Namib Desert & Sossusvlei Namibia

 

Towering red sand dunes leading up to the sky.

Ancient trees resting in a surreal valley.

Dark skies filled with brilliant stars.

 

When I told people about our upcoming trip to Namibia, many asked – What made you pick Namibia? Well, we were thinking of going to Kenya, but I found too many options, had trouble deciding, and got frustrated. While clicking around I saw a photo of Sossusvlei and it caught my eye. Wow – I haven’t seen anything like that; I wonder what else is in Namibia. After a few more clicks I saw surreal landscapes, pristine coastlines, ancient petroglyphs, and of course – incredible wildlife. I showed Michael the photos and we agreed – postpone Kenya and go to Namibia.

 

Travel Planning & Itinerary

Travel planning time… I located five cool destinations, but if we visited them all there would be less time at each and a lot of moving around. Since we prefer a slower pace of travel, we eliminated one destination.

Now for the fun part – the hotels. Here’s where the ‘ohs and ahs’ resumed. After a lot of fun research, we got a good idea of where we wanted to stay. The place we were most excited about was Desert Whisper in the Namib Desert.

The next decision – how should we travel from place to place. Namibia only has a few airports with commercial flights, so the options are small aircraft or long drives on rough dirt roads. We considered self-drive but didn’t want to spend so much time on the road. Maybe a combination of both could work…

Ok – we were ready to book… I prefer to book directly with airlines, hotels, drivers, etc. Partially because I like to do research and partially because I have anxiety about relying on someone else. The only time we worked with a tour operator was for Tanzania because the Serengeti tented camp did not accept direct bookings. Due to the number of locations and transfers in Namibia, we felt it would be more efficient to work with a travel specialist.

I did a lot of research on Africa travel specialists and selected Go2Africa, based in South Africa. Anja Naude created several itineraries with different transfer options. After we booked, Annalise Sholtz took over to finalize the details and communicate with us throughout the trip. We had access to our full itinerary information on their website and app. The entire trip was smooth and effortless – Go2Africa did a spectacular job!

 

Namibia Itinerary

 

 

 

Itinerary Details

• Fly LAX through Germany to Windhoek > drive to Namib Desert
• Namib Desert (4 nights) at Desert Whisper > fly to Skeleton Coast
• Skeleton Coast (3 nights) at Shipwreck Lodge > fly to Damaraland
• Damaraland (4 nights) at Mowani Mountain Camp > drive to Onguma
• Onguma Nature Reserve (4 nights) at Onguma The Fort > fly to Windhoek

 

About Namibia

I didn’t know much about Namibia and was interested in learning about the history and culture before the trip. I watched a few videos and read a historical novel, Mama Namibia by Mari Serebrov, which is based on real events in the early 1900s.

I learned that Namibia is the eighth least populated country in the world per square km, with a population of 3.2 million in 824,292 square km (4 people per square km). There are 11 ethnic groups, and the people speak several languages. Germany occupied the land from 1884 – 1919 and committed genocide of the Herero and Nama people. After World War I, the League of Nations mandated the land to South Africa. It later became an independent country named Namibia after the Namib desert.

 

Off We Go…

The best flight option from Los Angeles to Namibia with only one connection was on Lufthansa connecting in Germany. The outbound flight had a 10-hour layover in Frankfurt – uggg. Luckily there was a MyCloud Hotel inside the airport terminal bookable by the hour.

MyCloud was the perfect sanctuary for sleepy travelers. It was incredibly easy to find – only a two-minute walk from the gate. We checked in and headed to the room but ran into an embarrassing snag – we couldn’t decipher the room number written on the key card sleeve. We thought it was 5A (there was a 5 and upside down V). We didn’t see letters on the doors, so we tried room 5 – nope. As we stood there confused an employee told us the correct room number in German. We didn’t understand; but could follow her hand gestures – we needed to go way down the hall and turn right. Ok – we got this. After what felt like a long walk, we got to room 51 and tried – nope. Too tired and embarrassed to walk back to the front desk to ask, we tried all rooms starting with 5 until we had success (apologies to everyone we bothered).

 

 

After showering and napping, we checked out two hours before boarding and headed to the Lufthansa lounge for some food. There was a candy bar! [Lori ate dinner before having candy :) but Michael dove right in.]

We settled in for the 10-hour overnight flight to Namibia. The next morning, we saw the sun rise from the plane as we approached Windhoek. It was the first of many beautiful African sunrises to come.

 

 

In the arrivals hall, a woman walked through the line greeting the visitors. She introduced herself and provided a flyer: ‘Namibian police Khomas Region; tourist protection & investigation sub-division’. The double-sided paper contained names, phone numbers, and an email. Tourism is a large part of the Namibian economy, and the government is proactive in helping tourists feel safe.

