Sunrise in Sossusvlei

Before we could watch the sunrise in Sossusvlei we had a bit of driving to get there.

Although the majority of roads we have travelled on in Namibia were hot and dusty, more often than not there was some kind of reward at the end. One such reward was the Tsauchab River campsite where we had a private campsite and had the most fantastic outdoor shower built into the trunk of a tree!

The day we arrived at Tsauchab was the England v All Blacks test so we couldn’t refuse the offer from the SA owners to join them for a shandy or two to watch the game in their home. We stayed only the one night as it was really too hot in the day to do any of the hiking trails in the area, but watching the stars in the desert sky at night was spectacular.

Sand dunes of Sossusvlei

Our next reward was Sesriem, the entrance to the massive sand dunes of Sossusvlei and probably Namibia’s number one tourist attraction. It was here that we even got to talking to other tourists (not German for a change), which was quite a novelty for us on this trip. The only down side here was that we had to set the alarm clock for the first time in weeks for 4.45am to get to the dunes for sunrise in Sossusvlei.

We drove Chico as far as we could and then walked the final 4km (only accessible by foot or 4WD) into Sossusvlei. It was a beautiful walk as it was relatively cool and the colours of the sun rising over the sand dunes was fantastic – it really was picture postcard stuff. We stopped for breakfast at the bottom of one dune and then climbed up to admire the views over the massive sand dunes. What breath we had left when we reached the top was almost taken away!

We took the easy option coming down – sliding on our backsides!! Sossusvlei is really a magic place and highly recommended a visit.

From here we took another long, dusty drive to Dunswib Castle – a strange sight in the desert landscape, but worth an overnight stop. We were now getting to the end of the long, dusty roads and looking forward to reaching tar again!