Sossusvlei, Sossusvlei

Cyclists going from Windhoek to Swakopmund meet an unattractive, long gravel road: more than three hundred kilometres without any villages or places. Food, but especially water can be a big problem. Ronald Moes, the guy from Rotterdam who stranded with his century-old Landrover and his ex girlfriend in Windhoek, invites us to go with them on a tour to Sossusvlei, Swakopmund and Walvisbay. An attractive alternative for the bad and probably dangerous gravel road we would have to cycle. The car is finally fixed after two weeks, and in the afternoon we’re on our way. We leave the bicycles and most of our stuff in the safe garage of the Cardboard Box.
Peter and I sit in the back of the Landrover on two small mattresses, which Ronald put there as make shift chairs. Comfortably we look around us, while we ride over the first mountains and leave Windhoek behind us. Via the Kupferberg Pas and the Gamsberg Pas we cross the Hakos Mountains of the Khomas Hochland. The scenery is fascinating, the road dirty and the views panoramic. At the end of the afternoon we find a spot without fences, where we can put the car and pitch the tent. Peter and I collect dry wood for the barbecue and a campfire. What is bush camping without a ‘braai’ and a fire after all? Before we fall asleep we look at the strange starry sky of the Southern Hemisphere, where the moon is lying instead of standing and the star signs are in a different position.

Via the steep Gaub Pas (18%) we reach a plateau the next day. In the middle of the empty, flat terrain there is a sign saying: Tropic of Capricorn. We take the obligatory pictures, got nothing further to do here and ride on. Through black canyons, over dry fields and along orange and red dunes we reach Solitaire. A name well known to us: a year ago we read the book ‘Solitaire’ from Ton van der Lee. He stayed in the hamlet of Solitaire a couple of years ago; the hamlet was no more than a gas station and two houses. Ton organised a restaurant and a guesthouse for tourists on their way from the north of Namibia to Sossusvlei. He left the prospering business when his Namibian partners let him down again and again. Solitaire turns out to be a fresh oasis in the middle of the desert; we eat a big piece of their famous apple pie each, for most people enough to last the day.
Fifty kilometres and an hour later we climb the ‘Petrified Dunes’. The sand dunes have been petrified during the last millennia. We are standing on a tough clay-like surface in all kind of beautiful shapes. When we drive back to the road an angry man from the neighbouring lodge is stopping us; he tells us we were not allowed to climb the dunes because it is private property of the lodge. Apparently we missed the small signs next to the road???
In Sesriem we hire a site for the four of us and manage to share it with another couple that’s just arriving. That means we have to pay 120 dollars less, Sesriem is very expensive. We arrived before six o’clock, the time the gate closes. Everyone that arrives later has to camp outside the gate and does not have the opportunity to leave early the next day for the dunes, which are at their most beautiful at sunset.
After pitching the tent we drive to the Sesriem-canyon, about five kilometre of the campsite. The water of the Tsauchab River has eroded the soft upper layer of the ground and now, a couple of centuries later we walk in a thirty metres deep canyon with natural caves and pillars. Ronald and Peter take away the dead wood, nobody needs it here, for the evening fire and climb on anything a man can climb. At their own risk.

It’s half past four in the morning. A ridiculous time to wake up, but we have no choice. At five o’clock the gates open and that’s the start for the ‘rat race’ to Dune 45. In the middle of the night cars and overland trucks try to be the first at the famous Dune, 45 kilometres further. Without fear of death they try to overtake each other on the bad road full of hundreds of potholes, bringing the other traffic in danger without caring. Dune 45 is officially the only dune one is allowed to climb and from the top there is a phenomenal view.
We take it easy in the Landrover that actually cannot go faster than 90 kilometres an hour. We won’t be the first and we don’t give a shit. On Dune 45 the rat race goes on, but now the legs have got to do it, not the accelerator. In the last years hundreds of people said to us: “You must be very fit!” after hearing about our cycle journey. We never really thought about that being so, although we do feel fit. Now, on this steep dune of soft and deep red sand, where you go two steps ahead and one back, we feel and see how fit we actually are. Without any problem we pass all the puffing and coughing climbers and reach the top of the dune quite fast and easily. Than, very slowly, the first light of the day shows on the horizon and the early rays of the new sun give the dunes and valleys a soft glow of yellow, orange and red. Still slowly, the colours transform into a pink-red glare and the edges of the dunes are silhouetted sharp in the heavenly light. Peter and I walk on, descend on the edge of the dune where no one has set foot upon and climb the next dune, that is still virginal. The colours are magnificent, the sky is as bright as it could be. There is no wind. We discover dozens of tracks of oryx, sand lizards and desert beetles. The dune and the views from here are completely ours: enjoyment with a capital E.

