Sossusvlei and the Namib Naukluft National Park
Transport
A 4WD vehicle with with air conditioning took me and another guest from our accomodations to the Namib Naukluft Lodge, through fascinating landscapes
For excursions, a completely closed jeep.
Sleep
Namib Naukluft Lodge, the price was included in the comprehensive cost of the tour (8425 NAD), but I believe a single room costs 1175 NAD in a bed and breakfast accommodation. Lovely location in the desert, one hour drive from Sossusvlei
The shape of the structure is so that from every room one cannot see the next door, so if your neighbors are quiet, you get the impression of having the desert all for yourself.
Built with local materials, wood and stone
Eat
I always ate my meals at the Namib Naukluft Lodge. Upon 3 nights, 2 times we had a buffet dinner (first stews, then grill), and last one served at the table. Breakfast buffet. Snacks provided at mid-morning and afternoon.
Treavel organization
Contrary to Etosha, the DIY idea did not even pass close to my mind, given the costs of the lodge and the alleged condition of the roads, which actually turned out to be then less worse than thought. Since the Wild Dogs Safaris timing departures forced me to spend some time in Windhoek, I opted for a tour company, African Extravanga, recommended on Tripadvisor, which has daily departures. They are the so-called Sossusvlei Shuttle inventors. This way, I could spend one more night at the lodge, obtaining the annulment of the single supplement, and participating in optional excursions, the Zebra Trail,
and then in the afternoon the moringa trees forest trip
and another sunset pic nic
observing other wildlife, oryx and hares
Impressions
Beautiful landscapes. Unfortunately I have not been able to fully enjoy them, and not in the way that I wanted. I don’t want to complain about the tour operator, which has no guilt, I simply think I’m not suited to this type of excursions. I felt that the visit to the extraordinary beauty of the desert was not the purpose of the trip, but a filler between one meal and the other one, as if the only interest of the guide was to attend as quickly as possible the nuisance of the trip to the dunes just to take us back for lunch, something that I would have done without. They could had arranged a packed meal. Summary : we left at 4.30 from the lodge, we entered the Sossusvlei Park at least half an hour late because the rangers did not open the gates, (at least we have admired the dawn, unfortunately not from the dunes) instead of going immediately to the Dune 45, the guide entertained us unnecessarily, (since this could be done also later) for a while in a place just after the entrance, to give us generic infos about the desert.
We arrived at the Dune 45 when my former Wild Dogs fellows, which I re-embraced joyfully, were already back from the climibing, and were having their breakfast in front of a priceless view.
I was given one hour to climb the dune, which is crazy, because it was not enough to follow the ridge longitudinally. At about halfway I had to go down, not to be late.
We left fast, then parked our van in the designed area, and walked with the guide for the 1 km sandy path which took us to Deadvlei. When we were informed that the available time was 20 minutes I felt discouraged, because here I could see other dunes to explore. I took about ten minutes more to shot some more pictures, but I still felt too constrainted.
At around 11.00 we reached a picnic area and consumed a breakfast box, flasks with hot tea and coffeee, fresh juices, bread, jams, a lot of things. Then a visit to the canyon of Sestriem, again, twenty minutes. Nice, not that great, because the path is very very limited.
We came back at 14.00 to sit at the table and find a cold lunch (which we could eat at the picnic area), and do shit up to 16.30, when we left for a tour to see the sunset from the Naukluft Mountains top. Ok, fine, but we could stay all day on the dunes !!
I felt so stupid for not having thought to get informed about the first day schedule. If I think one of the reasons I decided to come to Namibia was this place, well, I’m really disappointed. And the sad thing is that all the organized trips were following the same schedule.
It’s not my problem in particular, but I want to report it. Although one of my travel fellows had warned of being vegetarian, actually his food request was not highly respected. I’m not saying that they should prepare tofu, seitan, soy meatballs and who knows what, but honestly rice and vegetables, for what he paid, seems a bit too little … at least lentils, or beans, or a nice pasta … unfortunately everybody here seems to eat only and only meat, very good, for goodness sake, but vegetarians have really hard life …
In conclusion: the Namib Desert is fabulous, but GO BY YOURSELF !!!
I don’t want to be cynical, but I had the impression that the guide, patently overweight, was more interested in gorging all the things we left during picnics, and to return as quickly as possible to the restaurant, rather than driving us around.
The Zebra Trail, on the Naukluft Mountains, on the land which belongs to the Lodge property, so off limits to non-guests, was very interesting, although the mountain zebras, jumping like chamois, are very secretive. Unfortunately, however, very short, about 4 km. We left at 7.00 and we came back at 10.00, and then again nothing to do (except, of course, eating) up to 14.30, time of departure for the excursion to the Moringa Forest, always on the property of the Lodge, with its sighting of some animal. I wanted to walk much much more 🙁