The Giant Red Dunes of the Namib Desert

Once we had become experts on Namibia's many species of antelope, we hopped back into our car and drove four hours west to the Namib desert, specifically the area of Sossusvlei. The park is characterized by giant, beautiful red dunes, canyons and dried-up riverbeds/lakes.

There is one lodge located inside the park gates, which allows for access to the dunes both before sunrise and after sunset. These little bungalows looked EXACTLY like the huts in the Maldives, only here they were over the desert rather than the water.

But they were almost equally luxurious for a fraction of the price!

We took advantage of our early access, heading to "Dune 45" our first morning at 4:30 am.

(photo from later in the day, of course!)

Equipped with our headlamps, we were the first ones there and had to blaze our own trail up the ridge of the dune.

This dune is about 100 meters high, but it is a tough climb. The sides are incredibly steep and each step in the soft sand took a great deal of effort. But it was worth it for the private sunrise and beautiful views.

This photo of Al walking along the spine at the very top of the dune is one of Mike's favorites from the entire trip so far (and not just because he took it!):

We took a different path down, checking out the great views as we descended.

After this warm-up, we headed deeper into the park to tackle the dune known as "Big Daddy" - the highest in Namibia and ones of the tallest in the world at over 300 meters.

If you look at the picture closely, you can see some people beginning the hike up, which provides some context as to the size of the dune. But again, the tough ascent was worth it for the views at the top. Our tracks:

Halfway there:

Success!

As you may be able to tell from the fact there are only two shadows in the previous picture, we had the summit all to ourselves, so selfies were again the only option.

And then the best part: the slide back down!

It was extremely steep, but the deep sand helped control your speed. It really did look like a bowl at a ski mountain though.

At the bottom, we visited what is known as "Deadvlei," a dried up lake with many petrified trees still standing after over 900 years.

In the photos from the top of Big Daddy, the large white areas look still look like lakes from above (in fact, they look awfully similar to the Kelimutu crater lakes from Flores), but look like this when you get close:

The eery, dead trees on the white, cracked pan look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book or a Tim Burton movie.

Somehow, the trees are still rooted right into the hardpan.

But the contrast vs. the bright blue sky and deep red dunes was pretty impressive.

To round out our day, we paid a quick visit to Sesriem Canyon, where a river used to flow before it too dried up. You could barely see the huge crack in the ground until you were standing next to it, but to Mike's dismay, it was not in the shape of a crescent moon...

We explored for a bit...once we were able to find our way down. Nothing is marked and there are no guardrails anywhere. Very un-U.S. and we mean that in a good way. By this point it was late in the day and we practically had the entire place to ourselves.

After a few drinks on our porch (which included a ton of water, given how hot and dry it was!)...

...and sunset dinner...

...we were ready to pack up and move on to our next location; however, we would have constant reminders of our time here, as we kept finding sand in our shoes and clothes for the next two weeks! All-in-all, it was a great start to our Namibia trip - three wonderful places that were entirely different from one another. Our fourth and fifth stops, Swakopmund and Erongo, would continue that trend.