Namibia - Twyfelfontein

 From Swakopmund, we travelled north to Twyfelfontein, which has Nambia's first UNESCO World Heritage site.  I think it may be helpful at this point to share a map of our journey.

We drove along the coast for a bit before turning inland at Henties Bay.  This shipwreck of the fishing trawler Zeila (m 2008) and the ocean provided a photo break before we continued inland through the desert.   

The flat barren landscape along the way changed to red rocks as we approached Twyfelfontein.  Someone commented that the red boulders look like the ones at Joshua Tree National Park in California, another place I would like to visit.  

We arrived at the lodge during the golden hour and the colour of the rocks were almost surreal.

We were welcomed by a pair of Namib Rock agamas - the male with the bright red head and tail and the female in more subtle colours.

 

Armoured ground cricket

African-red-eyed bulbul - first of many lifers on this trip

Namib Day gecko

We had our first game drive in the morning.  It was a long trek down a dried up river bed looking for recent footprints and signs of the elephants.  What a pleasant surprise to see one finally strolling towards us.  It was our first elephant sighting in Africa!  

First giraffe sighting

Then along came a bull in heat - the guide quickly backed off and drove away from the river bed.  

There are often circular bare patches on the grassland - nothing grew there and research has been done to try and find out why.  These are known as "fairy circles" - most prevalent in the Namib desert.  

This is the seedpod from the white acacia tree, also known as apple-ring Acacia - one of the he elephants' favourite foods.

We visited the Damara Living Museum - a community project to provide a cultural experience of the Damara people, the oldest ethnic group in Namibia.  We were warmly welcomed by the community with song and dance and demonstrations of their native arts, crafts and medicine.  Their friendliness was heartwarming.

The Museum entrance

Welcome song and dance - a joyful crowd

Before we head to Etosha National Park the following morning, we visited the UNESCO heritage site and did a short hike to see the petroglyphs.  This is a view of the surrounding red rock cliffs from the trail.  I would not call it an easy hike because there is some clambering up and down rocks at some point, but it is doable for the majority of our group because it is thankfully short and there were interesting petroglyphs along the trail.

Lion Man rock - represented by the lion with a man's foot at the end of its tail.

This is supposed to be a water map, showing where water can be found

Giraffes with four heads are supposed to indicate movement

We also stopped by the Petrified Forest National Park just before Khorixas - it has some very large fossilized tree trunks some said to be 280 million years old.  The photo below shows one of the largest pieces.  The park also has some excellent examples of the Namibia national flower, the Welwitschia mirabilis, known to be one of the longest living plants in the world.  

Welwitschia mirabilis female

Welwitschia mirabilis male - The plant has only two leaves that grow out of a large woody stem, known as a crown, and continue to grow throughout the plant's life. Welwitschia is one of the longest-living plants on Earth, with some individuals being thousands of years old. (Wikipaedia)

This lark-like bunting was singing atop a bush

We arrived at the lodge just outside of Etosha National Park just in time for sunset.

Namibia - Swakopmund

 From Sossusvlei, it was another 5-6 hour drive to get to the coast, still mostly on gravel roads.  We had by then gotten more or less used to the bumpy rides or developed our own coping techniques (neck pillow is a must!).  More than admirable is our valiant driver who did it singlehandedly (metaphorical expression only ;-) - believe me he was gripping the wheel tightly with both hands all the time!  And he probably would have an even harder time without the conscientious and white-knuckled co-pilot and navigator - it couldn't have been much fun to be in the front seat but have no control over the vehicle other than yelling out reminders to KEEP RIGHT and "watch out", and feeding the driver at appropriate intervals.  We all heaved a sigh of relief when we saw the huge sand dunes and the beginning of the paved road in the last 100 km before Swakopmund.  

There were some interesting stops along the way, including one at the Tropic of Capricorn and another one where we could see the overlapping meandering valleys of the Kuiseb River through the Kuiseb Canyon. 

Swakopmund reminded me of a California beach town from the palm trees down to the long pier sticking out into the ocean.  We had a great time at the dunes starting in the morning with a Living Desert tour where the guides dug up all kinds of desert creatures which we would never have seen on our own.  In the afternoon we had our sand dune adventure including wild roller coaster rides up and down the dunes, something I had not anticipated but there were lots of photo ops so I stopped complaining.  The Sandwich Harbour dunes are supposed to be some of the largest dunes in the world and are truly spectacular.  

We feasted on different kinds of local catches during our two night stay in town, with the kabeljou and kingklip being the most memorable among the available fishes.  The Atlantic sunsets were gorgeous on both days as we hung out on the long pier to catch the last light.  Swakopmund was an unexpected pleasure.

Swakopmund - Sandwich Harbour Dunes

Passing through the Tropic of Capricorn on the way to Swakopmund.  At approximately latitude 23.5 degrees south, the Tropic of Capricorn marks the southernmost point where the sun can appear directly overhead at noon, which occurs during the December solstice. This makes it an important geographical line and a key feature of the Earth's tropical zone. 

Quiver Trees along the way

Hard enough in a 4x4 - can't imagine how tough it is for this brave biker

This is a particularly tough stretch going down a winding incline on slippery gravel

Uplifting of sedimentary rock layers

We drove through the Namib-Naukluft Park passing by the Kuiseb Canyon with it's almost interlocking sides along the Kuiseb River.  The Canyon forms a natural boundary between the Namib dunes and the rocky desert.  

Kuiseb Canyon

We arrived in Swakopmund in time for dinner and our first Atlantic sunset.

We even stayed for the blue hour

Living desert tour in the Dorob National Park was the beginning of a day in the sand dunes although the ones in Swakopmund are smaller than the ones in Sandwich Harbour






Desert creatures exposed!


Sidewinding adder emerging from the sand

                                                The perky Palmato gecko also known as Namib web-footed gecko

                                      Caterpillar

Namaqua Chamaleon

Cape Cormorants - generally smaller than the ones in the Americas

Pink waters - the result of algae in the salt pans in Walvis Bay

Then came the Sandwich Harbour dunes - some of the largest in the world.  I couldn't have enough of the dunes so you will see here more photos than you need to get an idea of how overwhelming they are!

The amazing view where the sand dunes meet the ocean 

This is how steep the descent was!

This is an old railway track that used to run across the desert

We got back to Swakopmund in time for sunset, moon rise and more seafood!

Moonrise as the sun set

Sunset over the Atlantic