We Need To Wake Up At What Time??!!

A 4:15am wake up time, in order to be at the gates of the Sossusvlei (a dead salt pan surrounded by large sand dunes) park for opening at 6:15 was actually easier than I thought it would be. We piled into the 4x4 vehicle, driven by our guide, luckily, as I wouldn't have trusted any of us tourists to drive at that time. The queue of vehicles to get into the park wasn't too long, and the entry was quick, though since it opened just before sunrise it did mean we hadn't got far into the park before the sun came up, meaning the view of the sunrise wasn't as iconic as hoped for (we hadn't got as far as the main sand dunes, so the sunrise was just over the distant mountains, rather than the red dunes).

Our first stop was, for me at least, a very interesting one. Our guide, Simon, took us over to the base of a dune and talked through some of the animals that lived in the park, using their tracks as a starting point, and explaining how they manage to live in the hot desert. Starting with the Oryx, he progressed to the smaller animals, showing us tracks of jackals and gerbils, and then tracks of spiders and snakes. I found it hard to believe they were actually spider tracks in the sand, but I was convinced when Simon followed them to their destination, and showed us the little trapdoor that the spider had made at the end of a tunnel, then actually dug round the tunnel, showing the web construction holding the tunnel open, and eventually Simon gently and carefully uncovered the spider herself (or himself - we didn't quite get close enough to sex it!). Initially it was curled up defensively, but then opened up and ran off a short way showing us how pretty it was. After some talking about the spider, a Dancing White Lady spider, and some obligatory photos - for which it proved very obliging and stayed very still - we left it alone to survive another day. Though I'm sure Simon, or one of the other guides probably dug it up again the following day (all the guides seemed to be in the same area, doing the same sort of thing as Simon).

Before we moved on, Simon pointed out some sidewinder snake tracks - small, and not easy to see but he managed to not only find them, but again followed them to their destination and then, using a stick as a pointer, showed us the snake itself. It was really difficult to see, even with the stick pointed straight at it, as it had buried itself in the sand with only the head slightly raised. Simon touched it with the stick and it revealed itself, obviously a bit annoyed at being disturbed. He explained it was a poisonous snake, a viper, though he did keep calling it a sidewinder. I asked for its actual name but Simon couldn't find it in his book - the nearest I found matching its appearance and habits was a horned viper, which is pretty poisonous. Somewhat worrying, as we were all just standing around this thing, coiled ready to strike, albeit at a fairly safe distance. It was only later on our trip when we did actually see a horned viper (in a snake 'zoo') and saw another of these snakes, that I found out what it really was - a Peringuey's Adder. Only mildly toxic to man. Shame, I was convinced for at least 2 days that I had been close to a deadly venomous snake. Especially as once the snake had revealed itself to us, we saw a large human shoe print looking remarkably like mine right next to its hiding place.

The remainder of the excursion was primarily scenic. Sossusvlei is in the heart of the Namib desert, and the iconic red sand dunes are often used to portray Namibia as a whole. We climbed a sand dune, along with many other tourists (we all climb the same one, as it is near to the road!), visited a long-dried up lake (the deadvlei) complete with 300 year old, petrified acacia trees that remain standing due to their very deep root systems, and had a lovely lunch, complete with napkins, a tablecloth and champagne in another 'vlei' nearby, under the shade of a, this time living, acacia tree.

The colours of the dunes, the deserted salt pan, the isolated trees and the perfect blue skies with fluffy white clouds all beg to be photographed. So that's what we did. Along with all the other tourists. Despite the number of tour groups around, it didn't feel crowded, or even commercialised. Probably because the expanse of the area and the size of the dunes dwarfed the 20 or so tour busses and 4x4s in our immediate vicinity.

On the way back from deadvlei we stopped to help another vehicle which had got itself stuck in the soft sand. Only 4wd vehicles are able to traverse that bit, and although this was a 4wd vehicle, it turned out that the 4wd mechanism hadn't actually engaged properly. A very sitcom-style scenario developed when a few of us were helping to lift and push the vehicle out of the rut, and Emma decided to stand behind one of the rear wheels to help. Unsurprisingly when the driver tried to drive out, Emma got absolutely covered in sand kicked up by the spinning wheel. It took a number of days before she managed to get all the sand out of her hair!

Back at the lodge for a relaxing afternoon and a lovely dinner. Mosquitoes not too prevalent, but there are enough of them to need precautions. It has been a while since we have eaten dinner accompanied by the sweet smell of DEET.

Place stayed: Desert Homestead Outpost, Sossusvlei
Places visited: Sossusvlei, Sesriem canyon