Day 5, Dune 45 and Bushman Frans

           

Saturday December 18th. Up at 4:00 and load up on the trunk and leave by 4:30. Drive 45 minutes to the true Nabibian desert and the sand dunes. Arrive at dune 45 and we all climb up the 120 metre dune to sit at the summit and watch the sunrise. Spectacular colours and vistas. We had a great time up there taking pictures and posing for them. Then John and I ran down the ridge, lots of fun.

When we got down the guides had made us a great hot breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, brown beans and sausage.

After that we drove further into the dunes to take a tour of the dunes. We all paid 220 Nabibian dollars for a tour with “Bushman Frans”. We were shuttled in smaller trucks further yet into the dunes. Frans knows and understands the desert very well. He told us about the history of the area, how the bushman fought the Europeans who were hunting diamonds. Then he should us how to find some desert animals, including spiders, beetles, lizards and a sidewinder snake that were hiding beneath the sand to escape the heat. Then he taught us some basic survival skills on how to survive in the desert. For example the shape of the dunes tells you the compass direction because the wind always blows from the west in the morning and the east in the afternoon. The end of the hike was up over another dune where we could see a white limestone flat area and some trees that had been dead for eight hundred to a thousand years after the dune cut off the flow of the water source that would occasionally water the trees. As the water dried up and sunk lower in the water table the tap root of the acacia trees couldn't reach the water anymore and they died. Frans was a great guide.

Then we drove back to the camp. We had lunch and hung around for awhile. The wind was blowing and sand was everywhere. Then we set off in the truck to Sesriemvlai Canyon, which is nearby. The area is made from conglomerate rock. The canyon is pretty deep and attractive from the top, but we walked down into it to walk along the dirt dry bottom. Good views there too.

After we came back to the camp again, Richard and I went for a walk to the camp store to get a cold drink. We sat and drank it there and watched the social weaver birds and their colonial nest. When we got back, I sat and listened to my iPod for a bit, until Larry, 47 from New Zealand, came and talked to me. Talked about our boys, he's traveling with his 17 year old, he was asking about my 4 over 5 and then we talked about exercise, triathlons and the like.

Then update this while waiting for dinner. It turned out to be steak. Very good. Shortly afterwards we turned in for another early rise.