Day 4, Sossusvlei to Swakopmund

We were up again fairly early today as we wanted to head out to the desert dunes of Sossusvlei and see these massive dunes from ground level.

We ordered out breakfast and lunch to go, packed up the car and headed off to the dunes for one last look.  They are every bit as impressive from the ground level, although we didn’t arrive in time for the spectacular sunrise shadows that we saw the previous morning.

As we approached the roadway leading to the site known as as Dead Vlei, or dead valley, we had to stop before entering the last bit as we need to let air out of our tires and engage the 4 wheel drive. The last 5 km were on sand…much like driving through a heavy snow fall…soft road…slippery, and just keep the vehicle moving! We made it!

When we parked the car, we hiked 1-2 km through the sand to get to the place known as Dead Vlei. Tough slogging, but an impressive site as the end. Had we been a little earlier (and not so hot) we would have hiked up Big Daddy and run down the slope to Dead Vlei!

We were soon ready to depart. It was pushing close to 30C and not a cloud in the sky… time to get out of the sun!

We started our long journey north to the coastal town of Swakopmund. It was about 360km, mostly driven on dirt roads! We did see some wild life including a couple of Springbok deer, a few Ostriches and a roan antelope. but this was the desert…we expect to see far more animals as we travel north!

Our journey took us through the Tropical Of Capricorn. Another milestone in our travels!

Once we passed the Tropic of Capricorn we traveled through a couple of mountain ranges with exciting narrow dirt roads, blind curves and no guard rails…not for the faint of heart!

After about 7 hours of driving, we finally made it to our hotel. We had a night walked booked, but unfortunately we were so tired, we opted to just go for dinner and an early night.

Well it’s been a long day and tomorrow is packed with some sea kayaking among seals and porpoises and then an afternoon of play with Dort bikes no the dunes. I’d better wrap this one up!

Have a good night! Looking forward to chatting again tomorrow!