Discovering the joys of camping in Namibia (page 8 of 30)

On the tail of the plane it says "Desert Air".

On the tail of the plane it says "Désert Air"

Ugh... you see everything, Régis 😂 Thanks for the info, but since we hadn’t booked directly... Our meet-up was still at the Sossusvlei Lodge excursions office. And it was the pilot who drove us to the airstrip, just a few hundred meters away.

Hi

Apparently, "fairy circles" are caused by a particular species of termites (or that type)... Well, we can also stick with the witch idea!

Lovely travel journal.

It almost makes me want to go camping!

What an incredible experience! From the sky, the vleis and dunes are truly magnificent... what luck! I’d hesitated to do a hot-air balloon ride, but the prices were really out of our budget.

And the difference is just amazing: the next day at 8:30 AM on the climb up Big Daddy, it looked like this:



(Photo taken with iPhone) and at the top, the fog was even denser... fortunately, it eventually cleared up around 11:00 AM! But we didn’t regret climbing up (though we *did* regret getting up before 6:00 AM🙁).

Can’t wait for the rest! Sybille

Makes me, almost, want to camp!

How "almost"—I thought you were more adventurous than that! 😏

Yes, hot-air balloon rides are really expensive, but with a small plane, it’s still reasonable and truly a beautiful experience 🙂. The fog at Big Daddy was impressive—plus, it mustn’t have been warm 🙁. Weird because on the same day, we were still in Sesriem, just 60 km away, and we had gorgeous weather at sunrise 😮.

Yeah, it was actually nice weather at the Sesriem campsite at 6:00 AM—otherwise, we would’ve gone back to bed... 😉 The fog started about 30 km later... and since it was still dark, we didn’t go over 60 km/h, which is otherwise really hard to stick to! So, I’ll keep the little plane in mind for next time!

The flight was awesome. I would’ve loved to do it, but I was scared of getting sick during the flight. 😕

To be honest, at first, I didn’t plan on going at all 😮. But since the price was the same whether it was just me or for two (or even four, since we booked the whole plane), I decided last minute and I’m so glad I did—it was really safe 😎. I couldn’t take my eyes off the landscape scrolling by below, so no problems at all.

Amazing photos, taken from the ground and the sky 😮 😇! And Tidju doesn’t have these ones 😛 😏!!

I just checked Tourmaline’s excursion catalog again, and 550 € for a 40-minute tour (whether there are 2 or 5 of you) seems like a fair price... But the TTT already blew the entire "extra" budget all by itself...

No comparison to the 7,000 NAD for a hot-air balloon ride (that’s 2,100 € for 5 people)—a total tourist scam...

Ah! Too bad, because it's amazing! Well, you've got to make choices... For me, it's a no-brainer: taking the plane instead of sleeping under the stars in the winter cold 😂😂😂

Don’t forget we trained to sleep at -3°C this winter! We’re gonna buy -10°C sleeping bags like yours... and who knows, we might even get mild temperatures 😛! Maybe they’ll serve Champagne in the evening to help us fall asleep... and I can finish off the kids’ glasses 😛 And if we have any doubts, we just need to look at some more photos from Carmen’s travel journal to get pumped again 😉!!

Cool! Looks like you're all set! 😄😄😄

Well, the TTT already blew through the "extra" budget all by itself...

great way to blow a budget 😎 :)

you also need to be lucky enough to have good light when taking the shot

Absolutely, bad lighting will never let you take a great photo, no matter the gear. Or you have to go for an aesthetic choice by not trying to represent the place exactly—like converting it to black and white, deliberately overexposing or underexposing, or any other creative idea...

Otherwise, JPEG or RAW... well, when conditions are ideal, JPEGs are fine, but as soon as things get tricky, it’s over—the photo is ruined, with not enough adjustment options (especially for white balance). You might not notice it on a photo uploaded to VF because of the compression loss, but there’s way more "depth" in a RAW file.

For wildlife photography, good gear (especially the lens) is a must because long focal lengths don’t forgive much 🙂. Though full-frame isn’t always necessary.

It’s 8:10 AM when we arrive at the parking lot and get ready to climb Big Daddy when my husband realizes he’s lost the car keys. We’re completely stressed out. We ask the next shuttle driver to check for us, and he tells us to wait here—he thinks they fell out of his pocket from the vehicle’s vibrations. We cross our fingers and wait… 20 minutes later, the shuttle that brought us unloads its passengers, and before we can even ask the driver, a woman steps out of the vehicle holding the key ring. Phew! What a relief! 🙂

Man, that stress 🤪—luckily, all’s well that ends well!

Then the climb begins… and when you take one step forward, you slide half a step back, so it’s really not fast going. The upside? We have plenty of time to take in the view unfolding before us 😉.

So true! One step forward, three steps back!!

We soak in the scenery for a while and then run down to Dead Vlei. It reminds us of our descent into the pumice of Pico Grande—it’s magical, you can hear the sand singing, we love it, and it’s way less tiring than the climb 😮.

I don’t know that place. Where is it? For the rest, I totally agree! The sand sings, it’s less tiring, and it’s much faster!!

Then the climb begins… it’s like, when you take one step forward, you take half a step back, so it really doesn’t move fast. The upside is we have plenty of time to admire the landscape unfolding before us 😉.

So true! One step forward, three steps back!!

So if I get this right, you’re climbing the dune backward! 😏

We enjoy the view for a good while and then run down to find ourselves in Dead Vlei. It reminds us of our descent into the pumice of Grand Pico—it’s magical, you can hear the sand singing, we love it, and it’s way less tiring than the climb 😮.

I don’t know that place. Where is it? For the rest, I totally agree! The sand sings, it’s less tiring, and it’s much faster!!

Grand Pico is a volcano on Fogo Island in Cape Verde. The ascent is really great… especially the descent 😉 If you’re interested, here’s the link to my travel journal: https://voyageforum.com/v.f?post=8641822;a=8641822

I don’t know. Where is it? For the rest, I totally agree! The singing sand is less tiring and much faster!!

Cape Verde

Friday, August 2: Sesriem / Rostock Ritz

This morning, we have time—our destination for tonight isn’t too far away: 140 km. Still, we get up early to climb the Elim Dune, located not far from the campsite, to admire the sunrise once again. We were more efficient than yesterday—by 6:40 AM, we’re ready. It’s pretty impressive to see how many people get up before dawn in the cool air; there are already at least 15 cars ahead of us. Surprisingly, there are already cars waiting at the main entrance, even though it doesn’t open for another hour.

It’s 7:30 AM, we’re at the top of the dune, and we’re quietly waiting for the sun to peek out from behind the mountains. We’re the only ones who came here this morning. Originally, we’d planned to come for sunset last night, like most people do, but a month ago, we decided to do our own little flyover—and we really don’t regret it. Being here this morning is truly magical. (Thanks, Carmen, for the idea I picked up from one of your travel journals! 🙂)





On our way down, we just cross paths with a family heading up.





Priority passage



Before leaving, we stop by the office to buy a permit so we can cross the Namib-Naukluft Park tomorrow. Right next to the reception, a nest of Sociable Weavers catches our attention—its size is really impressive. We’ll see them practically everywhere during our stay, but what was funny here was that they just had to help themselves to the thatched roof to build their nest.

The Sociable Weaver (Philetairus socius) is a small passerine bird endemic to the arid regions of southern Africa, particularly the Kalahari. It is the only species in the genus Philetairus. The species is remarkable for its nests: collective and inhabited year-round, they are enormous and can be built by hundreds of individuals.







We leave Sesriem around 9 AM. The road to Solitaire is still just as rough—it takes us almost 1.5 hours to get there.

Photo stop for the car wrecks—impossible to drive past without stopping, and we’re not the only ones. We take the opportunity to fill up on gas since it’s primarily a gas station.







We also stop to taste the famous Apple Strudel—we can’t drive past without stopping. It’s really good, but I’ve had better.





So we end up staying for a little hour.



We hit the road again—the surface is a bit smoother now. Normally, the grader, with all its dust, is passing through, but it won’t last long.