Namibia Travels: Part 5

We're getting close to the end of my series on our trip to Namibia and I think the places we visited over these two days were probably the highlights of my trip!

If you've just joined me, click the links to catch up on the rest of the trip:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Day 7 and 8:
After our lovely evening the night before with Frosty's aunt and uncle in Okahandja, we got an early start so that we could get to the airport in Windhoek to drop Frosty's folks off and grab a bite to eat with them before their plane left and before we headed off for the next stop in our trip - Naukluft Mountain Zebra Park.

I took this picture for my grandfather - his name is famous in Namibia!

Most of the road in Namibia are dirt roads, but luckily my little Ford Fiesta could handle it!

The entrance to Naukluft Mountain Zebra Park

We spotted some Gemsbok on our drive through the park.

A family of Gemsbok

It was about a 4 hour drive from the airport to Naukluft, and we arrived at the camp site in time to set up camp and take a quick stroll and do some birdwatching before the sun set, which was a real treat considering most of our tent-put-upping was done at dusk or in the dark during this trip. We even managed to find some wildlife as we were driving through the park on our way to the camp site! For rest of our journey, we stayed at camp sites that were run by Namibia Wildlife Resorts. This camp site was probably my favourite as it was clean, the bathrooms were incredible (so incredible that Frosty took a photo of them) and the staff at reception were friendly and helpful. We also got a spot close to the river on the "lower level" of the campsites which allowed us to be close to the stream running past. 

And yet more Gemsbok

The view of some of the mountains you get in Namibia

The clouds were painted vivid pink as we watched the sun go down in the evening

Yes, these are really bathroom facilities at the camp site! 

We chuckled to ourselves as we set up camp, as we had managed to bump into a certain familiar camping trailer belonging to Frosty's aunt and uncle who had gone off to do a hike with some of the other family. We chose a camp site right next door to the trailer so that we could keep an eye on it while we were there.

Proof that we found the trailer!

Purple flower

Swallow-tailed Bee-eater in flight

Swallow-tailed Bee-eater in flight again

I really loved the colours on these little guys - they are so bright you can't miss them!

And a more abstract view of the Bee-eater

We found a bush of purple flowers while on our morning walk

And we found these flowers decorating a tree

We loved being so close to water in Namibia, it felt
slightly surreal that there was this amount of water around! 

Me, perched in front of one of the pools we found during our walk

The next day, we took a stroll around the park and found some lovely pools. Frosty acted as my bird guide-teacher and taught me a few new birds. We managed to even catch a glimpse of the rosy-faced lovebirds that the area is known for. They were lovely - when we finally managed to spot some that weren't hiding in the depths of the trees, Frosty just stood there looking through his bino's softly muttering "Oh wow, oh wow". 

Quiver tree growing out the rocks

This plant looked like it was draped with cotton wool

Frosty in front of one of the other pools we found (way below us!)

The cotton-wool stuff on this plant dissolved when water was poured on it and I wondered if
this wasn't part of the plants survival mechanism - does anyone know anything else about it?

Pretty pinky-red flowers

Red flowers

All to soon, we finished off our walk and then started our drive to Sesriem Campsite, which is situated at the entrance to Sossusvlei. If I remember correctly, it was about a 3 hour drive to Sossusvlei, which was slightly longer than we anticipated, but it was definitely worth it! We checked in, had some lunch and decided to drive straight into the park so that we could climb a dune and catch the sunset. 

A family of Sociable Weavers flew across to the tree in our camp site to see if they could
scrounge some food from us during our lunch.

Taking a break as we were driving through Sossusvlei

We drove all the way to the end of the tar road and decided that the best place to go for sunset would be Dune 45, since my little car wouldn't have been able to handle the 4x4 road that would take us all the way into the "real" dunes, which are pretty similar to the dunes you drive past, just more and bigger. So back we went and up we scrambled, to the highest point of Dune 45. After about half an hour and around 85m of hard slip-slide-scrambling where we sweated out all the liquids we'd had that day, plus some extra, we made it to the top! At the top, I decided to forego postpone my alcoholic drink that Frosty had so kindly lugged up in favour of water and juice, I was that thirsty! I don't think words could do the sunset justice - so enjoy the pictures below!

Gemsbok running through the desert

Famous Dune 45!

Frosty getting ready to climb the +- 85m to the top

A Dune in Black and White

Trees in the desert

Getting ready to climb the dune

A dusty scene from afar

It doesn't look that far, but climbing 85m in sand is really tough!

Frosty taking a break - we hopped from one grassy patch
to the next, which helped us in our climb!

Looking into the dunes

Desert Sunset

Finally made it to the top, that water in my hand didn't last very long!

Walking along the top of Dune 45

Takkies and sunsets

Footprints in the sand

Even though we look excited in these pictures, we
were just relieved to have made it to the top!

Cool beer + big mountain to climb + sunset = happy boyfriend :)

The wind started to pick up...

Playing with shadows and sand and light

I don't know the scientific name, but I'd call this little guy a Dune Gekko!

It looks like this little guy is getting showered with sand-fireworks!

Back at the bottom again

And just because I love my car, another car pic with
dunes in the background

Moon rise over the desert - isn't this picture just so peaceful?

Silhouette at sunset in the desert

We may have found half the dune in our shoes when we
eventually took them off

No wonder our shoes felt so heavy on the way down!

Can you see all the teeny-tiny people marching their way up the dune? 

Black backed jackal taking a stroll

Springbok grazing. The nice thing about spotting game in the desert is that even if you're a
terrible game spotter, the desert makes it much easier!

Some cheecky Gemsbok bums

Some more of the desert sunset

A pity it was dark - we got lucky and spotted this guy on our drive back to the campsite!

We eventually got back to our campsite and set up our tent in the dark before making a start on supper and climbing into bed early so that we could be up early again the next morning to catch the sunrise in the park as well.