{"id":9556,"date":"2025-06-14T20:53:30","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T20:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/traveltales.ahot.online\/?p=9556"},"modified":"2025-06-14T21:08:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T21:08:20","slug":"naf-namibia-en","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveltales.ahot.online\/index.php\/2025\/06\/14\/naf-namibia-en\/","title":{"rendered":"Namibia"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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10.6. \u2013 14.6.2025<\/p>

On Tuesday morning, we got up again just after six and packed up the tents. We enjoyed breakfast at 7:00 a.m. and an hour later we set off to continue our journey. We had another day of driving ahead of us, as our next destination was about 400 km away. Nothing particularly noteworthy happened during the trip. We stopped once, much to Ronja’s horror, for a toilet break in the bushes, and made another stop at a Spar supermarket in the town of Mariental. There, Stanley replenished our food supplies and we travelers bought snacks for the long drive. Until then, we had mostly driven on fairly flat asphalt roads. Now, however, we were moving onto a bumpier sandy road. As our other guide, Taku, said, \u201cNow it’s going to be dusty, dusty, bumpy, bumpy, stony, stony, bushy, bushy.\u201d (Bush referring to the only toilet option available on certain stretches of the road.)<\/p>

We drove along the sandy road for about an hour until we stopped in a small village to refuel and have lunch. While we were eating, a group of local men and women came to perform African songs for us. Naturally, this performance was not entirely free of charge, as the performers hoped for a small donation after their performance. Of course, we were happy to give them something. Risto wasn’t very interested in African songs, as he had spotted a dog, which he immediately went to pet. The dog was very shy and wouldn’t let anyone else pet it except Risto. Risto just has a phenomenal connection with dogs!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Early in the morning, it can get quite cold in the back of a truck.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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At first, the road was flat and straight.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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These locals had come on three donkeys to fetch bread and sugar from their farms 50 km away.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Risto and his canine friend<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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This was Marko's friend.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The locals came to check us out.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A group of dancers and musicians performed for us.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The roads are still straight, but they're definitely not flat anymore. Bumpy, bumpy, especially in the back seat.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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In the evening, we arrived at Hammerstein Lodge in the Namib Desert. We decided to get rooms for ourselves, as the temperature was expected to drop below freezing during the following nights. Risto was a little disappointed by this information, as he had wanted to camp despite the cool weather. We got two double rooms, but when we went to the room intended for the children, someone had already settled in there. The staff was puzzled by the situation, as according to their records, no one was supposed to be in that room. We probably checked all the double rooms that were supposed to be available, but they all had other people’s belongings in them. In the end, Risto got lucky, because we ended up taking the only double room that was actually available, plus a single room for the children. Risto got to sleep on the floor on camping mattresses. Ronja was completely confused, and I think a few swear words were uttered when she asked, \u201cWhy do we always have some kind of problem?!\u201d Risto, on the other hand, was happy when he got to sleep in a sleeping bag after all. And best of all, three camping mattresses were brought to his room from the truck. In the end, Risto slept like a real princess in a fairy tale on top of a thick pile of mattresses. The camping mattresses provided by Nomad are 5 cm thick and really soft. We normally sleep in tents with two mattresses each, so even there, any lumps or small stones on the ground won’t disturb our sleep too much.<\/p>

On Wednesday, we had our earliest wake-up call so far. The alarm went off at 5:20 a.m. so that we could get to the sand dunes in Sossusvlei Nature Reserve on time. The drive from the campsite to the park gate took about an hour, and we tried to get there by sunrise. We were almost the first in line at the gate, so we were able to quickly continue our journey towards dune number 45. The dune gets its name from the fact that it is about 45 km from the park gate. This dune in the Namib Desert is apparently the most famous of the dunes in the area and is visited by many people every day. Although it was a windy day, we climbed to the top of the dune anyway. Although the dune is only 170 meters high, it was really hard to climb up its ridge in the soft sand. Risto was the first of us to reach the top, Marko arrived right after him, and Jaana and Ronja summited a bit later. This probably says a lot about the fitness levels of each of us. However, I should mention that almost half of the group didn’t even attempt to climb the dune or only climbed part of the way.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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On the way to the dunes, we spotted a herd of Oryx antelopes.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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There it is, Dune 45.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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It was worth climbing the dune along the windward ridge. The sand there was a little more compacted than on the other side of the ridge.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Ronja took a break halfway up the dune.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Summit!<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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However, climbing to the top was worth it, as the views were magnificent! We admired the scenery for a while, but then we had to start our descent. Fine sand swirled around us at the top of the dune, getting into our eyes, mouths, and ears. Going down was much easier than climbing up had been. Risto and Ronja decided to try rolling down, so we needed a shower in the evening. At some point during the rolling, Ronja’s hat came off and was caught by the wind. Fortunately, our traveling companions below noticed it and signaled to us in which direction it had gone. Marko managed to run along the slope after the hat so that it didn’t end up completely lost in the Namib Desert.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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