38. Namibia

my lonely bag

The plane landed a bit early which was great because filling out my visa on arrival form took awhile. The lady waved me over to the other side and then began the circle of musical chairs. The sign said to go to desk 11 or 12 so I waited in line there, but the guy there said to go to the next booth. She said I needed to pay and sent me back to him. He said he would show me where to go to pay, but then talked to the lady next door and after I walked back and forth between them showing my form and saying I needed to pay, she decided to let me pay her. After filling in my phone number and answering some questions, I paid with a credit card. But then her stapler was out so she sent me back to him to use his stapler. Then back to her where she gave my back my form and told me to give it to him. I did and he took it and looked at me and shrugged as if to say “what do you want now?” then she called me back to her. Finally she gave me back my passport, said something to him and sent me to him to get my passport stamped with visa and entry. As this was going on, I watched the luggage at my carousel go from 6 bags to 3 to finally just my one lonely bag.

reminders to stay left

Luckily Hertz was still open and helping a customer so I didn’t miss picking up my car. I was worried as I heard you have to be careful of rental car scams where they charge you for existing damage, but they were very nice as I checked out the car which had been upgraded to an automatic (I wanted one but none were available when I reserved). This was extra helpful as I was already concerned about driving on the left side of the road by myself. And now it was night and town was 41 minutes away. How I wished I had one of my New Zealand trip friends there to remind me “left, left turns are your friend.” I guess I’ll just have to imagine Audrey’s voice saying that. Luckily I have been in left side driving countries more and instructed me to turn left a couple times into fenced off roads. It also directed me OFF the correct path and back towards to airport to do another round of circling the airport. However, the hotel front desk said that Google maps is the best one to use so I’ll have to keep hoping. I’m unstable enough as it is without second guessing my navigation while trying to stay on the other side of the road!

Hilton Garden Inn

I finally make it to the Hilton with crazy directions from Google (turn left then make a u-turn which I ignored and just turned right). I parked and made it to the lobby, tired but thankful I had gotten there with no incidents. They took my passport but couldn’t find my reservation! I said they had sent an email saying they had upgraded me and confirmed “Hilton Garden Inn, correct?” She smiled and said no this was Hilton. I panicked but she said not to worry, Hilton Garden is just the next building over. They share parking lots so I don’t even need to move my car. Whew!

My room Hilton Windhoek

It was indeed perhaps 80 meters to my hotel and they were very glad to see me. My host thanked me for being a diamond member, stamped my parking stub so I wouldn’t have to pay for parking, showed my where the free breakfast was, and explained the other amenities which included free laundry. Nice! All I need is my own detergent and I had some detergent sheets so I was all set! Then I get to my wonderful room to find a nice note and plate of sliced fruit. I heart Hilton!

Welcome plate at Hilton

floppy eared goats

I was sad to learn the Google Fi does not cover Namibia. I had downloaded the Google map of the roads from here to Sossusvlei for offline use and apparently you can now use navigation with those offline maps without needing internet access (at least on my Google Pixel phone). Very cool! I debated whether I even needed internet access but my concerns about driving by myself in a foreign country won out and I checked into getting a local SIM. It seemed like I could get one with 3GB of data for about $20 which seemed better than Airalo who would only give me 1GB for about the same price. I found a MTC store in a mall that was on the way out of town. It was right by a Pick n Pay so I could stop there for road trip snacks, perfect! After a nice buffet breakfast, I packed up and got on the road where I encountered a truck hauling…floppy eared goats?

