Shifting gears-Sesriem to the Cape of Good Hope

The last week of our sojourn through Africa was a frantic drive through Namibia to its massive sand dunes, the town of Luderitz and Fish River Canyon and, with a last minute change of plans, to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

Our drive to the sand dunes of Namibia was another bouncy dusty ride over endless washboard and rock strewn gravel roads. The difference this time... we were out of the flat nearly featureless plains of the Namib desert and into scenery much like the American southwest with flat topped or conical pointed buttes layered with multi colored sedimentary rock. The valleys were a riot of color with an other worldly greenish yellow grain that gave way to low lying shrubs with vibrant magenta, yellow and purple flowers providing a garish counterpoint to the red and beige tones of the buttes.

After six hours of pounding we arrived at Sesriem which is located in the Ai-Ais National Park. We quickly pitched our tent and rushed off to catch the sunset from atop Elim Dune a few klics away. As the sun was setting in the west we arrived at the 300' high dune. The sand was the color of rust and as fine as could be. We kicked our shoes off and scrambled to the top to catch the sun dropping below the horizon. A brisk wind inspired me to draw the genie from out of the its bottle. (See picture below)

Next morning we arose well before dawn to drive to Sossusvlei which is the "must see" dune in the park rising to over 600 feet. Our car was only allowed within 3 miles of the dune as the final approach was through deep sandy washes. Shuttles were available for a price but we opted to walk in the pre-dawn coolness and experience the desert and shifting early morning light on the dunes at a slower pace.

Actual picture of a dune

The tranquility was a nice contrast to our usual brain pounding drives through the desert. We arrived at the dune just as the sun rose and hiked up the ridge line to the summit to enjoy the seemingly limitless vista of the dunes around us.

Deb and I atop Sossusvlei

After enjoying the rest of the park which included several other dunes and a small slot canyon we headed out the next day to the town of Luderitz over, you guessed it, miles and miles of brain pounding, back breaking, lung choking, dirt and gravel roads.




We arrived in the late afternoon delayed by a blowout of a tire which we had to change in the howling winds that sweep this part of Namibia. Again, dusty and dirty we rolled into town and found a beautiful little guest house to rest our weary bodies for the night. While Deb shopped this bastion of German culture, I went to the local tire shop to try to replace our shredded tire. Of course none was available as the car was so new (at least prior to our abuse) that only a few manufacturers even made the tire. Through the heroic efforts of Elizabeth, manager of Tren Tyre, she located one in Windhoek and browbeat Hertz into picking it up and overnighting it to us via Nampost.

Luderitz

We spent an interesting night in Luderitz safe from the howling winds of this mecca of world speed record kite boarding in the congenial atmosphere of a german beer haus munching on excellent hake and downing Winhoek draft beer. We met a gent who was in process of biking and rowing his way around the world.

Erten and his boat

Next day as promised our tire was there and installed on the car and we were on our way after stopping at the harbor to see Erten's boat. If you are interested check out his web site at www.around-n-over.org.

Once again we were on a gravel road in a race against our rapidly diminishing time in Africa to Fish River Canyon. After our usual six hour drive on the gravel roads of southern Namibia, we arrived at the canyon for sunset. Unfortunately, the dust laden air caused by high winds coupled with the low light of the setting sun in our face obscured our view of the canyon. We resolved to return the next morning for a hopefully better view.

Deb on the edge of Fish River Canyon

The next morning we did return to find a crystal clear view of a colorful wild canyon cut by a serpentine river visible 1500 feet below. While not nearly as spectacular as the Grand Canyon, it was truly an awesome spectacle well worth the trip.

We took off from the Fish and went through more awesome desert scenery to Ai Ais hot springs 100 klics away for a quick look and dip in the springs before heading towards our final destination; Johannesburg. We drove into the canyon at AiAis through a twisty windy slot canyon which opened into a Shangri-la of towering green trees flanked by even higher canyon walls. A large blue pool fed by the hot springs was the center of the camp resort. We quickly stripped to our bathing suits and eased into the body temperature water. While there, Deb struck up a conversation with two women from Jo'berg who strongly advised us to skip Jo'berg and just go to Cape Town, drop our rental car there and fly to Jo'berg. After talking at length with them Deb flagged me from the edge of the pool and convinced meto take their advice and drive to Cape Town. By this time we had whiled away most of the day and decided to spend the night and hit the road early the next morning. We spent the rest of the afternoon climbing a nearby peak and walking along the sandy banks of the Fish river.

Climbing above Ai Ais

Fish River

The next day we were out early for what turned out to be the most scenic drive of our whole trip through Africa. The desert buttes soon gave way to the soaring peaks of South Africa's Cederberg Mountains which flanked the lush green valleys of the wine country region. We drove for miles through the rolling vineyards interspersed with fragrant blooming lemon trees and as the day wound down, camped in the town of Citrusval. We rose early the next morning, gave a quick bucket wash and wipe down to our incredibly filthy little Picanto and climbed the pass out of the Cederbergs and within a few hours dropped into Cape Town. After a quick drive through Cape Town to Table Mountain for a scenic overlook we were off to the Cape of Good Hope via an incredibly scenic coast road that reminded us of the Amalfi and Dalmatian Coasts. Along the way we stopped to see the South African Jackass penguins that breed on South Africa's rocky shores.







We arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in the late afternoon to a blustery and sunny seascape, literally at the end of the world. This provided the counterpoint to our voyage to Cape Horn a few years ago.

At the end of the earth

It was now late afternoon and we reluctantly left this beautiful cape and headed off into the night to find a place to lay our weary heads prior to our flight back to the good old US of A the next day.

The interior of this car is black