Day 31 - 32 Sossusvlei Dunes and beyond (a champagne breakfast in the dunes )

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Photo Album: Sossusvlei Dunes and Beyond
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It was a very early morning start to get to the launch site for the Hot Air Balloon ride, before sunrise.

When I woke up, the Orion was hanging up high in the eastern sky, a good omen for a clear morning ahead.

Let's hope that the calm condition persists.

It was a 50 Km ride into the desert before we can see the bloating balloon gradually rising from the ground.

We were told that the crew of about 10 had been working for over an hour already, getting it ready. And the clear crimson sky promised a glorious sunrise.

And the condition was very calm, unlike the previous day.

Soon we were helped into the basket, which is partition into 4 corners for about 16 passengers, with two pilots in the middle.  One was a trainee pilot on the day.

Without further ado, as the sun was about to creep up the horizon, we were up 50 meters, then 100 meters into the sky, and rising.

And what a magnificent view, as we sailed long the eastern side of the great sand dunes.

The first rays shone through and calmness reigned.

A sea of high and red dunes all the way to the coast.

Lowering to run along a dry river to see if there were any wild lives hiding.

And we found some springboks.

Skirting close to the edges of some high dunes.

Two Black Back Jackals running on a dune.

And then it was time to land, with a lot of deft maneuvering, the pilot was able to get the balloon landed onto its small trailer, with us on it...what a feat !

And a Champagne breakfast was served in the middle of the desert, with silver service and the rest.

Of course, the Eftpos worked in the dunes, no worries about that.  Payments are now all due, in exchange for our transportation back to camp !

By the time breakfast was finished, the balloon was neatly packed and ready to go as well.

What an exhilarating experience, it was well worth every penny.

As I was walking back to my camp site, these big bird nests caught my eyes, and they were huge in size, which were built by a flock of weavers, and I could see the small birds flying in and out.  These were also seen in Etosha National Park, though I did not quite work out what they were, until a ranger explained to me at the Sesriem camp.

After lunch, I drove along the edges of the dunes to Sossusvlei, and took a 4x4 shuttle into the dunes to checkout a place called Deadvlei.

The road to Sossusvlei is over 70 Km from Sesriem on bitumen, with magnificent red sand dunes lining the whole journey.

There is a 4x4 shuttle service that takes tourists into Deadvlei, 14 Km from the end of the bitumen, basically is a dead lake surrounded by some of the highest dunes in the World, some are as high as 300-350 meters.

With my previous "bad" experience on the back of these 4x4 safari trucks, I decided to take a seat closer to the the middle, between the axles.  On this particular ride, half way down the track, one of the passengers at the rear, suddenly yelled out, "Stop...stop!" with extreme urgency. His back was in agony......I was glad that I did not commit the same sin again.

We spent a couple of hours walking amongst high dunes and dead woods until the late afternoon.

In order to get to the top of the dune at Elim, to catch the sunset properly, I got there early, and tried a new path, which I saw some of the tour groups were using, starting from another car park.

And I was able to get to the top this time, in time to see the sun going down.

One last thing to explore at the great sand dunes of Sossusvlei was to experience a sunrise at the top of a high dune.

So it was another long drive before dawn of about 50 Km to Dune 45.  Although I was the first car there, but I was joined by a couple of tour groups soon after.

And the sun just pop over the horizon soon after we peaked.

And it was time to descent and leave.

Soon after 9 am., after picking up some lunch and water at the local store, which only had limited choices, it was time to head south towards my next destination, Luderitz, on the Atlantic coast.

The first part of the journey south was also full of remarkable landscapes, but it was dusty dirt roads the whole way.

Interestingly, there are also holiday resorts along the way.  Judging by my experience so far, their quality should be quite high.

At the small village of Betta, I took a side trip to checkout this medieval looking German fort, the Duwisib Castle, which was built just over a 100 years ago by a German Baron, who unfortunately, never lived there as he was killed during WWI, soon after its construction.

It has now been turned into a small government run hotel, the price is very reasonable too, about US$120 for a night, however.  But unfortunately, I had some distances to cover.

As the sun was creeping down again, it was time to find somewhere to stay.  I ran into this homestead at Tiras, the Tiras Conservancy, which has a very secluded camping ground on a hill overlooking the surrounding hills.

The bathrooms and a private balcony for the camping ground.

And all of these just to myself, some kilometers away from the homestead itself.

However, just after sunset, it suddenly became very very windy before I started to setup, and seemed somewhat threatening. And the owner came up and offered me one of her vacant bungalows with no extra charges, so nice and caring of her, and I gladly accepted.

Next Post : Day 33 - 35 Diamonds are forever

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