Windhoek to Sossusvlei and the Namib Desert

10.30.17                                                

Windhoek to Sossusvlei and the Namib Desert

While most of the group went shopping downtown for souvenirs, I remained on the bus reading my Kindle and conversing with our driver Brian. After about an hour everyone rejoined us and we started making our way to the airport to fly to Sossusvlei in the Namib Desert. 

Our first stop was the Heja Game Lodge where we I had a salad and an extremely filling and delicious Namibian lasagna with a mixture of game meat in a red sauce (but no pasta) with lots of melted mozzarella cheese on top. It was almost like French onion soup but lots more cheese - totally awesome!

Since we had a few minutes before we had to depart, I took some time to photography some of the lodge's grounds - great statuary and plants...

In about 30 minutes we arrived at the airport for our small plane adventure to Sossusvlei and the Namib Desert. Four of our group joined another couple not traveling with us in one plane and the remaining 8 of us piled into another small plane. We had a pretty bumpy flight, especially when we crossed the Erongo Mountains with some threatening weather looming. But other than that, it was pretty amazing to see the desert scenery below us, with the highlight being our first glimpse of the red sand dunes adjacent to our landing strip.

Our plane.

Getting ready to touch down.

The landing strip ahead...

Our other plane carrying our 2 couples.

Our home away from home for our next 3 nights is the Kulala Desert Lodge, located in a rocky desert adjacent to the towering red sand dunes surrounding Sossusvlei. They are very rustic little cabins that are just perfectly suited to the remote area.

Kulala Desert Lodge: The main entrance (top); some sample units; 

the front entrance to my lodge, my wonderful bed 

and the back of my lodge with ladder leading to the roof 

for sleeping under the stars (bottom photos).

Namibia is not really recognized for its safaris like some other African countries - mainly because of the harsh desert climate and the fact that it is the driest desert in the world.  (We were told there had been no rain since 2012, but guess what??? It actually rained while we were visiting)!  Consequently, any animal or plant that lives here has some intriguing way of obtaining water and needing very little water for survival. 

We luckily spotted some springboks, ostriches and a MASSIVE weavers' next - really a condominium - in a camel thorn tree. Apparently the weavers are gone pretty much most of the day - doing whatever it is they do - returning to their condo around dusk.  Their deadly enemy is the cobra, who, while they're away, will sneak into their entrance, turn around so that their mouth is facing the entrance, and patiently wait for an unsuspecting weaver to fly right into their open mouth. 

The weavers, however, are not stupid. They can check the ground beneath their condo for white droppings. If they see any, the birds will emit a warning sound and birds will try to evacuate safely.

Springbok

Female ostrich.

Male ostrich.

Matteis and the amazing weaver condo.

The picturesque camel thorn tree.

After settling in, we embark on our first "sundowner" nature drive - complete with alcohol, beer, wine, soft drinks and munchies. We end up taking hundreds of photos of the sunset over the red dunes - hoping for that perfect shot - before we return to our lodge for dinner.

Our first sundowner sunrise over the dunes.