Overland Day 5

Our day began with the giant orange sand dunes of the Namib Desert. That area is perhaps one of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring places on the planet. So big, so clean, so awesome and so plurry hot! Walking over that soft, crumbling and sizzling hot sand was quite uncomfortable but definitely worth it. It is utter beauty on a grand scale. Smooth sweeping and sharply delineated lines of the dune ridges, curving in great arcs up to points as high as 350 metres above the flat desert floor. The view from the top of ‘Dune 45’ was just out of this world. Georgie explored around the base of the dune, electing not to battle the steep climb, and encountered a beautiful – and seldom seen – bustard as well as some interesting lizards and insects.  Both of us felt that it was our new favourite place on the planet – if only it wasn’t so jolly hot!

In the afternoon we were taken to an interesting narrow gorge that had been cut into the hard desert floor millennia ago. Like all of Namibia, the geology was puzzlingly intriguing. The gorge walls held millions of water-worn rounded river stones that were embedded into a porous limestone base. In some sections of this winding channel the hard river stones were sheared off as though cut with a hammer and chisel, or snapped by glacial force. It was wonderfully weird. Goodness me that place is just so fascinating!