May 21, 2017
Hotel: Desert Camp; Sesirem, Namibia; $100
Today the plan was to head into the park to see the dunes, then for the afternoon we had scheduled a helicopter sightseeing flight. There are lots of ways to see the dunes from the air, balloons, flights or helicopter. The helicopter took a max of 3 passengers and they could take the doors off for better views. Woke up at 5AM and went to breakfast at the Lodge about 5:45. Lots of other tourists here this morning, including a group of Americans.
The park gates open at 6:30. We joined to queue only to find ourselves 20-deep in line behind buses and overland vehicles. However the line moved quickly and we already had our permit from Windhoek. It was another gorgeous clear and chilly morning. Sesirem is still a long way to the Deadvlei, nearly 70kms inside the park, following the dry river valley that never makes it to the ocean. The road is paved for all but the last 4 kms. In the distance we could see several balloons setting off. The sand dunes are absolutely massive and line both sides of the road. It took 45 minutes or so to arrive at Dune 45, one of the easier dunes to climb. There was already a huge crowd of vehicles here. Some of the overlanders were setting down for breakfast and there was already a line of people climbing up the side of the 500' dune. I'm pretty out of shape, so Rianda and Daniel left me in the dust (sand). It's pretty tough going, 3 steps forward, 2 back. Even with lots of breaks to catch my breath, it took me only about 35 minutes to reach the top. Then the fun part, getting back down. We ran down the dunes, getting my shoes completely full of sand in the process, and taking only 5 minutes to reach the bottom.
Long queue
Dune 45
We continued on to the end of the road, there's a parking area before the last bit of sand driving (4WD only). For those without a 4WD, they have tractors that go back and forth from the parking area. There were a lot of tourists here between the parking lot of 4WDs and the tractors running back and forth. We walked the 1.1km to Deadvlei. This is one of the dry pans, hard white surface with ancient dead trees surrounded by the red sand dunes. The highest sand dune in the park, Big Daddy (1000'!) towers on one side. We could barely make out people way at the top. Deadvlei had been on my bucket list for some time so I'm glad I finally was able to visit.
Deadvlei
We made the long drive back to Sesirem and were back by noon. Just had a snack lunch at the petrol station before going back to the camp for a rest. The camp had a swimming pool that was ice cold but felt refreshing. Around 3PM we went back to the Lodge to pay for the helicopter and got a lift to the nearby airfield. Tiny helicopter but we all managed to fit. We had booked a 90-minute flight which went all the way to a seal colony on the coast. The view was amazing, especially with no doors, but the lighting angle wasn't the best for me on the way out. You really get a sense of scale of how massive an area the sand covers.. it just goes on and on. The sand started turning more yellow than red as we neared the coast, and the temperature dropped dramatically, nearly 20C as we crossed over the water. We buzzed the seal colony, barely skimming the waves before it was already time to head back. Amazing to see the dunes at sunset from above. After landing we headed to the Lodge again to enjoy a beer and dinner.
Helicopter ride