I thought the main event of the day was going to be our sunset dune drive from Walvis Bay, and that the drive there was just going to be a mode of travel, but how wrong I was, as it was absolutely stunning with contrasting scenery from gorges, to water formed landscapes, to mountains and then desert.
- Start: Bushman’s Desert Camp
- Destination: Walvis Bay
- Distance: 200km
- Planned Duration: 2h50min
- Actual Duration: 3h55min
- Animals Seen: Ostrich, Jackal, Cormorant, Springbok, Gemsbok, Cape Seal, Pelican, Flamingo
The Drive
In my head the drive was just a means of transport, and my excitement was for our afternoons activity. Very quickly we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn for the second time of our trip, this time there were road signs to mark the occasion, unlike the first time were we had to rely on the GPS on the second morning of our trip. Within a very short period of leaving our wonderful camp at Bushman’s Desert Camp, we encountered our first surprise, as the road descended into a gorge, the so called Gaub Pass. It was amazing driving within this gorge which was so clearly formed by water, but now in a landscape totally devoid of water. This was going to be a theme which continued for the next 90 minutes, as we weaved our way around wonderful scenery with river valleys and mountains, which were now totally arid. Amazing.
Just when we thought the strange landscape of water formed terrain which was now essentially desert couldn’t get any better, we arrived at the Kuiseb Canyon, which was even better. We considered deviating to an additional viewpoint, but decided we didn’t have time.
Shortly after the canyon the road definitely deteriorated, by this point I would say we were quite used to our brains being rattled to pieces by the gravel roads, but this was something else. During one of the smoother sections while we were enjoying a bit less of a bone shaker ride, we stopped to help a couple who seemed to have ripped a wheel off their car and were stuck as their jack couldn’t get the car high enough to get the wheel back on. After some help, we successfully fitted a new wheel, but without one of the nuts as the bolt was bent, presumably due to the wheel coming off. Despite advising them to drive carefully to the next town, 10 minutes later they overtook us…
At this point the road got even worse, it really is hard to imagine how much a road can vibrate you, the car, your brain. Thankfully the scenery was still great, which meant we had a few photo stops to give ourselves a rest! From here the scenery rapidly changed from the water formed landscape to a proper remote desert, and the road improved and we were soon driving at 100km/h along a perfectly smooth road in the middle of absolute nowhere, with just an arid landscape surrounding us.
From this point it was smooth sailing to get us to Walvis Bay in time to do some shopping, check into the campsite and get some lunch.
Sandwich Harbour Dune Driving
One of the activities which I decided I wanted to do a long time ago when we were planning this trip, was a dune drive to Sandwich Bay, where the sand dunes of the Namib Desert meet the sea, a unique meeting of two totally contrasting scenes. What was even better was that a provider offered as specific sunset photography tour, much better than the harsh midday light. After nearly missing the meeting point due to a miscommunication about a taxi, we arrived in time and were soon heading down the coastline.
It is safe to say that at the start we were a bit skeptical about if this was a good use of our money, as it was quite expensive, as the weather was totally cloudy and there was no light. However very quickly we were greeted with lots of animals, including Jackals, Cape Seals with their pups and Cormorants. The driving down the coast was interesting but at this point nothing to get overly excited about, especially with the light. However as we headed south towards Sandwich bay, we started to see the dunes towering about the sea, which was a sight to behold.
Thankfully at this point the blanket cloud cover seemed to break up just enough to provide us with fairly constant good light, with the cloud receding as the sunset. With a mixture of the great fun of being driven around in the dunes, with very steep ascents and descents, and the views this enabled us to have with zero effort, it was an incredible experience. The provider took us to some wonderful viewpoints, gave us time to take our photos, while adding lots of fun in on the drive.
All to soon the sun was setting and the tour was coming to an end, in fact we were very over our planned time due to the length of some of our stops as we were so busy taking photos and absorbing the scenery. Despite this, the driver made a special effort on the way back to stop when we saw additional wildlife of a Gemsbok and some Springbok, where there were two males who were fighting.
Just prior to the end of the tour we stopped for fresh Oysters and a glass of fizz while the sunset, however unfortunately by this point the cloud had won and we didn’t see the sunset. However it was still a great end to the excursion.
Comments