Travels To, Through and From the Dunes

     This weekend we had the opportunity to embark on another adventure to Zebra River Lodge. Being that Peter and Elkie are the same owners of our hotel here in Windhoek as this lodge, they invited us down for the weekend. The ride down was longer than expected, and there were a couple hiccups along the way.

     To get started, we did not know that Shantel, a free lance tour guide, was coming down with us OR that the back seat was going to be folded up in one of the vehicles. That being said, I took the floor in between the middle seats in one vehicle and Jessica took it in the other. We also had another fun guest--Dinky toy. Dinky toy was Shantel's bird who had been found with a broken wing after a storm a little over a year ago. The whole drive, Dinky toy was on Shantel's shoulder, and sometimes on Paula's hand. Dinky was fed popcorn, sandwiches, etc and drank from Shantel's lip. It made for an interesting drive for half of our group.

     After a few hours, it became very hot and the sun was definitely beating down. AC didn't help much, so we used Kari's handy, dandy pink scarf to give us some shade. We then hit hiccup number 2--a flat tire. It took some time to figure out where the tire was, how to get it down, and how to jack up the car, so we all wandered the un-busy straight and soaked up some rays. It became very hot, however, and we loved it when quick shade would travel over us, thanks to the clouds. Eventually, Helen and Shantel figured out the tire situation and we were on the road again.
 
     After a couple bathroom stops, we were almost done with the tar road part of the trip and onto the last 100 km leg of dirt and gravel. However, we then had another surprise--another rider. That being said, Janelle squeezed into a seat with Paula and we were off, now with our lovely cook Maggie with us, too. On this ride the floor started becoming very hot as the engine had been going for a long time and the sun was beating down. That aside, I also was slightly numb from the squished position and getting tossed around by the bumps on the now dirt road. Jan was behind me and allowed me to sit on the edge of her seat for a while. Peter then met us with his Land Rover and Paula, Janelle and I hopped vehicles. It was FABULOUS. All in all, it was definitely a road trip to remember.
 
     On arrival at Zebra River Lodge, I was in awe at the beauty. All around us were hills of layers upon layers of rock and greenery. I felt like I was driving onto a movie set that couldn't possibly be real. We drove about 8 km into the property, which is a total of 125 sq km. We then arrived at our new paradise--the lodge. It was gorgeous. We were met with some amazing salad and hot, fresh bread before heading to our rooms. After a bit, we walked around enjoying the beatuiful scenery and went for quick swim.

     Peter then offered to take us for a 'sun-downer', for which we drove up on top of one of the hills and overlooked the property. As we watched the sun go down, it began to ran. We decided to embrace this and continued to take pictures and run around as it poored around us all while the sun went down. We then had an amazing dinner consisting of lamb stew, brown rice and green beans. It was phenomenal. Our rooms, however, did not have air conditioning so they were quite muggy and warm. It took us a long time to get to sleep, and we woke up on several occassions due to the bugs. Bri's room had a gecko in it, which she originally thought was a wall decoration. She then blew on it, followed by an immediate scream as it scurried away.

     The next morning we woke up bright and early for our trip to the DUNES! After our 5:30am breakfast, we headed out for our adventure. Peter wanted to take some of the lodge staff that had never had the chance to go to the dunes before, so we took a 3rd vehicle, and who was our driver? Paula. She was quite excited, however the eventual 4-wheel driving on the sand made us all a little bit nervous.

     The drive there was just as beautiful as the lodge. With various mountains, all if which had 'stripes' of various layers of rocks, the landscape was unbelievable. We eventually entered the park and the Namib desert, so we made a quick stop for Shantel to explain to us some of the history of the dunes. She talked about the red sand being caused from the high amount of iron and the rusting that is caused by the intense sun. She also discussed the fact that the dunes get oranger and browner the closer you get to the coast. The sand is also very clean, as she showed us by rubbing wet sand on her sleeve and it not leaving a mark. We found a couple desert animals, blind golden mole, shovelnosed lizard, desert ants, etc, then were off once more. We had already spotted some ostriches, oryxs, and more on the way there.

     As we began to drive through the park, the dunes were on both sides of us. With the beautiful sun, a few clouds, blue sky, and red/orange sand, it was unlike anything I have ever seen before. I loved watching the lines that the crests of the sand dunes made and the various heights and shapes of each as they twisted, turned, and melted into each other. We then stopped at Dune 45 for some lunch. With a 'friend' sitting above us (see picture below), we chowed down then hiked up the dune. It was much hotter, and much higher than expected. Many of us began by sprinting up for the first bit, which ended up being a horrible idea. Not only were we winded, but someone also got sick. However, we were all troopers and pushed on to the top. The view was AMAZING and undescribable. We all sat at the top for a while and just overlooked the area. The sun was hot, we were all sweaty, but it was so worth it. Then run down the side was also exciting, despite our shoes quickly becoming filled with sand.

