Sussuvlei (Namibia): 4th Sept 09

Today we got up really early – 4.30 am! This was in order to drive to Dune 45, one of the biggest sand dunes in the world and climb it to watch the sunrise from the top. Now if you remember my dune surfing experience from a couple days ago you’ll know that Matt and I aren’t very keen on walking up sand dunes. The fact that we felt near to death climbing an 86 metre dune didn’t fill me with joy when faced with a 300 metre dune! It turned out the dune wasn’t 300 metres like we’d been led to believe, but 120 metres – still 50% higher than the previous one though!

So we started up and after an hour or so and lots of breaks we actually made it to the top – yay! I like dunes again – I think taking your time and not running up after the adrenalin junkies is the key. The sunrise was spectacular and we could see for miles. We had a real sense of achievement that we’d made it to the top – and I only moaned a couple of times, which is good!

Getting down off the dune was great fun – literally running down the side up to our calves in sand. After the sunrise we had breakfast by the truck and drove to meet a local guide for a desert walk. The Namib desert is the oldest in the world don’t you know! Our guide was Africaans (white African) and said his name was Boesman, pronounced ‘Bushman’. I think he may have been lying –he looked like a Trevor to me.

He was great though and told us loads of stories about the desert and how you could survive there. He also told us some interesting facts about the real bushmen, or San people – these were the people we met a couple of weeks ago, the ones with the bare breasts. Shockingly it transpires that it was actually legal to shoot a bushman until the 1920s, they were considered fair game along with the animals! This was sanctioned by the South African government (Namibia was part of SA until 1990). Even more appallingly, between 1920 and 1950 you could still shoot bushmen but you needed a license – so you actually requested permission to go and shoot people! What complete loonies! The walk through the desert was cool – we loved the scenery. The best bit was when we climbed over a small dune, which separated off an area, enclosed by the dunes. This meant that the area didn’t get any water in the floods, so the trees that stood there had died between 600 and 900 years ago. But they were still standing! It was a really spooky sight, an area a kilometres long with lots of ancient dead trees, surrounded by dunes. Apparently they filmed a Jennifer Lopez nightmare scene here for one of her movies.

A couple of other interesting desert facts:
- No Sand dune in the world can reach over 350 metres because the wind that high is too strong and blows the sand away!
- 2 years ago a Spanish Galleon dating from 1538 was found in the Namibian desert 2 MILES INLAND! It had sunk in the ocean and the desert had extended over it. It still had gold bullion, 60 elephant tusks and loads of other bits preserved!

In the afternoon we drove to our next campsite, half way to the quiver tree forest and the Giant’s playground, which we’ll visit tomorrow.