Namibia was colonised by Germany at the end of the nineteenth century. Evidence of this colonisation is witnessed through the architecture and language still spoken in most corners of the country. Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, felt like a regional city from Australia and emitted a good vibe. We soon headed south for one hour on a luxurious tar road, before exiting to what became the ‘normal’ surface for a road, gravel. We were not to see another tar road for 3 days!
The landscape was constantly changing, with each pass we crossed. At one pass, Spreetshoogte Pass, we actually felt as though we could have been on the moon. The surrounding valley pan was incredibly dry, arid and barren with a few imposing rocky mountains adding contrast. There was no evidence of human life or intervention- very strange and somewhat uncomfortable feeling!
After 5 hours of driving on poor gravel roads we eventually arrived at Solitaire. As the name suggests, it is the only settlement (or evidence of human existence) for hundreds of kilometres. Solitaire is nothing more than a petrol station, café/pub and caravan park! It confirmed that we were really in the remote desert of Africa.
The dunes of Sossusvlei didn’t fail to impress. They are within the 32,000 sq/km ‘sea of sand’ of the Namib Naukluft Park. The vibrant windswept red colour of the rolling sand dunes was stunning. We hiked a few dunes which was tiring with our feet sinking 30cm into the soft sand with each step, however running down them was a lot of fun, akin to skiing.
Spending a night sleeping under the desert sky was memorable as the sky was a thick blanket of stars making it difficult to differentiate constellations.
Due to the arid nature of the land, few animals can tolerate such harsh living conditions. We did however see herds of gemsbok, springbok, ostrich and a jackal. One ostrich tried to outrun our car and reached speeds of 50km/h. Impressive!
Gemsbok
We made our way (along yet another never-ending gravel road) to Swakopmund, a sea-side town on the Atlantic Sea quite often described as being more German than Germany! We were slowly realising that the majority of the country consists of sand and desert, as the town was a little oasis on the Atlantic surrounded by imposing sand dunes. Quad biking in the dunes was the highlight of our visit to Swakopmund. It was so much fun racing around the sand dunes reaching speeds of 50+ km/hr.
After experiencing the vast desert of Africa, we now feel ready to return to game viewing!