     We then headed down to the 'big dunes'. The largest two were titled "Big Mama" and "Big Daddy". Big Daddy is 360 meters high and was a beast to look at. But I can't get ahead of myself...lets go back to the drive to get there. The tar ended, and sand lay before us. Paula put the car into 4 wheel drive and got a quick lesson from Peter before hitting the sand. Then the adventure began. With much screaming, a lot of sliding, and Shantel's vehicle needing a push from its riders, they got through the sand. Our entire ride we were all holding onto to each other and handles, and were also screaming. However, due to the fact that this was Paula's first time driving on the sand, we screamed words of encouragement and tried to stay as calm as possible when trees were too close for comfort. Eventually, we got to our destination, and the huge dunes were before us.

     After a quick mini hike up a little bit of Big Mama to overlook the pan, we headed over to Big Daddy. There, could hike over to see Big Daddy in all of his glory where dead trees were standing at the base. The trees have been dead for hundreds of years, however the wood is too hard for the termites and there is not enough moisture to rot them, so they are just standing there. It was a 2 mile hike there and back in the heat, but totally worth it. We got some great pictures, and by the time we were done, were completely exhausted. We were excited for the AC of the cars and the pool waiting for us back at the lodge.

     Back at the lodge, we took a quick dip then relaxed before dinner. We had kudu for dinner, which was amazing, and some great brownies for dessert. Afterwards, we all sat and chatted for a while and Bri did my hair how she use to do hers as an inner-city middle schooler. This was followed up by both Jan and Paula also getting theirs done. Bri has the pictures, but I will try to post them soon. It was pretty epic.

     We then all went to our porch to gaze up at the amazing stars. The milky way was directly above us and was breath-taking. If only my camera could have captured the magnificent view we had. As we all looked up together, we chatted, laughed, and talked about the trip so far. It is hard to believe that we have our trip is already almost half way over, but we are all excited for what is still to come.

     The next morning, we slept in some and then sat on our porch once more drinking coffee and chatting. We then embarked on another adventure--our trip home. Paula drove as Shantel was staying at the lodge, which meant another great ride for me in the back seat. We ran into a minor problem about 45 minutes into our journey--a river had formed. There had been two quick downpours the night before which apparently created the water now flowing before us. Jan waded out to see how deep and discovered although the water was only 5 inches or so at the deepest points, the thick mud was going to be hard to cross. Paula faced it head on. She faced the water and mud and did a GREAT job! There was a lot of screaming, many videos taken (one can be seen below), and some scary moments, but she was a champ. We then ran into another problem a half kilometer up the road....another river had formed. This one had a lot more rocks and the edge of the road on the other side had fallen in. That being said, we had to go back. We had to, once more, cross the mud and water. Paula once again did a great job as she was fearless and powered through the mud. I must say, that between the sand, the water, the mud and the crazy bumps along the unpaved road all the way home, I have a new-found respect for this woman.

     The rest of the ride home was once again gorgeous. We enjoyed each other's company, and the ride home was much quicker than the ride there. We passed several babboon families along the way and had a huge lizard in the road as well. We are all now back at Casa relaxing, enjoying the weather, and preparing for school tomorrow. Before Jan, Paula and Katie leave us on Thursday, there is much we still have to do this week.

The pictures below are out of order, and due to my lack of patience at the moment, they will stay that way. Sorry! They will all have captions though!

Katie and me, hanging out while the tire gets fixed

Amazing Rocks!

So beautiful

Lizard crossing

Jan checking out the 'river' for us

Flat tire :(

Hanging out while in the sunshine

Crazy Cricket at the lodge

One of the many FABULOUS views at Zebra River Lodge

Our table for the Sun-downer

Jill and I on our walk around the lodge

Amazing view at the Sun-downer

Doulbe rainbow after our Sun-downer rainstorm

view when sitting on the edge

Shovelnosed lizard

Ostriches at the dunes

Dunes!

Oryx

The light path from the top is where we ran down

Dune 45--you can see where we ran down again

my lunch 'friend'

Dune 45 and our lunch shade

pushing in the sand

Katie, Janelle and Me with Big Daddy in the backround

Big Mama in the distance

Group at the Sundowner

Some of the Group at the Dunes

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eznoMm8fJaQ

Watch the link...Paula is a Stud. Enough said.

Check it out from Kari's perspective. Pretty epic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lfbMPXSTJk&feature=player_embedded

Hanging out at the top of Dune 45

View from the top of Dune 45!