Sossusvlei

Sossusvlei !

I always hesitated to go to Sossusvlei because of the drive. It is more or less 5 hours on dirt / gravel road and I was not looking forward to do that with a 4 year old in the back seat. But sometimes you just have to take the chance. So I took the opportunity when friends of mine with their friends and family went and I could tag along. My car won’t do the trick on these roads so I rented a 4 x 4 and off we went.

 It was still rainy season so people told me to be careful and right they were. The dirt IS slippery when you are driving but you get used to it pretty easy and after a while I enjoyed myself driving through the sheer endless landscape of Namibia. The scenery is interesting but not breathtaking. What is breath taking though is that moment where you hardly see a thing as you are driving into the sunlit blue sky during sunset and looking in your rear view mirror seeing the pitch black sky. The rain is coming. Time to get out of the car and look for the rainbow. There it is! Right above us - so close you think you can touch it. The perfect arch stretched from left to right of our sight. Uplifting! At that point it just seems normal to see wild animals to our left and right. They belong to this scenario. We see Oryx, Springbok and Ostrich.

At dusk we arrive at our castle for the night. Le Mirage is a hotel in the middle of nowhere 20 min from the gate to Sossusvlei Park entrance and looks like a fortress. A very (child) friendly welcome makes us fell at home quickly. The rooms are spacious and have a nice view of the endless landscape wide open. We need to go to bed as we want to have an early start for the dunes the next morning.

We leave with the sunrise and what amazes me the most is the fact that yesterday we travelled 300 odd km off road unpaved to come to a gate and now have 65 km perfectly straight tar road in front of us to reach the famous dunes. Namibian miracle or logic I would say. Driving the 65 km and seeing sand masses left and right I am not so impressed. I lived in Dubai and saw my share of sand mountains. Been there – done that. I also mumble to myself that it is a pity that is starting to rain or drizzle. But then I realize that not many people can say they have been in the desert in the rain. God’s ways are mysterious. And after a while I appreciate the picture. Dark sky, the sunrays coming through give bright spots on the sands turning the dunes in all different colors while the compulsory Oryx stands still for snapshot. Under a picture perfect rainbow of course. The last 4 km are a totally wild and bumpy ride. No road anywhere and deep soft sand lets many cars get stuck. But we have a good driver!

We arrive at the famous entrance to Deadvlei and start our ascend to the dune. By now I am actually happy that the sun is not shinning. It would be much harder to put my feet in front in a continuously upwards going motion with the sun upon us. Especially when Allegra does not want to walk anymore and I carry her piggy bag style. But the moment we sit down to rest and enjoy the view at a point where we think it is okay that we reached with 3 kids under 6 with us – the sun comes out and it is like heaven. The colors are amazing. Now you will say what is she talking about? Sand is sand and what is so great about a landscape without vegetation? I am telling you - it is amazing. Every time you look around the colors change. From dark red to a light touch of pink and back to a bright yellow. Sitting on that dune and looking down into Deadvlei (a dip where water collects after the rains) is uplifting. You do not comprehend the wide open space, its pure size or how far the end of that dune just there must be. Only when you look at this tiny dot in the far you realize it is someone walking in a good pace but it takes ages until they are close.

So we give the ‘go’ for the kids to race down the dune and Allegra decides the best way to do so is on her tummy backwards sliding. Whatever makes her happy – I guess I will find a lot of sand later in unspoken places. Down at the Vlei I cannot make a decision what and how to take a picture first. It is incredible and also indescribable. So I take them all. I jump, I lounge, flaunt around until it is time to go. It is nearly 10 am and getting hot. I feel for Tomas who has to carry both his kids plus a backpack. Even I struggle with Allegra on my back but it is totally worth it.

Back at the hotel all sweating and hard work is forgotten. The kids play the whole afternoon in the pool like they did not get up at 6 am this morning. Heaven !

And again a sunset out of the book. Colors so clear and rich you just want to inhale it and embrace the moment you are there. Right here and now in company of friends. By the way I forgot to say. Allegra and I are travelling with 9 Spanish speaking people. And maybe their way of looking at life even adds to this perfect experience.

Next morning it is time to go home. Now I am a specialist in driving these roads and I just follow the dust cloud. No way to see the vehicle in front of me. This time we take another route. It leads us to the Gondwana lodge we wanted to stay first and of course to Solitaire. Everybody stops here to have a piece of the world famous apple strudel. Well, being married to an Austrian I have to say it is really an apple pie or apple crumble but who looks at details when you have a bakery offering those kind of things in the middle of the desert. There is nothing besides a petrol station, a toilet and that bakery called ‘Moose McGregor’s Desert Bakery’.

But now comes my favorite part of the trip. The landscape is WOW! I struggle to find another word. I have difficulties on concentrating on the road because it is so beautiful. And it gets even more so when we reach Spreetshoogte Pass. The way we drive it from a wide open space to suddenly narrow road climbing or shall I say winding up the hill is incredible. Looking back or out of the side window – the views are just spectacular. They are just paving bits of the road which I think is good as I can imagine what it feels like going downhill here. A friend of mine gave me a good description before leaving: Every time she drives that pass her anus muscle is working hard (of trying not to shit her pants). We stop at the view point and I can just imagine how it must feel like when you drive coming from Windhoek. A narrow road leads you to that view point we are just standing at and a wide open scenario opens in front of your eyes which even my panoramic view setting in my camera cannot capture. This must be really and truly outstanding driving the way coming from Windhoek side. I have to do that again. Maybe not in the rainy season though J