Sadly, the negative reviews of this MTC store were accurate. I found the store at about 9:20, twenty minutes after opening and already there was a long line of people waiting for service. No worries, I had airalo as a backup. I logged into the free mall wifi, ordered the SIM and installed it. However it wouldn’t work. My only guess is that there was an issue because the mall wifi was fluctuating when installing. Luckily it hasn’t been an issue, just a bit inconvenient at times. I did make some great purchases for snacks: 3 kinds of biltong which is like beef jerky only not so dry and chewy, Simba potato chips in “beef” and “KFC chicken” flavors, a gallon of water, and some mango juice. Biltong is a popular snack for us tourists and locals as well. Next to the Pack n Pay there was a whole store devoted to selling different varieties of their high quality biltong. Note: the KFC chips turned out to be dreadful, but the beef was okay.

sharing the dirt road with horse and buggy

The A and B roads are regular tarred roads. Then there are gravel roads: C quality and dirt roads: D quality. The C quality varies quite a bit from mostly pretty solid with occasional small holes (which apparently are best handled when you drive 80km (50mph) as that is not too fast yet fast enough to “fly over” the pothole) to ones with lots of bumpy diagonal corrugations and/or lots of sand that you can lose control on if you turn or brake suddenly similar to waterlogged roads.

lots of road improvements

The D quality also has occasional large rocks and sand. There were definitely a few times when I felt the back tires swish around a bit, but after 5 hours on the road I think I’ve got the hang of it. The route I took was suggested by others since they are well traveled and well maintained (I saw a tractor smoothing out one of the dirt roads as I drove past). If these are the good roads, I do NOT want to see a road that is not well maintained!

gas station and general store Solitaire

Folks online strongly recommended stopping at Solitaire for gas, bathroom break, and apple pie. They say you should gas up every chance you get as stations do run out of gas. Same with bathrooms…take them every chance you get, and always have some cash on hand in case the cell service is down (for example if an elephant runs into a cell phone tower which apparently has happened). I wondered how I was supposed to find which place made the apple pie, but not to worry. Solitaire is like a giant rest stop.

Solitaire has several old rusty
trucks and cars decorating the area

You pull in, with old rusty cars and trucks from the 50’s alongside the road for decoration. The gas station and general store are roughly in the middle with the restaurant to the left of that and the bakery to the right. Behind the bakery are the rest rooms. There might be a few other buildings for the locals but I’m not sure what they are. I didn’t want to sit down for lunch and their pie was piled onto plates with whipped cream so instead I opted for the blueberry crumble, some fresh buns, but they were out of meat pies.

bakery in Solitaire

I suppose the apple pie which they are famous for is the critical thing to keep in stock. She sent me to a store to her right for meat pies so I walked over to the store where the gas station was. They had super cute cards, carved small wooden bowls with inlay, and batik wall hangings of safari animals. I had better keep in mind that I only have 7 kg of spare luggage I can bring on the plane back to Cape Town after my safari! I may need to wear a jacket with a few kg of items stuffed into the pockets!

Desert Camp room

I arrived at Desert Camp around 4:45, but apparently it was too late to go into the park for any sunset views since everything is 15-45km from the entrance and they close at sunset. You do NOT want to be caught inside the gates when they close as you are stuck there all night and there are wild animals roving about. Instead I settled into my room, which was blissfully air conditioned! The sun here is hot, hot, hot! Later I enjoyed a nice desert sunset sitting on the porch of my cabin.

6th in line for the outer gate!

I got up early, 5:45, as the outer gates open at sunrise, 7:15, and I wanted to be in line by 6:45. While in the shower I heard a tour van pull up and load people. Uh oh, by the time I get there 30 minutes after them I’ll probably be a kilometer behind them in line! I did my best to hurry but still didn’t get there until 6:40. I had only driven a couple minutes on the main road when I saw hazard lights on the car in front of me indicating the end of the line of cars waiting to get in, and dread set in that I was at the end of a line a mile long. I got out just to make sure they weren’t stopped for some other reason and was shocked to see the gate less than 100 meters away. I was 6th in line!

