and back.

Accompanying me on the 3 hour drive southwest of Windhoek to the Namib desert, through the narrow passes of the Naukluft mountain range, were an older German couple who did not speak a lick of English. Although we hardly spoke a single word to each other on the drive there – well, they kept trying to speak to me, to which I nodded and smiled, while thinking to myself, ‘nope, still don’t know any more German than I did 10 minutes ago’ – they kept insisting I get in every picture they took at stops along the way. (Pictured below, the husband, our guide and me. I figured I should take at least one picture of them in return.) They were a very cute couple. The whole way there she kept her eyes glued to the map, following what seemed like every Km of progress, while he took pictures of the same landscape out the jeep window. At one point I noticed that if I took a picture, then he would quickly whip his camera around towards my side of the jeep and take a picture of the same thing. This became a source of amusement for me as we drove to the lodge – fortunately, my digital camera allows me to erase all the random photos I took!
We arrived at the lodge just before sunset and dinner on Monday, November 20th. Also at the lodge, and with whom I would spend the next day and a half eating, walking on sand dunes and watching the sun set, were another 3 German couples, also with very limited English speaking skills. That was it at the Lodge, just me and 4 German couples, a fact which made me chuckle quite a bit throughout my time there.

At sunset after our arrival on Monday night, I took my glass of wine and walked a bit of ways from the lodge to a small water hole. From all directions, dozens, really maybe hundreds, of guinea fowl and desert ground squirrels scurried towards me as I approached. They apparently thought I was the lodge manager who feeds them during the late afternoon each day, but on this day had not yet done so. Stunned and overwhelmed by the onslaught, I stayed put a little too long, resulting in one squirrel taking a bite out of my left big toe! Although freaked out, a bit of antibiotic lotion, an apology and assurance by the lodge manager that I did not have rabies (something I feared, despite having been vaccinated) made it nothing more than a source of great amusement to me and my new German friends.

We had goulash made with kudo meat for our Monday night dinner, plus, among other things, “Kansas City fritters.” I had them repeat the name of this menu item to me many times to be sure, for I could not figure out what was “Kansas City” about them. I had I anxiously hoped for something with BBQ sauce rather than the simple chive/egg pancake they served me!

On Tuesday, we arose at 4:15 a.m. to drive to the Sossusvlei area of the Namib-Naukluft Park, in order to make it to the dunes in time for sunrise. The giant dunes are truly beautiful, made red by iron, and with lines that flow like musical notes. We climbed to the top of two of the largest dunes, Dune 45 (pictured above) and Big Mama, and had a big breakfast in the desert. By midday in the Namib desert, not surprisingly, it is quite hot. Unfortunately, we experienced a very hot and, to me, amusing delay on our trip back to the lodge as a result of a flat tire. As during everything else these past few days, as I piled out of the jeep along with the Germans, all of whom were very concerned that we would die of heat stroke yet could not stop taking pictures of the flat tire, I just laughed, wondering where in the world was I???

I came back to Windhoek on Wednesday afternoon, for one more night in Namibia before going to Cape Town on Thursday, Thanksgiving. On Friday, I will meet up with some other volunteers to start work at Baphumelele, the orphanage in the Khayelitsha township there. As an aside, a few people have emailed me about my pictures. As you can imagine, I have taken hundreds of them during the past month. I believe (or fear) I am limited by the number and size of photos I can post on blogspot, so have tried to keep my picture posting here limited and small. However, if you want to see the pictures that I am putting together separately in a Kodak gallery, just email me. Have a great Thanksgiving!