Day 4: Luderitz to Sossusvlei
While South Africa goes into Stage 6 load shedding, we remain blissfully unaffected in Namibia.
Due to a foot and mouth outbreak in S.A. We were not allowed to bring meat and fresh produce across the border, so our first chore of the day was a food shop. We found a Small Spar, it’s not Sandton Woolies, but we managed to get meat and salad makings for the next few days.
We then took a short drive around Luderitz, the German influence is obvious by the architecture of the old buildings.
We then set off for our 500km trip to Sossusvlei. The first 100km was retracing yesterdays route to Aus. The wind in this part of the world is insane and sweeps across the road. For most of the drive one would be forgiven for not thinking we were driving on the moon.
Shortly after Aus we turned on the Helmeringhausen gravel road and eventually on to the Sesriem and Sossusvlei road.
We travelled through different biomes throughout the day; from stark grey desert, to wheat coloured grasslands, beautiful mountains and camel thorn trees and eventually the red sands of Sossusvlei littering the landscape, giving us a small glimpse of the mighty dunes we will be experiencing tomorrow. Dotted along the way was the odd farmhouse, with varying types of livestock.
We saw gemsbok, zebra, baboons, springbok and a number birds, ranging from sociable weavers, with their impressive nests, to raptorsu and ostriches.
They say a picture paints a thousand words and as I’m sure you don’t want a thousand words, here are some pics of the day.
Not sure where we were going to lay our head each night is a case in point today. Our plan was to camp at the Oasis Camp site, having stayed there before, we were excited to be back. However, it was fully booked (highly unusual for a campsite). So instead of a bed in our rooftop tent we are spending the next two nights at Desert Quiver Camp, a self catering hut, with a great view. We have also stayed here before and are looking forward to exploring the area tomorrow.
Pandas in Africa 