Nice French Folks also waiting to enter outer gates

The nice couple in front of me was from France and they were camping just a stones throw away. We congratulated ourselves on being there so early! I gave my name and vehicle info to the guard. It’s quite efficient. You put down your information on entering (number of adults, kids, seniors, Namibian citizens) and then you pay on your way out so that everyone rushing in to get pictures isn’t delayed.

long line of cars behind us as opening time draws near

hot air balloons

At 7:15 the gates opened and we started the sprint to our dunes. Mine was 39km down the road and theirs was 65km as they were doing Big Daddy Dune and Deadvlei. Four hot air balloons took off before sunrise and were low in the sky. Within 10 minutes the sun started lighting up the hills around us. It was magical! I snapped a few shots out the window and I pulled over a couple times to take quick pictures with my real camera. Then I saw it. Dune 39. Or at least it looked about like the two pictures I had seen. I pulled over and snapped several pictures with both cameras and my phone. The "golden hour" is the first hour after sunrise and the last hour before sunset when the long rays of light bring out beautiful colors on these reddish sands. You can see the difference between the early morning and late morning pictures of Dune 39

Sunrise shows brilliant colors on the hills

Dune 39 in early morning light

Dune 39 in late morning

another nice dune

I then proceeded to Dune 45 at the 45km point to get pictures of people climbing famous Dune 45. I will come back for a sunset climb myself later. Then back to dunes 40 and 39 for more pictures and photos of some dead trees across the road from them. On the way a herd of deer like animals flowed across the road maybe 100 meters in front of me. I hit the brakes and tried to get a picture of them crossing but they ran REALLY fast even though there was a long line of them. I did get pictures of them after they crossed though by then they were very far away so the zoomed image is not that clear.

Springbok herd that ran across the road

bucks playing

A handful more crossed close right near dune 39 and I was able to get one of them in the foreground of my favorite dune before he crossed over to my side. After taking many shots of dune 39, I parked and started walking towards the dead trees, which is where the 6 springbok were hanging out. They eyed me warily from a distance and four of them took off running toward the hills. As I continued walking I heard some grunting and scanned for wildebeast or wild boar, but instead two young bucks were battling with each other, butting their young horns! As I drew closer they too took off to join the others and I continued to my dead trees for pictures.

Dead Valley Lodge

my room at dead valley Lodge

By the time I got back to the inside gate it was only 10am. I went to my new hotel inside the gates hoping to use the restroom. They also had a nice shaded area where I could relax and a pool if I wanted to take a dip. The place was very nice especially for being in the desert! At noon they showed my to my room early. It was large with one room for the beds and another for the bathroom. It was also nice and cool with a high quality AC.

shower in my Dead Valley Lodge room

Only later I realized that not just the ceiling is a tent, the whole building is! Except the metal doors and frame. You’d never know from looking at it though the wind hitting it made odd bumping sounds that made me look twice. The bathroom is a solid building which must be why they are separate with a little enclosed deck between them. It’s quite the posh place. Beds are super comfy with a solid wood backboard going all the way to the ceiling. Dead Valley Lodge is full board so they offered me lunch starting at 12:30. Lunch was nice, served in the covered open air dining room next to the small pool.

lunch at Dead Valley Lodge

my tent room at Dead Valley Lodge

Long route up the dune

Around 4:30 I set off for a sunset walk up Dune 45, to be followed by sunset pictures of my favorites dunes from 45 through 39. Walking up was tougher than I thought it would be. It’s pretty steep. I did much better when I could string a long step then a quick short supporting step which kept me from sinking back down the hill as much. I’d trudge up 7 or 8 of these step combos and actually would make decent progress though I’d need a short breather. The wind was also blowing with little glistening swirls of red gusting by. It was really pretty except I was too tired to appreciate it.

Climbing Dune 45

finally got to the top of the first section of Dune 45

I got to the lower main section about 5 minutes after I planned and then started running down the side, which people had all raved about. Your legs sink in so you can’t fall over. Unfortunately my whole left side would sink in and I’d have to pull myself out. I was about 10 minutes behind schedule to get the rest of my pics so while I got a great picture of Dune 44 next door, by the time I got to Dune 39 only a tiny corner at the top was still in daylight. I think it’s okay though since I got a great sunrise picture of it earlier. Dune 44 might be my new favorite as it is a deeper red color than most of the others and was gorgeous at sunset!

