We had a 4.30am start which was a bit tough. A light breakfast at 5am and we set off at 5.30am. For the first hour we were on a pretty good, graded dirt road which Baron was able to negotiate pretty quickly. Then we turned off onto a slightly worse road until we reached a queue at the park gates. While our lodge is on the edge of the Namib desert it is outside the NamibNaukluft National Park itself. The trip to the Park gates took about an hour. 
The Park gates didn’t open until 6.45am which was odd as Baron said they opened at 6.30am two weeks ago. After the gates there was a long stretch of sealed road and then onto a VERY sandy and difficult road that is impossible to traverse without 4 wheel drive. We passed several self drive vehicles stuck. One Swiss family had a rental car and discovered the front wheel drive wouldn’t work about 30m into the sand. One of the guides was going to get the tractor to tow them. 

I had thought we started early to be there for sunrise but no. We started early to be there before the crowds and the heat.

The first task was to climb dune 45 which is the dune 45km from the gates. It has a beautiful shape and is 185m high and about 1.3km to the highest point. 

The sand dunes in the Namib Desert are reddish in colour due to iron oxides and magnetite deposits. Together with some vegetation the heavy minerals keep the dunes stable. They were formed thousands of years ago by the opposing winds from the Atlantic in the west and the Kalahari Desert in the east. From the air they are shaped like a star. 

It was still a bit chilly when we set off along the crest of the dune but the climb and the rising sun meant it was warm by the time we got to the top. What a work-out. Talk about one step up and 3 steps back. Our legs were complaining after no exercise for 4 weeks. Wonderful views across red/orange dunes from the top (and bottom, and sides). 

We had an hour and then it was back in the truck and down the track another 20 km or so to another small climb over and down to an area called Dead Vlei. It is an area that used to be a lake at the end of a river that was cut off from reaching the sea by the sand dunes. However the river changed its course and eventually the acacia trees died as there is a hard clay pan over much of the area that prevents tap roots from getting down to the water table below. The area is so arid that the tree stumps, now 900 years old, are unable to decompose and are preserved. It’s an eerily beautiful scene. 

After that we piled back in the vehicle and drove about 300m to the nearest picnic table under a tree and proceeded to have a picnic breakfast comprising: boiled egg, sandwich, yoghurt, fruit salad, salami, tomato and hot drink. For a change we felt like we had earned it. 

We then travelled a short distance to Sossussvlei, which is the delta area formed by the river today where it meets the sand dunes. Unfortunately there has been no rain for 5 years so it was dry but when it is wet it is evidently frequented by thousands of flamingos. 

Our final stop was at Sesriem canyon which is a narrow, long canyon about 30m deep that was created by the river. It is dry now and you can only see down parts of it as it is quite curvy. It would be good to view from the air. 

The trip back was unbearably hot, even in an air conditioned vehicle. My Masai blanket came into its own again, first as a curtain to protect me from the sun and also as a dust mask. It is like an African Swiss Army knife. As we passed dune 45 at midday there were people climbing and beginning to climb. Sheer madness. It must have been close to 40C.

There was a queue at the Park gates as people didn’t realise they needed to pay for their park permit before the exit just like a car park ticket. One guy needed to get to the garage outside as his tyre was going down so had to leave his passport with the ranger. 

We got back to the Lodge at 2pm in time for (you guessed it) lunch. Cold meats, quiche and a tomato and avocado salad that was swimming in mayonnaise. All nice. 

We had about an hour to chill and then it was off again to Marble Mountain to watch the sunset. 

Marble Mountain is so named because it is made of marble. It is within the lodge property and the journey took nearly an hour as there is a speed limit to protect both the wildlife and the road. On the way we passed a lone wildebeest, a herd of springbok, some oryxes and a brown hyena running along. It isn’t spotted like other hyenas and probably wouldn’t make the “ugly five”. 

In Africa there is this thing about “the big 5″ which are the 5 animals hardest to photo or (previously) hunt. They are: buffalo, lions, leopards, black rhino and elephant”. Everyone wants to tick off the big 5. But there is also an ugly 5: hyena, vulture, marabou stork, wildebeest and warthog. We have seen the big 5 and the ugly 5 but would like a closer look at a black rhino. In any event, brown hyenas don’t look too bad. 

Then Baron saw some Aardwolf thing pop out of a hole. He tried to make it come out and threw rocks at the hole and drove over to it but no show. Evidently it’s some hyena type thing and we were all a bit nervous unless it came out in a frenzy. It didn’t. 

The view of the sunset from Marble Mountain was nice but not stunning as the horizon is flat and was cloudless giving no backdrop. We were also beset by a plague of flies that were not deterred by insect repellent. I had to put my neck scarf thing around my head to stop them going in my ears. 

We watched the sun go down, drank our G and Ts and happily headed back to the Lodge, which had a lovely view of a red sky behind the hills. Dinner was Oryx and chicken casseroles, vegetables and rice, all cooked in big iron pots over a fire pit area at the sunset side of the lodge. We were also treated to views of a Cape Fox, which we thought at first was a jackal. It was attracted to the food and posed nicely in the floodlights. As always the meal was delicious and we are glad to have an early night and moderate start in the morning.