Two Girls From Texas in a Car: AFRICA NAMIBIA - HEADED IN TO THE DESERT - SOSSUSVLEI & SWAKOPMUND

NAMIB DESERT

("a bare plain" in the Nama language)

Flying from Windhoek to Sossusvlei

The only true desert in Africa south of the equator, the Namib lies largely within Namibia, along the south-eastern shore of the Atlantic Ocean. With a coastline of over 1,000 miles the Namib occupies the western margin of the country in its entirety, from the Ocean to the Great Escarpment.

The coastal plain on which the Namib lies was formed 60-75 million years ago as deep erosion cut into the escarpment and drove debris towards the ocean. Arid on the whole for the past 15 million years, the Namib is a desert on top of a desert , with petrified dunes buried beneath active sands.

As such it is widely held to be the oldest desert on earth.

The sand consists of quartz grains mixed in a ratio of 9:1 with heavy minerals like garnet, ilmenite and magetite as well as a little mica. The colours darken from pale buff in the west to deep red in the east as the iron-oxide content of the sand increases.

The strength and direction of desert winds and the amout of sand available determine the shape and size of dunes.

Shrub - coppice dunes, usually only a metre or two high, are common near the sea. They form around a bush or clump of grass.

Other than the dunes tied to vegetation, all dunes are mobile to some extent. They are crescent-shaped Barchans in fact are popularly called "wandering dunes". They grow to a geight of about 90 feet where strong winds blow mainly from one direction on parts of the coast with relatively little sand.

Star dunes dominate the inland margin of the sand sea. They are named for their shape as seen from above, a lot of sharp ridges winding outward and downward from a central crest.

SOSSUSVLEI

My room at the lodge.....

Sabina showed me to my room......

Sossusvlei is a clay pan set amid monstrous piles of sand known as star dunes that reach the height of a 60 story skyscraper and rank among the tallest dunes on earth. The dunes in tthe vicinity of Sossusvlei rise as high as 700 feet.

The Namib straddles the Tropic of Capricorn, but its seas are uncommonly cold, as polar water flows offshore in the Benguela Current. The climate of the coastal desert is quite different from that of the rest of the country. It is frequently blanketed in fog. On 146 days of the year fog reduces visibility on the ground to 3,000 feet or less. It tends to be thickest early in the day and gradually clears as the sun climbs higher.

The watering hole in front of my room.

A quiver tree.....

Dining in the "rough"

Climbing "Big Daddy"

The Camel Bird -

The ostrich looks unlike any other bird in Africa...resembles a camel....tall stature, hump-like back,long neck, powerful thighs and big feet. The only bird with two toes on each foot instead of four. Above all, the ostrich is adapted, like the camel, to withstand desert conditions. In common with other birds in the Namib, the ostrich also requlates its body temperaturethrough specialized behaviour, so as to conserve body moisture.

A scorpion friend on the walk back to the room!!

THE SKELETON COAST

For centuries after small ships under sail first tacked so far into southern latitudes, Europen seafarers dreaded the thick fogs, stong winds and treacherous shoals they encountered off the coast. In time it came to be know as the Skelton Coast, so named for the shipwrecks that lay along it.

FLYING OVER THE SKELETON COAST

Preparing for a new sport which is called SAND BOARDING.......

My friend Steve showing me how easy it's going to be climbing up the huge dune, and lying on the board and "flying down"SO......I made it to the top of the dune......and how fun sliding down!!

Even our friend Zack said ...do I have to go all the way to the top to come down???

Ann had a lunch prepared for us after our exhausting climb, and exhilarating ride down......

The Walvis Bay

lagoon is recognised under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland of international importance. It holds 150,000 birds in summer.

Fabulous fresh oysters in Walvis Bay

During winter there are 90% of all of the flamingos in Southern Africa. There are two types of flamingos here - the Lesser Flamingo - is a vegetarian

; the Greater Flamingo is a meat eater.

SWAKOPMUND

This town is exposed to both the Atlantic and the Namib. It is a town with an air of enchantment. The ornate old German buildings that back up to the seacoast surrounded by the dunes of the Namib.