Tuesday- We drove on from Swakopmund across the Tropic of Capricorn to a rest camp called Solitaire in the desert. It reminded me of an Anasazi village.Wednesday- Woke at 4:45 am in hopes of watching the sunrise from the top of a dune in Namib-Naukluft National Park. Instead we waited one hour at the gate for the park to open at sunrise and drove 45 kilometers to said dune. We climbed Dune 45 and ate breakfast in front of it.
That wasn't enough for some and they just had to climb Big Daddy - world's tallest dune-at noon without water. I climbed an acacia tree instead. We walked with a nice guide and visited Sesriem canyon before continuing on a long sunset and then pitch-black drive. Before sunset we saw ostriches and oryx running across the desert.We've become so accustomed to doing our business alongside the road in the middle of nowhere that when the truck stopped we all piled out and headed for bushes. Five minutes later we sat down to dinner at a roadside inn whose front lawn we'd just peed in. They actually had lovely restrooms, it was just so dark that we figured the truck had once again stopped in the middle of nowhere for a potty break.
Thursday- We spent the night in a nice German lady's guest cabins in the middle of nowhere. Our cabin was adorable but there was a dead skink in the sink. The German lady baked a chocolate cake for us.
In the morning we continued on to Fish River Canyon which everyone agreed would have been better oriented East-West to catch the sunrise and sunset.
Friday- Left Fish River Canyon and drove through a gorgeous forest of impressive kokerbooms. Peter stopped at a dead, or as he said, 'wilted' and lonely kokerboom for us to take photos. Jeff and I ran to the nearest live kokerboom and took photos until they honked the horn at us.Now I write from the bank of the Orange River in South Africa. The sun has set and the afterglow has turned the river a brilliant orange. Our trip is almost over. I loved Namibia. I felt very much at home there in the desert. It was hard to leave.
