Exploring the wonders of the desert

The demanding conditions of the desert happen to be the natural habitat for many creatures. We got to explore these wonders on the Desert Explorer Quad bike tour via Desert Explorers Namibian adventures, and want to share with you the images of these fascinating animals as well as the nature documentary of the month. 

The Dancing White Lady Spider - digs a whole deep into the sand, but leaves a "breathing tube" behind, and that's how you're able to spot it! It also has a clever way of protecting oneself: if threatened by enemies it dives off the steep slip face,  curls into a ball and rolls down the dune at 44 rolls per second - faster than any of its predators can run.

Shovel-Snouted Lizard - instantly disappears into the sand

And our very favourite, the Namib Dune Gecko. The gecko has no eyelids, so they keep their large fixed eyes clean by licking them with their long tongues. Their feet act as sand shoes, 

and they really come in handy as you can see ;)

It’s Skydiving Time!

On Monday morning we decided to take advantage of the mild temperature and went for a run, so the active vacationing concept was reinforced once again. Halfway through our 5 km jog we miraculously bumped into our Airbnb-host family from Windhoek! What a coincidence… It was a happy surprise, but so random that by now I believe it was meant to be. Because like I said, Swakopmund is seen as the top adventure sport city of Namibia, and one of the things you’re able to do there is a Tandem free fall Skydive from 3km, something I’ve had on my bucket list for a long time.

Nevertheless, when we first got to Swakopmund, I came up with tons of very good reasons why I shouldn’t check it from the list quite yet. You know, one should have something to look forward to even after the 30th birthday. Might also be that my severe fear of heights took the stage, and so I was convinced this was not yet the right time for skydiving. Well, we were catching up with our Airbn-hosts as they told us they’d been skydiving the day before and it had been great. And that was it, the thought started to linger, at least in Timo’s mind. I on the other hand was very skeptical and even a bit afraid of the thought (further down the road there were even a few tears involved). 

Ground Rush Adventures is one of the leading agencies in Swakopmund with a great track record on skydiving. So I called them in order to get the confirmation that no free spots were available during the days we’d spend in town. How pleased was I to hear that there were exactly two spots available for the same day at 2 pm. Great!

But rest is history, and these pics tell you more than a thousand words. So I encourage all of you fellow fear-of-heighters out there to kick some skydiving ass cause it was just amazing <3

-Riina

We did it!!

Taking on adventure in Swakopmund

Next it was time to get to know the adventure capital of Namibia: Swakopmund. We had heard that in this west coast town the climate due to the cold Benguela current differs a lot from other parts of the country: the desert rainfall is less than 20 mm per year and the temperature only around 15℃ even in the summer. It was hard to believe that though, a half hour before arriving to Swakopmund it was still 30℃ on the car thermometer…

We got to enjoy some amazing scenery in Kuiseb Canyon on the way.

Welcoming words written in iron

But we had taken the tip into account not to camp in Swakopmund to avoid freezing at night, and had made a booking for a hotel made out of containers, Adventure Village (part of Desert Explorers Namibian adventures). The hotel turned out to be a top choice and sleeping indoors the right decision, since our jackets and jeans really came into use during these three days.

This was a daily sight after the gravel roads :/ 

Adventure Village in the moonlight

One of the main reasons for us to stay in the city for three whole days was the guarantee for an internet connection, so some working and blogging was on the agenda. But we ended up doing something else as well…

Btw, these pics below have nothing to do with what we did, they're just nice pics from Swakopmund. More about the real deal on the next post.

The amazing dunes of Sossusvlei

At 5 am we had packed our stuff to the car and were ready to take on the dunes of Sossusvlei, the second UNESCO World Heritage Site of Namibia. Sossusvlei has got it sand from the Kalahari Desert millions of years ago when the Orange River washed it down to the Atlantic, and today its dunes are constantly changing shape. The only way to realize its size is to climb to the top of the dune. The magnitude was the most evident when we started our one and a half hour hike to the top of the Big Daddy dune before sunrise (after driving a crazy 4 km sand road leading to the dune, only accessible by a 4x4). 

As the sand is almost softer than snow in Lapland, every step takes an effort, so there is no sense starting the climb after sunrise, as the temperature can go as high as 50 degrees during the day. From the surface the dune looks gradual, but it has its surprises - after an hour of hiking there was a steep climb up which really took an effort (at least from us, there was the German couple from our neighboring campsite walking up past us, we’re not sure if they were even sweating…) 

At that point Timo chose to take his shoes off, as our socks were full of sand (note: wearing shoes with a breathable canvas is not a good idea).