Dune 44 sunset

from the top going down the left side:
wildebeest, ostrich, kudu, lamb, and mopane

The lodge had some performance with singing before dinner but I missed it since I was getting back from my sunset trip out to the dunes. Dinner was amazing…buffet style and you got to choose your meats to grill. I avoided the common stuff like chicken though I couldn’t resist lamb, and tried the three unusual meats: Kudu (like a deer), ostrich which is actually red meat, and wildebeest. I also picked one of the mopane worms that they had sizzling in the buffet pans since it is a Namibian delicacy. It was a bit dried out but nicely crispy outside and kinda like dried up sausage with not much flavor inside. The kudu tasted to me like sirloin beef, the ostrich tasted like skirt steak, and the wildebeest tasted like veal only tougher and not tender. I hope my Chobe safari camp is a nice as this place! And it was a steal at only $232!

Mopane worm

Unfortunately my dessert was spoiled when I checked my email and discovered that my Air Botswana flight to Maun has been cancelled! No offer to reroute or anything. So I had 2 days to find another way there. My options were to fly on Airlink to South Africa then from there to Maun. Most of them included an overnight stay but 2 left around 7am and would get me there the same day. However all of these options carried a price tag of $565 to $630! I looked into driving. It was about 10 hours so possible, and they said the roads were good: tarred the whole way so no gravel or dirt roads. However, I could not find a last minute rental car option to go from Windhoek to Maun with a 1 day rental. I checked into options for flying with points, which are sometimes cheaper for last minute flights, but my search revealed 0 options. I checked the airline website itself as sometimes they have specials and discovered that flying the day before or after was only $135 and a direct flight of only 1 hour! There was zero chance I could get back to Windhoek by 10am the next day (you can’t drive at night on gravel or dirt roads), but if I went a day later than planned, the flight got into Maun at 11:15am. I checked our schedule and was pleasantly surprised to find that they planned to pick us up at 11am to start our drive to the Makgadikgadi Pans! Our tour is just Dawne, I, and one other person so they were willing to shift it back an hour so I can fly in the next day. Whew!

Big Daddy Dune and the 4WD road to get there

I got up at 5:45 the next morning and rushed out to start the drive to Deadvlei and Big Daddy Dune. The inner gates open an hour before sunrise at 6:15 so it’s a big advantage to stay inside the outer gates so you have an extra hour before sunrise and after sunset to spend in the park. I got down to the 60km point where the 2 wheel drive parking lot is and I bought a shuttle ticket to the walking point which is only accessible by 4x4’s. On the way there, we saw a guy stuck in the sand and our driver stopped to help him out. By now it was fairly light as it was close to sunrise. I walked towards Deadvlie which does involve hiking up some small hills in sand though nothing as steep or tough as climbing a dune.

My First View of Deadvlei

deadvlei red sand background

After yesterday, I decided one dune was enough and just headed to Deadvlei where I picked out a tree to focus on. I got some good pictures of it in the shade of Big Daddy and then walked around taking pictures of others since it should be about 20 minutes after sunrise before the sun shone on the dunes around us for the spectacular contrasts or blue sky, orange sand and shadowed dead black trees on white pan floor.

Sunlight comes to Deadvlei

Deadvlei

deadvlei

springbok

Vlei is Afrikaans for marsh. This was once a marsh that dried up, but with the hot sun and dry climate the trees could not decompose. Apparently it is the main attraction of Sossusvlei though my favorites are still the red sand dunes. The clouds delayed my sunshine so it took an hour to get “my shot” but it was worth the wait. I also saw several more springboks scattered in groups of 3 or 4 as I drove out of the park though I never saw a oryx, which is similar but with longer horns and a much beefier body, kinda like a springbok on steroids.

