We set our alarm for just after 6am. The gates to the Namib-Naukleft National Park didn’t open to the public until 645am, so this was our attempt to be there at “rope drop.” There’s nothing resembling a cafe or restaurant for probably 100 miles or more, so our breakfast was a sad combination of hard coffee biscuits called rusks, and some other crackers. We arrived at the park entrance around 650am, and were pleased to discover a paved road throughout most of the park. Our main objective was to reach an area of the park called “Deadvlei,” an eerie pan of dead trees amidst pink dunes in the background. It is at the very end of the park, so we had to drive 60km to get there. We were hoping to get there before the tour groups and masses of people showed up.
Lots of buses and other vehicles had pulled over at some other sites along the way either to climb up sand dunes or stop and take pictures. This was a good sign to us because we were able to keep pressing onward and ahead of them. The road eventually ended at what is known as the 2WD lot. From there, we hopped on a truck to forge the rest of the way on a track of loose sand. From a technical standpoint, we could have attempted the trail in our vehicle since it is 4WD, but I didn’t really think the Duster could handle it. After a few more kilometers, we were dropped off at what I suppose you could call the trailhead, except there wasn’t a clearly defined trail. Since it was early, there weren’t really people to follow. We saw one group heading toward a large dune, and we figured there had to be a more efficient way of getting there than by filling our shoes with 10 lbs of sand. I used my phone to help guide us toward our destination. We traversed a couple of smaller dunes, and after about ten minutes or so, crested over one final dune to catch our first glimpses of Deadvlei.
There weren’t too many people yet, just a couple lone professional photographers that were easy to shoot around. For the next hour or so, we took in the alien landscape with eerie silence. The early morning light cast long scraggly shadows from the already ominous looking trees, and it was quite a thing to behold. Eventually some tours started showing up and had a way of announcing their presence by yelling loudly to each other. By the time we were leaving Deadvlei, people were arriving by the hundreds and when we hopped off the truck back at the 2WD lot, a long line of aggressive tourists was jockeying for the seats we had just occupied. I guess we timed everything just right. We drove back another 60km, where I spotted an oryx in the distance and was able to pull over long enough to take its picture, and then made another trip to the gas station where I topped off the tank and we purchased some more snacks to try and construct some sort of lunch. We bought a jar of pickles, some crackers, and a bag of chips. Options were limited.
After our purchases, we went back to the Desert Quiver camp and plopped ourselves down for a while for recovery. The internet situation in the middle of the desert is unsurprisingly quite bad, so we tried to get some kind of signal to check emails and do some updates. In fact, I’m just going to post now because it’s too much effort to try and get this out anytime before tomorrow evening. Our mission for the rest of the afternoon/evening is to relax. Each of the huts at the Desert Quiver has a grill, and they had a sheet where we could order various foods to grill ourselves. We put in an order for some bread, potatoes, tomatoes, and some steaks, so it should be a nice evening in with some home style cooking.
Lots of buses and other vehicles had pulled over at some other sites along the way either to climb up sand dunes or stop and take pictures. This was a good sign to us because we were able to keep pressing onward and ahead of them. The road eventually ended at what is known as the 2WD lot. From there, we hopped on a truck to forge the rest of the way on a track of loose sand. From a technical standpoint, we could have attempted the trail in our vehicle since it is 4WD, but I didn’t really think the Duster could handle it. After a few more kilometers, we were dropped off at what I suppose you could call the trailhead, except there wasn’t a clearly defined trail. Since it was early, there weren’t really people to follow. We saw one group heading toward a large dune, and we figured there had to be a more efficient way of getting there than by filling our shoes with 10 lbs of sand. I used my phone to help guide us toward our destination. We traversed a couple of smaller dunes, and after about ten minutes or so, crested over one final dune to catch our first glimpses of Deadvlei.
There weren’t too many people yet, just a couple lone professional photographers that were easy to shoot around. For the next hour or so, we took in the alien landscape with eerie silence. The early morning light cast long scraggly shadows from the already ominous looking trees, and it was quite a thing to behold. Eventually some tours started showing up and had a way of announcing their presence by yelling loudly to each other. By the time we were leaving Deadvlei, people were arriving by the hundreds and when we hopped off the truck back at the 2WD lot, a long line of aggressive tourists was jockeying for the seats we had just occupied. I guess we timed everything just right. We drove back another 60km, where I spotted an oryx in the distance and was able to pull over long enough to take its picture, and then made another trip to the gas station where I topped off the tank and we purchased some more snacks to try and construct some sort of lunch. We bought a jar of pickles, some crackers, and a bag of chips. Options were limited.
After our purchases, we went back to the Desert Quiver camp and plopped ourselves down for a while for recovery. The internet situation in the middle of the desert is unsurprisingly quite bad, so we tried to get some kind of signal to check emails and do some updates. In fact, I’m just going to post now because it’s too much effort to try and get this out anytime before tomorrow evening. Our mission for the rest of the afternoon/evening is to relax. Each of the huts at the Desert Quiver has a grill, and they had a sheet where we could order various foods to grill ourselves. We put in an order for some bread, potatoes, tomatoes, and some steaks, so it should be a nice evening in with some home style cooking.
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