Head South: day 9: desert in the rain, naukluft to sesriem (namibia)

We left our beautiful private campsite in the desert to head to one of the most popular sites in Namibia: the sand dunes at Sossussvlei. It was a rainy day, which meant the temperatures were cooler and the grazing animals - oryx, springbok, wildebeest and red hartebeest - were out nearly all day.

After a few stops to take pictures and hang out with oryx and springbok on the side of the road (there are extensive fences along every major road in Namibia, but animals seemed to get past them pretty often), we arrived in Sesriem, the campsite nearest to Sossussvlei. Sesriem is the gateway to a long, narrow valley that transitions from rocky hills and grassland to the start of the amazing sand dunes of the Namib desert. At the end of the valley, 60km down a paved road and another 4km down a sand road, lies Sossussvlei. "Sossuss" means "the place where water gathers" in Nama, the primary local language of this region of Namibia, and "vlei" means "valley" in Afrikaans. So "Sossussvlei" is literally, "valley valley." We didn't make it all the way there on this day, but did climb our first dune (Dune 45, at Kilometer 45 from the campsite) and watched the sunset. This made for a few good pictures, but a harrowing drive back in the dark, racing to beat the gate (which closes an hour after sunset).

One oryx is outside the fence and the others are inside. He held his ground until we got too close, then turned and ran off, then realized he was limited by the fence, and turned and ran back at us. A lot of the oryx we saw did the "bluff" behavior, holding their ground until they realized how big our truck was.

Looking back over the Naukluft Mountains.

Now we're in the park, and the fences are gone. It had finished raining shortly before we headed out on this drive.

We liked this guy :)

The sand dunes are starting just to the right.

We think the springbok had their fur raised in these pictures to try and dry off.

Enjoying water wherever they can find it!

We spotted this hawk on the ground, and watched it take off. Jim managed to get this great shot.

Can you tell what these guys are? There are two little ones on the left, and a pair of ears sticking out of the ground on the right...

The little ones are in trouble now! Getting called back to their den...

Bat-eared fox and pups! The rain must have made them more active than normal. The pups were very curious, and kept nosing out from behind their mom to get a look at us.

Shortly after the female (we assume) called the pups back to the den, this guy (possibly the male) wandered off, we're guessing to distract us. He turned back to check if it was working a few times. Notice the incredible shadows on the sand dune behind him.

The colors were amazing.

Dust clouds swirled even after the rain!

Getting ready to hike Dune 45! It is harder than it looks.

Making a little progress.

Made it to the top! We then decided to keep going, and walked along the ridge you see directly behind Jim, down in elevation a hundred feet or so, and then back up to the higher ridge above him to the left. We were tired when we got there!