Tag Archives: Barchan Dunes

Realm of Relaxation

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Today and yesterday were boring days, except we celebrated a major milestone today: we’re one third through this trip!

Yesterday we recovered from the grueling energy wasted at Sossusvlei. After sleeping in and having a breakfast of bread, eggs, fruit, tea, and hot chocolate, we lounged around the building, doing schoolwork, reading, imagining flying eggs (don’t ask!), and eating avocado, cheese, and crackers.

In the late afternoon, we got off our butts and hiked up one of the smaller mountains. It took us about an hour and a half both ways, but we often stopped to wait for everyone to catch up, or for Ethan to throw rocks at things and miss. We stopped at the top to admire the view, and Ethan tried to kill a lizard to feed it to the meerkat.

(After all, the best way to one’s heart is through their stomach, right?)

Ethan failed, and we all trooped down the mountain to Wilheim, Hannetjie, and Wilheim’s longtime friend, Olf (he said his name was like wolf, but with no W). They were easily speaking Afrikaans, but when we arrived for a dinner of pizza, something quiche-like, salad, tomatoes, potatoes, and vanilla ice cream with kiwi, all spoke English (which we liked!).

Olf appears to work more at Barchan Dunes than at his job as a doctor in Windhoek. He and Wilheim told jokes, explained Namib-German customs, and made the meal generally delightful.

This morning after breakfast, we set off for Kalahari Farmstall, a farm with geese, cows, goats, and sheep 17 kilometers from the South African border crossing, Mata Mata, into Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

We had apple pie for dessert.

Ciao!

Dune Day

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Wilheim says that one week, he took guests to Sossusvlei three times. “After that, I was done with Sossusvlei,” he assured us at supper. “But my wife just gave me bad news: I have to take guests there next week.”

We had just finished talking about what we thought of the park. We had gotten up at 4:30 in the morning and gotten back at 5:30 pm. Those thirteen hours had been about 38.5% (five hours) driving, 38.5% climbing the dunes and visiting the vleis, 15% (two hours) eating ice cream and using Internet at Sossus Oasis, and 8% (one hour) exploring Sisriem Canyon.

Once we finally reached the parking lot for the dunes, we got out and walked along the dunes five kilometers to Sossusvlei and the parking lot at the end (we didn’t drive because we don’t have a 4×4). A vlei (pronounced flay) is a marsh, but Deadvlei and Sossusvlei don’t see much water. Deadvlei is more picturesque because it has a lot of dead trees in it and not much else.

By the time we got back in a shuttle bus, we had walked 7 kilometers. We got back in our car, stopped by Dune 45 (Ethan climbed it), and climbed through Sisriem Canyon to a little pond with fish (!!!) in it. We threw rocks in for a while and then got back in the car to get ice cream at Sossus Oasis.

We finally left Sossus Oasis two hours later and eventually got back to Barchan Dunes Retreat. We got all the sand off and had supper with the other guests, Hannetjie, and Wilheim. It was really good (again), ending in another delicious cake, this time chocolate, that attracted two of the three dogs, Coco and Lucky. Coco is big and brown with soft fuzzy hair, while Lucky is one of the black-and-white dogs. Wilheim shared his cake with them, but only after they sat when he told them to and “shook hands” when he told them to.

Ciao!

Falling Flat

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We bid good-bye to Swakopmund, the ducks, the male cat, and Nala, the female cat, today.

We took the C14, which www.rtw4four.com listed as the worst road in Namibia. We drove past mountains and river beds, cliffs and grasslands to the sign that said TROPIC OF CAPRICORN. We stopped and took pictures, naturally, and then got back in the car. For being in one of the hottest parts of Namibia, it wasn’t that bad. It was in the seventies and sunny, bringing welcome warmth after  week in chilly Swakopmund.

And then it happened: the near-inevitable sound of a tire hitting a rock wrong. It was the back left tire, and it was killed. It hit another rock, and Dad eased the car off the center of the road. We emptied the trunk, putting the suitcases in the front seats and the 20 liters of water in the middle. Dad got the temporary tire (it had pink stripes on it) from the back and put it on.

Four cars drove by, three passing us and one going the other way. Half the cars stopped, and both were passed us.

We finally got going again and dug into the focaccia bread and read about what to do with Budget in the event of a flat tire. Once in Solitaire, we got a new tire and petrol and continued on our way to Barchan Dunes Retreat. Once there, we were greeted by two dogs nad a meerkat who is scared of people. Wilheim and Hennetjie own the place (although Wilheim jokes that he’s the servant), plus there  are horses and game (zebra, springbok, kudu, gemsbok [oryx]).

Our rooms are 500m from the main building, but it’s no problem.

Hennetjie made supper, and it was delicious: for the appetizer, an asparagus casserole with pickles and grape tomatoes; for the main course, a small side salad and green beans, carrot, and potato wedges; and, for dessert, cake that was sooo good, even though I don’t know what it was, and rooibos tea.

Ciao!