The alarm went off at 5 so that we could drive to see Soussusvlei in the early morning light. We had had a reasonable amount of sleep considering we were in the back of a car! It was just started to get light as we followed a few other cars down the 60km road to Soussusvlei. It would take us about an hour to get there because of the reduced speed limit on the road. Soussusvlei is a large flat piece of land surrounded by bright red sand dunes. When the level in the nearby river gets high enough, which might only happen for a few weeks during the rainy season, or not happen in any given year, the flat land floods bringing much needed water to the very dry area. Then it evaporated leaving a surface of cracked mud and mineral deposits.
For the last 4km of the journey, the Tarmac stopped and Jamie jumped at the chance to drive on the sand! We survived and reached the place where others had parked. We braved the wind and began to climb one of the dunes, called Deadvlei. Have you tried climbing a sand dune? It is extremely hard work on the legs because you sink with every step and your shoes immediately fill with sand. When you add the wind sandblasting your legs, it all makes for a rather fun experience! Anyway, we climbed the crazy dune, took some photographs and descended to the relative calm of the flat pan. Odd species of plant and animal live in a place where there is only water for a few weeks of the year. We admired the weird flat expanse surrounded by bright orange dunes before returning to the car for shelter.
We decided that there was no way that we were spending another night sleeping in the car so we devised a new plan. We would ring the lovely guesthouse in Windhoek and see if they had a room for the night. We were already booked in for the following night. We stopped back in at the camp for a coffee and to buy some bread rolls for breakfast and tried to work out how Nambian phone numbers worked. It turns out that you have to know the area code, which is 61 for Windhoek. We found the number on some paperwork and I rang from Jamie’s phone. International calls are expensive from any device her, but desperate times called for desperate measures! The lovely people at the guesthouse said that they had a provisional booking which they would find out about and asked us to ring back in an hour or so. We set off on the 4 hour drive to Windhoek, hoping it would work out.
After a couple of hours, we realised that there was no phone reception over most of the route – it really only works in towns here, not unreasonably given the vast distances of nothingness. Time to work out how the satphone works! Jamie made it find satellites and I rang them. It was super difficult to concentrate on the call because after she had spoken, I got a repeat of what I had said before. Anyway, phew, they had a room for us! We were saved from the crazy sandblast desert and got to spend another night in the lovely guesthouse. Win!
When we arrived, they were so friendly. We unpacked the car, which we had completely totalled in our rush to escape the wind and did some organising. Showers were had – what’s lovely feeling being clean is! After a bit of a rest, and an organise, we walked into town for dinner. After some minor stress and difficulty in finding the restaurant, we found a lovely place that did pizza to keep Jamie happy. The meal was lovely. We set off for home. The road junctions are real,lay hard to cross as a pedestrian. There never seems to be a pedestrian phase on the lights and if there is, people still seem to be driving across. It makes no sense! We also got barked at by a terrifying dogs with teeth that appeared to be standing on the road outside a property. Jamie did his “I’m bigger than you, go away” impression, but the dog wasn’t really one for backing down. So we crossed the road and walked a different way home. No rabies for us! I do not like big yelly dogs! We reached our lovely guesthouse and went to bed. What a day!
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