After a late breakfast with Ronald and Ar on the parking we drive to Death Valley. Here we continue our walk over dunes and edges of sand, through the dry pans that are full of dead trees. Hence the name Death Valley. The scenery is of an unnatural beauty and we start to understand why Sossusvlei is the most important tourist attraction of Namibia.
With as much thirst in our throats as pain in our hearts we go back to the car, where Ronald and Ar are waiting for us. We return to Sesriem and in the afternoon we drive to the north-west, in the direction of Walvisbay. In the dry riverbed of the Kuiseb River we find the most beautiful bush camping place ever: flat ground, shady trees, a lot of dead wood and a perfectly quiet surroundings.

On Saturday we drive to Walvisbay, between quiver trees, springboks and oryx. The landscape is getting flatter and the temperature decreases more and more approaching the coastal area. We do our shopping in Walvisbay and drive on to Swakopmund on the busy B2. The only affordable place we can find in this tourist town is the local youth hostel in an old German army barracks. There is a large German influence in Swakopmund, just like in Walvisbay. This and the grizzly weather make the four of us longing to Windhoek and the rest of Namibia. Sand boarding turns out to be ridiculously expensive, the brewery is closed and every one of us wants to go back to Windhoek right away the next day.

Returning to the Cardboard Box is like coming home. After a day of rest we book a tour to the Namibian Breweries. Chad, the owner of the Box comes along, just like a couple of Israeli and English guys. We arrive with thirteen people. The tour of the brewery is very interesting and is being followed by the tasting of liquors in the liquor department. From this moment on the atmosphere is getting better and better. There are a lot of different liquors and every single one of them has to be tasted. And the best of them we taste again. And again. A little unsteady we leave the side building to end the tour in the pub of the brewery. Here we have to taste and test the famous Windhoek Lager draught. Actually, it’s not really testing what we do; it’s more like trying to swallow as fast and as much as possible. Chad turns out to be the champion.
A little later thirteen people come stumbling out of the brewery, trying to find the exit of the property, which seems to be on a total different place than two hours ago. Somebody must have moved the gate. In the end we all arrive home safely, one of the Israelites with an involuntarily empty stomach. The beer probably wasn’t kosher.

Judith, who couldn’t come along to Sossusvlei because of the operation, is very anxious about the pictures we took. With the USB-reader we load the pictures on her Apple laptop but nothing appears. The computer doesn’t recognise the pictures or the program. Afraid to lose the pictures we remove the memory-card and place it back in the camera. It frightens the hell out of us when we see that all two hundred pictures are gone or have been deleted. We feel devastated: all the pictures we took on the trip with Ronald and Ar, Sesriem, the dunes, Walvisbay and Swakopmund, the probably vague pictures we took at the brewery, everything is gone. We want to cry…

The next day Peter and I decide to do the trip to Sossusvlei again. Not by Landrover, but this time just with our own bikes. We want to and have to record our memories of the beautiful dunes and valleys. Determined we work our butts off for four days and cycle the 350 kilometres to Sesriem via Rehoboth, Klein Aub, Rietoog, Solitaire, the Namib Naukluft Park and Tsondab. Here we meet Graham and Jenny from Durban, who allow us to share their campsite for free. Together we have supper and we visit the Sesriem-canyon once more. The manager listens to our sad photo-story and decides to give us a free permit for the park the next day.
Again we wake up at half past four; again we’re in the same rat race to Dune 45, this time with different participants but with the same attitude. Fortunately Graham also doesn’t participate in the a-social behaviour of the others but drives in his own pace to the wonderful attractions.
Today also we are fit and reach the virginal top of the dunes without too much effort. The sky is not as bright as a week ago, but still the light and the dunes are gorgeous. And Death Valley is just as dead and deserted as the last time we were here. We take pictures again and hold the camera like it’s the most expensive and rare Ming-vase in the world.

We’re happy. Everything is just like it was.