 

All the hard work eventually paid out: the view from the top was overwhelming, almost too much to take in. As the sun kept rising, the only thing that broke off the silence were our toes in the sand. Doing this was a privilege! 

After climbing the 325 meters up to the highest dune in Namibia, there is only one thing to do: run down like crazy!! The feeling when you are running down the dune knee deep in sand is totally deliberating. The sand makes this thumping sound and one leap can take you five meters down at once! 

The same time you can see Deadvlei with its white clay ground and dried tree trunks coming closer with every step.. Priceless!

  

Setting up exercise routines under the Namibian sun

Keeping up your workout routine (or establishing one like we’re trying to once again do) in Namibia is not that easy. You only have a few hours in the morning during which you’re able to do any kind of activity, partake on guided tours, see sights etc. and after that for about seven hours the only thing you’re able to perform is a) sit in an air-conditioned car and move from one place to another + occasionally open the window and take a pic, b) sit in an air conditioned bar and have a cool beer, or c) just sit somewhere in the shade. After 5 pm it slowly starts to get tolerable again, and then you’re up for some cooking, pitching the tent and enjoying the sunset which occurs around 7 pm, after which it’s pitch black (except when there’s a full moon). Some nights you might enjoy the evening by hanging out with some new friends from the campsite, and around 9 pm everybody’s asleep. So, not so much room for exercising… We decided though that we can’t just sit in a car for four weeks and as you might have guessed it, we started to take advantage of the first hours of the day – between 6 and 9 am, when the sun has just risen, it’s nice and cool to go for a morning run (don’t get me wrong, during these two weeks spent here when writing this, we have been running three times. But still, it’s more than at home ;)

At Namtib Biosphere Reserve there was a great opportunity to start our new, active vacationing. A 4 km hike around the area. Boy was that tough.

 

Well actually it was very nice, and after that we were happy to spend the next five hours in the car until we stopped at Betta Camp Site for some gasoline (for the car) and burgers (for us). Yummy.

Don't forget where you parked your car

The next night we spent at a pleasant Hammerstein Lodge, trying to get some work done by using their (at that moment non-existent) Wi-Fi. Luckily we had our own prepaid with data, it worked smoothly every 15 minutes or so. Buying an MTC prepaid has been one of the best investments we've done here! All the bookings and communication in general is easier by phone as replying to emails has been so and so. We chose the Aweh O-Yeah package, which you can customise to fit your own needs in terms of the amount of data, minutes and SMS. What's different to a regular prepaid is that your bundles are valid only for seven days and the unused balance is discarded by the end of the week. It's also good to bear in mind that you're unable to top-up your current package in the middle of the week, so choose wisely. 

After work we were happy to spend some time at the pool, and got to our tent-bed early. We didn’t get too much sleep though, since it was freezing at night. In some parts of Namibia, you can really feel the desert climate – crazy hot during the day and not so much during the night. Well, luckily we had each other and our summer sleeping bags (+ woolly hats, just in case).

This little Gemsbok was keeping us company at our Hammerstein campsite. These antelopes can survive for months on the scant water they derive from the plants they eat.

The next day it was time to head towards the famous dunes of Sossusvlei. While still in Windhoek we had pre-booked one night from the Sesriem Camp Site, since it is the only campsite located inside the park gates, thus giving the guests a one-hour head start in the morning at 5 am to start driving towards Sossusvlei, 65 km from Sesriem. Everyone staying outside the park gates will be let in at 6.15 when the sun rises, so by pre-booking we wanted to guarantee our spot in the 5 am lineup to the dunes. However, when we got in, it came clear that we had already made our booking to a fully booked campsite, and were thus given a leftover camping spot with no electricity. This was otherwise totally fine, but our fridge didn’t quite like it. Luckily we had a nice German couple staying next to us, and we able to borrow their electrical outlet for the night. So no rotten food, yay.

It was again one of those crazy hot 45℃ days you could only sit at the camp site bar and do nothing. Although we did do something – planned our itinerary and booked the stays for Etosha. The Etosha National Park is the number one place where it’s still crowded in November, and we were already quite late with our bookings. An interesting thing happened though: Etosha is administered by NWR (Namibia Wildlife Resorts), as are numerous other campsites and lodges around the country, including the Sesriem Camp. We called to make the reservations for three nights inside the national park, but were disappointed to hear that at Okaukuejo all the campsites were already fully booked. After doing the other bookings over the phone (or so we thought), we were told to send an e-mail instead to confirm them. So we went to the website and there was an online booking site you can use to book and pay for your accommodation. We started checking the wanted dates and campsites, and ahoy, there magically still was room in the fully booked campsite at Okaukuejo. We figured after we’d paid for the stay, they need to let us in. Well, to be seen.

