Erika and I had had enough of the early waking up, it turned out. So when Brennan and Sarah suggested getting up early the next day to go out to Dune 45, we encouraged them to go without us. We got to sleep in a sweet extra hour! When we woke up, we decided, you know what, we don’t feel like making breakfast this morning, so we went to get breakfast at the cafe at the campsite. Breakfast was… well…
After the stunning experience of the dunes the day before, we were hungry for some more time outdoors. We’d each found a hike in our guidebooks that was “nearby” Sesriem, so that made an easy decision. For day 6, let’s go hiking! Day 6 “Nearby” is something I hadn’t fully calibrated to Namibia yet. Sure, the trail-head was only 90 kilometers away, but it still hadn’t sunk in yet just how long that takes on Namibian dirt roads. Over 2…
Our start came early again, as usual. Fortunately, Erika and I were sleeping well in the tent now. Exhaustion helps with that. We were even better at getting camp packed up this time, and were easily able to hit our planned 8am departure time. We had a date with the dunes, and Erika, especially, was excited. The dunes were all I really knew about Namibia before this trip, and that’s because Erika has long wanted to come see them. It’s…
Wiping all the dirt off (literal and metaphorical) that we felt like we’d picked up in Kolmanskop, we were back in the cars. We took back to the B4 and headed east, retracing the path we’d taken last night, back toward the town of Aus. From Aus, we’d say goodbye to paved roads and start heading north. Day 4 Day 4 was, thankfully, considerably less driving than we’d done the first two driving days. But, as I mentioned above, it…
We’ll never really know if the apfel strudel woman was right with what she said about Lüderitz, as we never really saw it. We got in after dark, and the next morning we were up early and back on the road, with no time to spend in Lüderitz itself. It seemed cute enough. Though as we saw now driving out in the daylight: the surrounding area is harsh, ugly desert. Sands routinely blow across the roadway and obscure the road….
Namibia is a big country, it turns out. And, we saw an awful lot of it thru the windows of our cars. No more so than on day 3 of the trip, a day we spent almost the entirety of in the car. Most of it on low-quality dirt roads. Day 3 After fueling up in Keetmanshoop, we got back on the B1 heading south, before switching to the B4 west, another of the few paved roads in Namibia. Day…
Our “relaxing” time back home was anything but. It was, maybe, the most stressful time we’d had all year. We had just under two weeks before leaving for Namibia, which we were looking forward to using to reload and recharge. But in the days leading up to leaving Mexico, our to-do list grew and grew. We had to buy new toiletries and supplies for Phase 2, and get my phone fixed, and fully catch up on laundry, and actually book…
