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Namibia 2003

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Namibia 2002 Main

Part 1 Etosha

Part 1a Animals

Part 2 Otjitotongwe

Part 3 Highlands

Part 4 Van Zyl's P.

Part 5 Marienfluss

Part 6 Kaokoveld

Part 7 Damaraland

Part 8 Twyfelfontein

Part 9 Namib

Part 10 Wolwedans

Part 11 Gamsberg

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Namibia '03 Gallery

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last updated: 7-Aug-2005

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Part 10 - NamibRand, Wolwedans and Sossusvlei

Please do check out our Namibia '03 photo Gallery, and this link to our Namibia 2005 trip in the same region.
Go directly to: Wolwedans or Sossusvlei Scenic Sunrise Flight

Travel details

From Solitaire we drove South on the C19 (C36 on our older maps) for 100 km and turned right on the D845, for 14 km, until we joined C27 (D826 on older maps). We followed C27 until we reached the Wolwedans signpost after 45 km. The (scenic) drive from the signpost/gate to the reception house (near the airstrip) is another 20 km. There you have to park your car, and will be transferred to the lodge. The "trip" to Sossusvlei was done by plane - during a scenic flight.

We had booked our stay in Wolwedans from Swakopmund - but it wouldn't have been necessary at this time of the year.

Wolwedans

The route from Solitaire led us first through the Naukluft mountains and then through endless plains, framed by hills, a landscape in the most stunning colour set. Not so nice are the fences that run parallel to the road in most places - you travel in kind of a corridor, with the occasional gemsbok on the other side of the fence. We haven't seen any cattle on this part of the trip, so those fences are a bit intriguing...

The roads are quite good, except for the last part to Wolwedans which was a bit shaky. We arrived in the afternoon at the reception house, and were welcomed by friendly people with a cool drink - this really started to feel like luxury, after our camping trip (which was also luxury, but of another kind).

The Wolwedans reception and airstrip are down in the plain, but the different lodges are dispersed over the surrounding hills, all far from each other. We left our Hilux there and were brought to the Wolwedans Dune Camp. Dune camp is a tented camp for max. 12 guests (there are other lodges in Wolwedans ranging from wooden chalets to a 200 sqm suite). In the Dune Camp, two tents each are located together on elevated wooden platforms, with two separate bath/wc cabins in between - so the bath is not en-suite, but there is one per tent. The water comes from a borehole, electricity for the heater from a solar panel. The central building is made of wood and hosts not much more than a small kitchen, a dining room, and a sitting area. There is no other human settlement in view. There were a few other guests, of the gentle and interesting kind. Very relaxing...

We had a first scenic drive to get to the sundowner point late afternoon. This point on a small hill was splendid - with colours like crazy. Well, it is "just" red sand, yellow grass, blue sky and dark rocks - but the intensity of these colours is amazing! See yourself on the panorama page!

The next day I woke up before sunrise, so I flapped open the tent and we watched sunrise from our bed - the early-morning tea and rusks came just in time. Later we joined a day out with a guide and other guests. The landscape was quite changing during our trip - hills and boulders with Quiver trees (Kokerboom) and huge weaver nests, a valley with a natural spring and small waterfall (we had a great picnic lunch and siesta there), but also the typical NamibRand plains dotted with gemsbok and zebra.

Gemsbok near Wolwedans - Dunes

< Quiver tree

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Sossusvlei Scenic Flight

On our last day in Wolwedans started even earlier - but it was very much worth it: We had decided to book a scenic flight over Sossusvlei just after sunrise!!! This became another highlight of our Namibia trip...

JJ had been in Sossusvlei on his earlier trip to Namibia, but this time we didn't plan to drive there. A German couple joined us, so the price got somewhat bearable...

It was still dark when we left our tent, and dawn was breaking when we arrived at the airstrip. We took off, and what followed where three sunrises - with the Eastern mountain range getting higher, the sun rose and disappeared and rose again. First the red NamibRand dunes are covered with dry grass, but coming nearer to Sossusvlei, the grass got rarer, and the dunes higher. With the sun now just sending its first rays to the dunes, the change of light and dark was stunning. We saw the famous dune 45 (left) which forms a red arrow against the Namib desert ground - a car had just parked there. This picture is so surreal - it made my screen wallpaper for months afterwards! We then circled over Deadvlei - again red/white with a few dead trees. Many more dunes curving between dark red light and even darker shadow.

Our plane made a circle over the whole Sossusvlei region before it turned back. The dunes were now in full sunlight, which gave them a much more "natural" look. On our way back the grass got denser again - and we noted from the air many structures looking like the fairy circles we had seen in Marienflusstal. We hadn't seen them from ground, but then heard that they appear at various sites in the Namib. Too soon, Wolwedans came in sight again and we landed safely.

So: if you have some money left for such a flight - do it!


The dunes around Deadvlei - Sossusvlei	The dunes near NamibRand

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