the red red dunes

The alarm woke us up at 4:15. It was still pitch black out, stars shining brightly. But up we got, folded the tent and got Foxy fired up. We waited in line with the other dozen or so cars for the gate to open and then raced off into the dunes again for sunrise.

We were bracing ourselves for an even bigger dune-climb than yesterday's, but in fact there was none of that at all! We drove on to Dune 45 and when the paved road ended, continued on the sandy tracks. Foxy LOVED that and performed elegantly. We parked her just at Deadvlei lot and walked around, snapping pics of the beautiful dunes and their morning colours.

We left the desert and entered hills and mountain passes. There was still very little traffic. When there was any sign of life, it was often a donkey-cart and families loaded with gear and children.

Entering Windhoek was like being back in civilization. We arrived at the Arebbusch Campsite and Lodge around 14:00, cooked up a late lunch in their sparkling-clean kitchen, hung out our third load of laundry since beginning our trip just 5 days ago and caught up on a bit of email and news with their wireless internet.

Tonight we met up with friend Angela. We first met when we went to see her open house in Cape Town. That was back in the day when we thought purchasing a house in South Africa was a good investment. Lucky we didn't go through with that! She and her husband run a Leadership/Coaching company and from time to time she works in Windhoek. It was lovely to meet again.

Angela took us to Joe's Beer House, a must-do for any tourist here, or local for that matter. It has this old rustic feel to it, with toilet-bar seats, old bicycles and baskets hung everywhere, old wooden picnic tables and camping chairs, and some very tasty game meat on the menu. Matt had the "Fire in the Bush" meal. And when it came, the waitress lit the little shot glass of paraffin which was then poured all over the "bush" (or sliced potatoes). Oh, and there was also a piece of barbed wire with a hot pepper attached to it as décor on the plate. Strange. Very Namibian??!!

Start: Sossusvlei, NAM. 5:00
End: Windhoek, NAM. 14:00
Distance Travelled: 472 km
Road Conditions: gravel sometimes corrugated, then smooth paved highway
Temperature: still a nice dry heat. Evening chilly and breezy. No complaints. But needed extra fleece blankets and sleeping bag to keep warm.