ostriches: black male and gray female

Apple pie with cream and meat pie

The drive back to Windhoek went much smoother as I knew what to expect. I got a chicken pie and apple pie from the bakery at solitaire. Yum! I also looked about and appreciated Solitaire a bit more now that I wasn’t just focused on getting to Sesrium and Sossuslvei. I’m really glad I drove myself instead of just taking a tour. I had a nice drive on my own time, got to “do the park” exactly as I wished sometimes creeping alongside the road to find the perfect angle to shot from, and I got to stay in some great places! Plus I managed to stay on the left side of the road and only hit the windshield wipers instead of the blinkers a handful of times (blinkers are on the right side of the steering wheel as my New Zealand trip buddies well remember!)

Solitaire

2 bedroom 2 bath suite in Windhoek

Back at the Hilton Garden Inn, they upgraded me to a suite! It was huge with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. I washed my clothes in their first floor laundry. Unlike the Hyatt in Kyoto this one was empty though similarly to Kyoto it was an all-in-one machine and the clothes were still damp at the end so I had to run the dry-only a couple times. Maybe if I used them all the time I would figure out the best way to use them, but I hate combined washer-dryer units. Not that I prefer none at all, but every trip I’ve taken this past year I’ve had to use them: Croatia, Vietnam, New Zealand, Japan, and now here. They never get the clothes dry and it always sounds like they are getting them wet again when you select the “dry only” setting.

Washing machine at Hilton

two marks in paint

I couldn’t reach Hertz about extending my car rental so I decided to return it as planned and just stay somewhere near the airport. I picked out Trans Kalahari Inn which was the closest I could find. They have a shuttle for only 200 zar each way (about $10 which isn’t bad considering it’s 20 minutes from the airport). I had a slight panic at the rental car return when I saw two small dings on the top back of the car. I didn’t see them at night and I kicked myself for not taking pictures of the whole car instead of just the scratches. Luckily I did take a picture of the car the next morning and showed it to the guy. Since I had just driven from the airport to the hotel that night, he believed me. Trans Kalahari was pretty decent with a huge room, clean and basic with a pool. Really all I cared about was a clean place with wifi near the airport.

The next day I was focused on the flight as my tour group will have to leave at 12:30 without me if I’m not out yet. It’s important that I get through customs quickly. Luckily I am in seat 3A towards the front of the plane. Dawne said they ask how much money you are bringing in. I checked the website and they don’t have a limit but they want you to declare any amount over about $800. They are also concerned about people bringing in food so I ate all the biltong and nuts before boarding.

airport people showing us the route to board our plane

I was on Fly Namibia airlines going to Maun. A ground crew of 8 stood to guide us out on the tarmac to our plane. I was in seat 3A so no one next to me as it is a 1-2 configuration. Also row 1 & 2 are just single seats for flight crew (on the left) and the refreshments area (on the right) so I was literally the first person off the plane, which holds about 45 passengers. I’ve flown my share of flights, but there were two things I had never seen before. First, as part of the safety talk, they included a “fire bag” at the front.

Fly Namibia flight attendant uniform with cool scarf

They instructed us if we had an overheating electronic device that may burst into flames, please bring it to the front so they can place it in the fire bag. It looked like a padded metallic silver lined insulation bag. The other odd thing was that they had to spray a mild insecticide from a little spray can while walking down the aisle. I tried not to breathe but I think it had a pleasant smell. I suspect this was part of the effort to prevent foot and mouth disease from entering Botswana. The official who met us took the empty can along with paperwork from the flight attendant.

I made it out of the airport only 19 minutes after wheels touched down, and almost half that time was waiting to exit the plane. I raced off plane, grabbed the immigration form and the immigration guy helped me fill it out since everyone behind was also stuck filling out forms. The luggage was not out yet so I walked around the corner and did customs paperwork with the lady there declaring all my USD, SA Rand, and even the Turkish Lira I had in my wallet, then went back to grab my bag. I was out by 11:35 so plenty of time to spare!