Be careful not to spend too much time in the sun.

For the evening we had a lovely hike up one of the dunes close to the campsite, the Emil Dune, where we went to catch the sunset. The climb to the dyne was longer than expected and every time we thought we had reached the top, there was a higher point looming behind. Watching the sun set in the distance, it was a lovely way to end the day. And as you can see, our sport vacation just kept going on: a one-hour hike up the dune, two beers on the top and 45-minute “run” back down to get to the camp before they close the gates at eight. It was about time to start preparing dinner after that.

From the windy Lüderitz to the peace and quiet in Namtib Biosphere Reserve

Our trip in total will include around 5000 kilometers on the road, and we chose to take in 1300 of them during the first two days. So I must say these pictures tell you all the essential stuff you need to know:

We did have a quick pit stop at the coastal town of Lüderitz, known for its pastel-coloured houses, German-style cuisine and architecture and THE WIND. We have never experienced such a strong and constant blast in a clear day.. It was a nice place to see, but we were quite pleased not having booked a campsite by the beach.

  

A pretty interesting place can be found on the way to Lüderitz: the ghost town of Kolmanskop, once a small but very rich mining village. Diamond industry provided miners such wealth, that they were able to build a German style town. If the town would be up and running, only the sand would distinct it from a regular German town. This abandoned town has before the WWI had a casino, a theatre and a bowling alley and the first x-ray-station in the southern hemisphere, as well as the first tram in Africa!! Pretty difficult to imagine that…

For the night we had made a campsite booking to Namtib Biosphere Reserve. It was located as our Airbnb-host Riaan told us, by the most stunning road in Namibia, the D707. We were way beyond any telephone service, and due to the great amount of kilometers to tackle that day, the evening was approaching. But that made the drive even more beautiful when the sun shed its light to the mountains by the road. Right before the sunset we arrived to our destination, and were a bit surprised to hear that the campsite would be located another 2 km off the premises, literally in the middle of nowhere. We were told to pick any site we’d want, with us there was just one other small group of campers, but with the distance between the sites being more than enough it really felt like it was just us and the occasional baboons and desert antelopes. By the time we pitched our tent it was dark again (we were getting quite good at the nightly tent-pitching), and around 8 pm it was time to start making dinner. This dinner accompanied by a glass of wine/beer by the fire, under the sky full of stars and the moon shedding light to our desert kitchen was something very special. It really felt as though we were the only ones in the planet.

The long drive from Windhoek to Fish River Canyon

It wasn't too easy to get started with our trip: after collecting the car and the camping gear, we still had to do quite a lot of grocery shopping at Superspar in order to survive the upcoming nights in the desert. In addition, Timo left the keys to our Airbnb-home in his pocket - luckily we noticed this while still in Windhoek and not 650 km later ;) Since it was already 1.30 pm when we got going, the plan was to drive through Mariental and Keetmanshoop all the way to the Fish River Canyon during one day. Luckily you really can't say that there is too much traffic in Namibia's main roads (note to mum; I wasn't speeding too much). Even an hour could pass without seeing any cars - the only thing moving were the numerous animals we saw next to the road, or sometimes crossing it.


We spent our first night at Hobas camping site at the helm of Fish River Canyon. As we started our drive a little bit later than planned, we missed the sunset at the Canyon, but driving to the sunset in a road filled with pot holes and animals lurking around was an experience of its own. We finally arrived at Hobas Camp site way after dark - tired, but excited. The camp site was lively, and there were all the essentials we needed. They even recycle - yea!

   You don't need daylight to pitch a tent

The next morning we got to explore the wonders of Fish River Canyon - at 7 am the temperature was still reasonable to walk around. The Canyon is the largest in Africa, its gigantic ravine is almost 160 km long and in some places 550 meters deep. There is also a hiking trail that tests your physical condition, but due to the risk of flooding and extremely hot summer temperatures reaching 48°C in the day and 30°C at night it was not a possibility for us... oh, all excuses :P

The Fish River Canyon is roughly 650 millions years old