Namibia

Dear family and friends,

Yeay a new blog update! Although it would be nice if someone would care to react this time 😉
A lot has happened the past couple of weeks. From South Africa I traveled on to neighboring country Namibia. This large country only has 2 million people living in it and from the airplane you only see desert, desert, and desert. It is amazing that some countries still have a lot of nature and they did not (yet) “pave paradise”.

My journey in Namibia started out in Walvis Bay. The owner of the hostel picked me up from the teeny tiny airport and showed me around town. Most of the historic buildings have been taken down, so there is not that much to see. However, there is a big bird sanctuary with loads of flamingo’s and the laguna is frequently visited by dolphins.

After Walvis Bay I went to Swakopmund, where you can clearly see that Namibia used to be a German colony. The locals also speak the German language, whereas the German in other areas has developed into Namibian German. Next to German and English, Afrikaans is also widely spoken in Namibia. Whenever people asked me where I was from they started talking in Afrikaans to me 🙂
In Swakopmund I walked a bit along the coastline, watched the lighthouse, and visited the Kristall Gallery. I have always liked gemstones and there they have the worlds’ largest quartz crystal cluster on display.

In Windhoek I only had a short stay before going on a tour through the south of Namibia. At the hostel I met Wilder from Massachusetts and we walked through town, saw the Christus Kirche, and read books at the swimming pool.

As I said, I booked a Southern Swing tour with Wild Dog Safaris. Luckily, we had a small group and our guides were the best. Ian knows pretty much everything about the country, constellations, and nature in general and the cooking skills of Steven are amazing. Our group consisted of Polly from Australia, Brigitte and Cordula from Germany, and Hildegard, Gerald, and Valentin from Switzerland. Except for the Swiss family we all went camping and we had a great time together.
On the first day we stopped at the Tropic of Capricorn and a tree that had been taken over by weaverbirds before we went to our camping spot in the Kalahari desert. The jeep got incredibly hot, so we took a refreshing swim once we arrived at the resort. From the swimming pool you could actually see ostriches walking around. How cool! Then, we had a jeep safari through the desert where we also saw springbok, oryxes, wildebeest, kudus, and giraffes.

On the second day we drove further south, passing an inactive volcano, through Mariental and Keetmanshoop to Ome Giel for a tour around his farm. It is filled with Quiver trees and naturally formed dolerite rock formations. One day Ome Giel found fossils of the mesosaurus. The same kind of fossils have been found in South America providing proof that the continents were once connected.

On day 3 we woke up early to see the sun rise over Fish River Canyon. Even though Southern Africa experiences a drought, you could still hear the river flowing in the distance. We hiked from one viewpoint to the main viewpoint and watched the sunrise change the color of the canyon. After breakfast we drove on to Aus. Along the way we stopped at Fish River, where there were loads of yellow flowers. They were pretty, but poisonous to animals. At the resort we took a dive in the swimming pool and rushed outside to where a scorpion had been spotted. In the middle of the night I woke up to go to the toilet. I tried to open up the tent as silently as possible, but Polly woke up anyway. She thought someone was breaking in and started shouting at me XD

On the Namibian National Independence Day we drove through the forbidden area Spitzkoppe. Years ago they found diamonds here and dug ‘m up, but it is deserted now. You can drive through it, but you are not allowed to “actively search” for diamonds. This area is also home to the wild Namib horses and, luckily, we spotted some. In Kolmanskop we stopped for a tour through the ghost town. This is where the diamond miners lived and they were paid out in diamonds as well. Of course a lot of people tried to smuggle diamonds and they had really inventive methods. The place has been abandoned for over 60 years and it has been taken over by the sand dunes, making it perfect for photography.

We also went to Luderitz and the incredibly windy Diaz point.

The fifth day was a traveling day on which we drove from Aus all the way to the Sesriem area. After putting up our tents we went to the sand dunes for sunset. Hiking up those dunes is NOT easy… Halfway through Brigitte, Cordula, and I rested on one of the dunes and we got the company of two Namibian guys. On our way to the higher dunes they showed us the “desert newspaper”, which are the tracks of the desert animals. On a higher dune we watched the sunset and the moon rise with a couple of French girls. One of them asked me whether I had traveled in Mozambique, because she had seen me before but couldn’t remember where. Eventually, we figured out that we shared a shuttle from Jo’burg airport. Such a small world!

Day 6 arrived. The day I had been waiting for. We woke up really, really, really early to hike up Dune 45 and watch the sun rise over the beautiful, orange sand dunes. One hundred and seventy meters high might not sound that difficult, but let me tell ya, it is freaking exhausting… To get an idea of what the hike is like here is a funny summary: http://www.reclaimingmyfuture.com/how-i-almost-died-on-dune-45-in-the-namib-desert/
But in the end it is really worth the effort. The view on top of the dune is amazing and at sunrise you can see the sun change the color of the dunes.

Then we went for a hike through Sossusvlei. Walking up and down sand dunes again, reading the “desert newspaper”, and walking over the dry clay.

Through the Sossusvlei we walked in the direction of the Deadvlei and from one of the dunes you have a nice view. The Deadvlei is a clay pan with 900-year old, dead camel thorn trees that make a beautiful contrast against the white clay pan, the orange sand dunes, and the blue sky.

As if the day had not been exhaustive enough we also viewed the “fairy circles” and hiked through the Sesriem Canyon.

On the last day we traveled back to Windhoek. We made a special detour through Solitaire to try the famous apple pie. The camping girls exchanged personal data and we might meet up in October. I had such a great time with you girls!

The next day I had to leave the country to travel 32 (!) hours to the city of angels. I’ve already been in California for 1,5 weeks and will travel on to Peru at the end of the month. But enough about me. How are things with you guys? I’d love to hear from you all. I miss you guys.

Lots of love,

Romana