A Weekend Adventure in Fish River Canyon and Sossusvlei

So to celebrate Easter in style we decided to take a trip to the south to see Fish River Canyon and Sossusvlei and the world famous dunes and mountains there. We hopped in a van we rented from CGE, or more like squeezed as it was very tight.

The drive down was very long, but so beautiful. We saw mountains and rock outcroppings that brought me to a reflective state. It was so beautiful and amazing, it makes it hard for me to believe, writing now, that we will have to leave this incredible country. We also got to watch the sunset in this beautiful natural setting. Unfortunately this also meant night driving, which I came to find out it one of the most dangerous things a traveler can do in Africa.

In the south it is completely pitch black dark. Because of this the night obviously brings with it cooler temperatures. With these lower temperatures comes animals. They are not active during the day because it is too hot. Days in southern Namibia are very hot so the animals wait until night to come out. We hit and killed an impala! The van managed to be fine, with no damage. We saw a lot of animals. The scariest was a gemsbok. To hit a gemsbok would mean certain death for those sitting up front. It was very scary. Somehow though, we managed to make it safely to Ai-Aii. This campsite and national park was pretty nice, with a bar and restaurant, and taps to fill up on water.

The next morning we headed out for Fish River Canyon. Once we arrived we got to see the depth and breadth of this amazing canyon! It is the second largest canyon in the world! There was a small amount of water at the bottom! It was so beautiful!

Then we were off again for another long day in the van and a dangerous bout of night-driving. We arrived in one piece, without having hit any animals! We camped outside the national park that held Dune 45 and other dunes. In the morning we got up and headed for Dune 45. This dune was amazing! I absolutely loved it! It differed from Dune 7 in that the sand was ed and there were many more dunes and mountains surrounding the area. We climbed it in the morning and celebrated Easter atop a famous Namibian dune!

We got back into the van and drove home! Although there had been many challenges to our long weekend it ended up being one that was well worth the trouble. The sheer beauty this country encompasses never ceases to amaze me.