Namibia - August 2008

Sossusvlei - Dune 45

Namibia is definitely on our list of top trips we have ever done - just incredible.  We had originally planned to go to Vietnam/Cambodia with Charlie and Melissa, but Charlie's work and exams got in the way.  So this was the make-up trip.  We did spend more than usual on accommodations/activities (much to Melissa's influence) but with only a week there, we also needed to optimize our time so we treated ourselves to an organized trip through Scott Dunn, a travel company based in London that Melissa discovered.

Accommodations:

Onguma Tree Top Camp

Onguma Tree Top Camp
This is the location of Shawna's favorite shower...ever.  The Tree Top Camp is a set of 8 huts on stilts, 4 extending each side of the common area.  The rooms are tents, but not in any traditional sense of the word. These are permanent huts, with huge king beds and nice appointments, some of which is certainly nicer than our bedroom at home.  The huts are in a straight row, and all overlook a pond behind the camp where all sorts of wildlife come in to drink: including giraffe, zebra, and lions.  The shower is outside (yet private), is attached to the bedroom, and also looks over the pond - so as you are showering, you get to watch all the wildlife (and they get to watch you).  During the day, the wall of the tent was opened so that we had amazing views of the wildlife. 

Sossusvlei Wilderness Lodge

Sossusvlei Wilderness (now called Mountain Homestead)
This is a beautiful lodge that overlooks a valley.  The place only has 9 guest rooms, each with a "plunge pool" - though these pools were so crazy cold and quite small that Shawna and I never went in.  We used this place as the gateway to the sand dunes. 

Skeleton Coast Safaris
Three nights of the trip were spent camping along the Skeleton Coast with this family-owned company.  The camp sites were quite rustic, but the location can't be beat.  In each tent, we had cots and a small table.  They did bring hot water for your shower which was attached to the side of the tent.

Mowani Mountain Lodge

Mowani Mountain Lodge
This was a great capstone to the trip, with our own huts.  The lodge is nestled among beautiful, red boulders, overlooking a valley.  There is an amazing rock ledge where everyone can gather for a drink - we ordered champagne service, watched the stars, and loudly tried to agree which star was Venus - much to the chagrin of the other guests looking for a romantic evening. 

Activities:
The routing from Raleigh to Namibia was brutal.  We first flew from RDU to Frankfurt overnight (via DC), arriving in the morning and with a 10 hour layover.  In order to try and quickly get over our jet lag, we put our luggage in storage and took a train into the city.  We first did a guided tour of the city, and then wandered around to blow some time.  We headed back to the airport to catch another overnight flight to Johannesburg, where we met Charlie and Melissa at a cafe in the airport.  From there, we all caught a flight from Joburg to Windhoek where we were met by someone who escorted us to a small 6-person Cessna that flew us to Onguma.

After checking in at Onguma Tree Top Camp, we headed out for a evening safari and saw some lions.  The following day, we went on a full day safari in Etosha National Park.  Etosha is mostly a massive salt pan that extends 75 miles.  It is generally dry, but has a huge congregation of wildlife.  In the park, among the animals we saw included lions, zebras, springbok, giraffes, peacocks, and birds of all kinds (including a Kingfisher).

Elephant in Etosha

Lion in Etosha

Our next destination was Sossusvlei, site of the massive Namibian sand dunes - and famous for Dune 45, reputed to be the famous dune shown on one of the Microsoft screen savers.  The first morning here, we got up early and drove to the entrance of the Namib-Naukluft National Park.  The dunes are best seen and photographed early in the morning as the light is best.  After walking around and taking a heap of photos, we jumped in the car and headed off to some of the larger sand dunes. 

Deadvlei

We drove up sand dune alley, a 60-mile surface road where you see massive dunes on each side.  We stopped at Big Daddy dune, with Shawna, Charlie, and Keith all hiking to the top while Melissa took a bit of a short cut.  The dune is about 1000 feet high which does not sound hard, but since it is one step up and two steps back, it takes quite a long time.  Once at the top we rested, admired the views, and then "skied' down the slope all the way to the bottom.  Well, at least Keith and Charlie did - Shawna was a bit more tentative in her decent!  At the bottom was Deadvlei, a salt pan with ancient dead Acacia trees - stark and stunning.  After a long day at the dunes, we retired back to the hotel for dinner. 

