Namibia Road Trip part II
- Kai
- Apr 19, 2015
- 3 min read
On Monday the 1st of September, we woke up just in time for sunrise in this oasis. We woke up from Canon Roadhouse, with a backdrop of sand and succulents, only 25 km from the Fish River Canyon. It is arguably one of the best places to stay if you don't want to pay for a permit to stay in the National Park. The Canon Roadhouse is popular for their burgers whereas their bar shows off number plates from around the world. Both the restaurant and the bar is in the middle of a big shed, filled with a collection of antiques and old cars that give the place its unique character.
We packed our car and started our day on the dirt track, back to the main road and via Keetmanshoop. This would make the trip up to Sesriem much easier as we wanted to do it in one day. The other route which I would recommend is heading west from Fish River Canyon along the Richtersveld and do some 4x4ing up to Sesriem. Due to our tight itinerary, we wanted to avoid punctures at all costs, so this route allowed us to arrive safely at Sesriem Campsite at 4pm.
We found a camping spot in the shade of some camel thorn trees, packed our car and headed to Dune 45 for sunset. We entered the park and drove 45km along a smooth tar road into another oasis, with dunes on each side of us stretching out into the distance.
The timing was perfect, golden hour lit up the one side of the dune whilst the other was shaded and windy with sand making it's way up every nook and cranny thats uncovered. Luckily the sand was nice and warm between my toes, whilst I ran up this ever-lasting staircase. Reaching the top just in time for sunset was such a rewarding accomplishment. After we ran down the dune we dusted off all the sand and headed back for another braai under the stars- only to hear geckos and jackals in the desert night.
The following day we woke up well before sunrise, drove back to Dune 45 and watched the sunrise over some coffee, wrapped up in our blankets. After coming down Dune 45 for the second time, we decided we might as well go even further to test out our sand-driving skills on the routes to Big Daddy- the highest dune in Sossusvlei. We missioned for about an hour to get to the top, after which everyone got naked and I did a little photoshoot. Running down Big Daddy shows you just how high you climbed, as the run just doesn't stop. You end off in the surereal landscape of Dead vlei, a white pan filled with dead Acacia erioloba, which is believed to be 900 years old.
Our final destination for the next two days was in Swakopmund, which is a city on the coast. We finally got a proper bed, walked around the town, and checked out the lack of nightlife on a Tuesday. We took a trip sandboarding on Wednesday, made delicious peach Cobler and had the most rewarding shower, to what was the last night in Namibia before we woke up to a slow puncture and 1100km to our next destination. We fixed the puncture and then headed down the B1 to the Orange River, where we slept under the stars for what used to be Wild Thing's campite.
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