And so it ends

Leaving Swakopmund we went via Walvis Bay where there were a couple of hundred flamingos. Some of them were quite pinkish whilst others very white. They look very strange when they stand on one leg and tuck their heads in - kind of like a lollipop.

From here we turned inland towards the dune fields.  The sand dunes stretch several hundred kilometres with some being up to 200 metres.  We climbed the 'famous’ Dune 45 which is 175 metres high. They say famous, I had never heard of it.  Apparently it is the 45th dune and is 45kms from the National Park entrance. It was chosen as the best place to view Sunrise and Sunset, but we arrived and hour or so after sunrise.  It was quite difficult to climb as - obviously - we are climbing in sand. The views were pretty nice from the top then it was time to head back down. We chose to run down the side of the dune, which was a lot faster and a bit of fun.  Our shoes filled with sand though and we all had to sit down and empty them when we got to the bottom. Breakfast was eaten here then we moved onto the ‘Sossosvlei’. Vlei is a German word meaning Marsh and the Sossos is the river that runs through this area - or ran.  It was completely dry when we got there. Further down the Sossos was the Deadvlei, which is an area where the sand dunes have cut off the river and it is completely dry. In this area there are trees still standing that have been dead for 600 years. It is all quite surreal and as we walked along the Deadvlei we saw a mirage.  Tracy was quite convinced it was actually water and even looked through her telephoto lens. We started to walk towards it, but it was soon apparent there was no water.

Dune 45

View from the top

Lauren running down

Sossusvlei

Deadvlei

Deadvlei

Next stop was Sesriem Canyon, a small canyon made by the Sossos river, though again it was dry enough now for us to walk through.  We saw some tree branches stuck in the rocks about 30 metres high that were left behind in a huge flood about 20 years ago.

Next day was an early start, 6:00am, as we headed to Fish River canyon.  Fish River canyon is the second largest canyon in the world at about 85km long and several kilometres wide.  it was pretty spectacular. You can do a 5 day hike down into it, but we settled for a 2km walk along the rim.

Our last full day in Namibia was a fairly leisurely one. We left our campsite at 9:00am and only drove a few hundred kilometres, past lots of vineyards, to a camp on the side of the Orange river. The grapes from these vines are all sold to South African wineries as there are no Namibian ones. After lunch most of us (not Lauren) got a lift a little way up the road, then we rowed canoes about 8km down river returning to the camp.  It was a pretty easy trip, no real rapids and a bit of a current to help. Still by the time we got back we were all pretty tired.

We woke to some bad news, our truck had been broken into overnight - the padlock had been cut. Tracy had a backpack taken but it and all contents were found by the river later. Two people from the tour though lost an SLR camera, go-pro and 400 South African Rand (about $40AUD). (Their passports were also taken but found by the river with our things and some clothes from another girl) Not a great way to start the day. The police were called and were not quick to come. Then we needed to stop at the police station as we left Namibia to have statements taken. All in all pretty ordinary way to leave Namibia but with 10 of us on tour we probably got off lightly.

Into South Africa and we stayed at a campsite with a heap of other travellers. It is a public holiday this weekend and there are lots of people with caravans at the same campsite. It was interesting (for me at least) to see how they had everything organised and I had a bit of a chat with one of the locals about their travels and what we had planned for Cape Town.

Our last day was again pretty leisurely with an 8:00am breakfast, then a short drive to a winery in Paarl. We sampled 5 wines, two whites, a Rosé and 2 reds. We had a look around as there was a gift shop, chocloterie, ice cream shop, a cured meats place and more. We met up with two others from our truck and shared an ice cream sampler. Chocolate Brownie, Cookies and cream, Raspberry, Salted Caramel and Banoffee. They were pretty good and we got a good sample each. From here it was about an hour drive to the city and the end of our tour. We had an absolutely fantastic trip and the memories will last a lifetime - helped by over 4000 photos. Made a few good friends, certainly people Lauren is likely to keep in contact with.

Next up 5 nights in Cape Town.