On Top of Big Daddy

Hot Air Balloon Ride
Over the Dunes

The next day the four of us decided to do an "extra" - a balloon flight over the dunes.  Keith and Shawna had done two other balloon trips (Turkey and New Zealand) and this far surpassed those amazing trips.  We started off in the cold of the morning, shivering in our fleece.  The only thing that warmed us was the hot blast of the fuel warming the air in the two balloons.  After about half an hour of the balloons filling up, a large group piled into the two crafts and we took off.  The scene was magical - we followed wildlife running across the earth, with the massive dunes in the distance.  An hour or so later, we landed, where the balloon company had set up a huge, beautiful breakfast buffet, complete with a champagne welcome.  This is definitely the life.  The rest of the day was a bit more relaxing - we went for a walk around the hotel. 

Skeleton Coast

After a couple of nights at Wilderness Lodge, we were ready to start the "roughing it" part of the trip - a four day flying safari up the Skeleton Coast with Skeleton Coast Safaris (Safari A).  We waited at the small dirt/stone landing strip about 3 miles from the lodge, and amazingly on time, a small Cessna landed piloted by Andrew, our guide for the next few days.  It was quick work to pack our gear in the six-seater plane - then we were off.  We first flew over the dunes we had visited the day before.  We then traveled to the coast where we saw our first wreck, the Eduard Bohlen, wrecked in 1909.  The entire cost is littered with the remains of ships that landed there over the last hundred years.  We headed north up the coast over Conception Bay, Walvis Bay, and into Swakopmund.  Our flight up the coast was done at 200 feet above the water, so we had amazing views of all the wildlife: birds, massive seal colonies, and some stunning whale sightings (mother with calf). 

We landed in Swakopmund, where the claim to fame is that baby Shiloh (of Brad and Angelina fame) was born.  Brad had taken flying lessons here while they were waiting for the baby to be born, so our (distant) brush with fame was that we hung out at the same airport!  After re-fueling we headed north again over Cape Cross seal colony, past the wreck of the Winston, and then landed for a lunch on the beach.  Yes, that's right - we just landed the little plane on the beach and grabbed a sandwich lunch!  We continued on and landed in a valley surrounded by really old rocks and went for a short hike.  It is here that Charlie and Keith tested their manlihood in an Oryx poop spitting contest - you can see why the ladies sat this one out!  We then flew to our accommodation, Kuidas camp in the Huab River Valley.  

Roaring Sand Dunes

The next day, we explored the area via Land Rover, seeing colorful red lava and yellow sandstone.  Following lunch at the camp, we flew over Terrace Bay along the coast where we say more shipwrecks.  Keith and Charlie got to take turns flying which was great fun for them and nerve wrecking for Shawna and Melissa.  From the coast, we drove to the roaring sand dunes which was really cool!  You slide down the dunes on your butt and it makes a deep, roaring sound that echoes through the area.  What we did not know is that what goes down must come up - we had to hike back up to get to the top of the dune.  It was so much fun going down that we had to do it twice!  That night we stayed at the Leylandsdrift camp in the Hoarusib Valley in the Kunene Region.

Himba Tribe Woman

The following day, we took a scenic drive in the Hoarusib Valley where we saw more wildlife - mainly monkeys and cows.  We visited a settlement of the nomadic Himba tribe which was really interesting - the woman care for the huts and children all day while the men are out hunting.  They live in mud huts and paint their skin with a paste made from the clay dirt in order to protect their skin from the elements.  Charlie got to prove that he really is a doctor as he cleaned and cared for a really awful burn that was on one of the kid's feet.  After this stop, we flew to our next camp Kunene River camp which is on the Kunene River that borders Angola.  In the afternoon, we took a scenic drive through the mountains and dunes in the area.

On our last morning of the Skeleton Coast, we took a boat trip on the Kunene River, seeing crocodiles along the way.  We stopped and hiked for a bit in Angola (no passport was needed for this entry).  The scenery was stunning with mountains surrounding the river.  After lunch, we flew to the landing strip near our last stay at the Mowani Mountain Lodge.  There we had to say our goodbyes to Andrew as we watched him fly over us.  Charlie got a little misty-eyed as he had developed a 'man crush' on Andrew!  When we arrived a the lodge, we took a short tour of the surrounding valley where we saw beautiful red boulders and cave carvings.  Later that night, we had a wonderful dinner at the lodge.

In Angola

Our last morning, we woke up early to fly back to Windhoek where we caught our flights back home.  We were quite sad to leave as it was truly an amazing trip!

For more photos of this trip: