Through the Sands of the Hourglass...
Sossusvlei, Namib-Naukluft Park, Namibia
November 21, 2013I was almost back to 100% this morning, so I am back in charge of the blog. But, if you enjoyed Bill's entry, please do not hesitate to comment and request him back!
Wake up call was at 5:00 this morning. We had a great breakfast, I was able to keep the delicius croissants down! Yay! Bill enjoyed his jar of fruit, minus the kiwis.
Alpha guided us on a spectacular tour this morning through Namib-Naukluft Park. Namib means Large Open Plain and Naukluft means Narrow Ravine. This park is 50,000 km2 and is the 3rd largest park in Africa.
He explained to us that there are three types of dunes - linear, star and barchan (bar-can), these are horseshoe shaped Morning with Dunes and Oryx. These dunes were created when the Orange River carried sediment deposits from rivers starting in the Drakensberg Mountains near Johannesburg to the coast of Namibia. Then the SW winds carried the grains of sand and deposited them in this location.
The mineral deposits in the sand are mainly comprised of quartz (90-95%) and mica (5-10%). There are trace components that make up iron oxide which creates the red colour of the sand.
Oddly enough, this area gets fog. Many plants and animals rely on it as a source of water, as this area only gets 100 mm of rain each year.
We drove through the park between the two formations of sand. We stopped from time to time for photos of the dunes, animals and birds. We stopped at the popular dune 45, but pushed on to Big Daddy and Big Mama instead Beautiful Landscapes.
We hiked up a portion of Big Daddy and then ran down the side to explore Deadvlei, meaning dead pan. This is a petrified forest of Camel Thorn trees where all the trees have been dead for more than 1,000 years. It was so eerie and beautiful. It is something you need to witness for yourself because words cannot do it justice.
Alpha drove us over to Sossusvlei which means an area where water gathers. During the months of March, April and May, there is actually a river here. We grabbed a spot under a tree and had tea and snacks while Alpha changed our tire that was going flat.
We had a short nap when we returned to camp, followed by a delicious lunch. I am glad that I was able to fully enjoy it today.
It was incredibly hot today, so we spent most of the afternoon in our room napping Conquering Big Daddy. How wonderful it is to be lazy!!
At 5:00 we had snacks and then went to the Canyon with Alpha. Sesriem Canyon, meaning 6 leathers (that is how many leathers tied together was required to get water from the canyon) was formed about 2 million years ago after a drought. When the river started flowing again, it had to re-carve it's path, thus forming the canyon. After many years and due to different amounts of waterfall, the walls of the canyon have different layers of sediment and rocks. We toured the canyon and took lots of photos. It would be interesting to revisit both of these places when the river is flowing. I am sure the landscape would look vastly different.
We had to leave the park before sundown, the fine is $10,000 for staying late. We enjoyed our sundowner beverages while the sun set.
Dinner this evening was exceptional Running back Down. We were seated by the candle and lantern lighted pool. It was nice and cool and we were sheltered from the breeze. The beef carpaccio and battered eggplant were delicious starters and the Springbok filets for our main were exceptional! It was another great day in Namibia!
The fauna and flora that we spotted today were:
acacia tree erioloba
camel thorn tree
stinky shepard bush
detritus (dead plant matter that gathers, beetles like to eat)
side winding adder (a creepy little poisonous snake that can bury himself in the sand)
knobbly darkling bettle
springbok (they are marsupials?!)
oryx
barking geckos
ruppels korhann (birds that sound like frogs)
rock pigeons (make a strange sound like "whoop, whoop")
black breasted snake eagle
black (or silver) backed jackal
pale chanting goshawk
foot prints of a hairy footed gerbil
Pictures & VideosLots of Sand in the ShoesLike from Another PlanetSeriously CoolSesriem CanyonDinner by the PoolKeeping an Eye out on the Water Hole