Our first destination was the Namib Desert – four hours by car from Windhoek. We got through immigration quickly and our driver Charles from Nature Friends Safari was waiting. He gave us a packet with printed itinerary, vouchers, travel guide, and map with the destinations marked. Oh, and a pouch with local hand cream, lip balm, and insect repellant.

 

Drive from Windhoek to Namib Desert

We drove through the small city and passed the museum, a monument, press house, and government buildings as Charles told us about the sights. Before leaving town, we stopped at the Checkers market to get snacks and drinks like bitlong and red bull.

The first half of the journey was on a paved highway that China built. The rest was on dirt roads – Charles stopped to lower the tire pressure in advance – a must on these roads. We passed a few campsites and restaurants – but mostly a lot of open land. There was a quirky space-themed restaurant, Rooi Dak Padstal, with a crashed Soviet spaceship and astronauts in front. We stopped at a scenic lookout with picnic tables and got out to stretch our legs.

 

 

 

Desert Whisper

Rest, relaxation, and a day trip to the Namib-Naukluft National Park

Finally – after looking at the Desert Whisper website countless times over the past year, we arrived at the secluded pod in the middle of the Namib desert.

After saying goodbye to Charles and checking in at the Gondwana Collection lobby we met our host Levine. She loaded the bags into a SUV and drove for three minutes through the valley, past an oryx, to a very steep hill. Levine shifted the car into four-wheel drive and up the hill we went as we got an African massage. Then we saw it – the beautiful modern pod nestled into the mountain. Levine took us on a tour, and it was as incredible as we anticipated.

 

 

Imagine yourself at the edge of the Namib desert in the heart of a valley. A walkway leads up the mountain to a deck with a plunge pool, lounge chairs, and fridge. You continue up the walkway to the pod – a curved structure wrapped in perforated metal, except for the front which has floor-to-ceiling windows. A deck with seating and a grill leads to the front door.

 

 

The front door opens into the kitchen, which is fully outfitted with appliances and dishes. There was more food than we could possibly eat. Inside the fridge was fresh produce, meat, cold salads, desserts, eggs, various seasonings, juices and sodas, and even almond milk. The cabinet had munchies galore like chips and candy (flashback to the Lufthansa candy bar). Each day, the staff brought new boxes filled with fresh food for each meal. There were two bar carts and a wine fridge! I had the best breakfast of Greek yogurt, fresh fruit salad, and muesli each day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kitchen leads into the open-plan living room, bedroom, and bathroom. We could even look at the view while showering. A welcome basket was filled with local goodies. We didn’t have to worry about being bored without a TV because there were lots of games and books on Namibia. My favorite was a photography book with the most incredible aerial views of the country. Award-winning photographer Paul Van Schalkwyk took the photos from his plane. Sadly, he died when the plane he was flying crashed during a photography session. Please check out some of his beautiful photos on the Travel Namibia website.

 

 

 

 
Oh, and the views – check it out…

 

 

Another thing that made Desert Whisper so special was the absolute solitude. At night there was total darkness and silence. Read on to see photos of the stars…

Desert Whisper website

Magazine article about the Desert Whisper

 

Namib-Naukluft Park Day Trip

Namib-Naukluft Park is Namibia’s largest conservation area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It contains many natural attractions including Sossusvlei, Deadvlei, and Sesriem Canyon.

We left at 6:00 AM for a one-hour drive to the park gate and watched the sun rise. After entering the park, we drove on a paved road for a while and then switched to 4-wheel drive and started an African massage.

 

 

Sossusvlei

Sossusvlei is a salt and clay pan surrounded by towering red sand dunes of various shapes and heights. The red color of the sand comes from iron oxide. We stopped at one of the smaller dues and then headed to Dune 45. I was eager to climb the 550-foot dune but became intimidated by the narrow path and lack of safety barriers. I’m not afraid of heights, I climbed tall hills in Indonesia and pyramids in Guatemala, but I am kinda clumsy. Michael encouraged me to give it a try, and we made it approximately 75% of the way to the top before I got too scared. Then we plopped down and took in the view before heading back down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deadvlei

We jumped back in the car and drove to Deadvlei. From the car park, it was a 20-minute walk (1 km) to the clay pan valley with 900-year-old dead camel thorn trees. The dry climate preserved the remains. That may not sound appealing, but it looks beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

While we explored Deadvlei, Levine set up a wonderful lunch under a camel thorn acacia tree. It was the perfect time to take a break and cool off. I noticed the dried crescent shaped seed pods under the trees. Levine picked one up and shook it – the dried seeds inside made a sound like a maraca. She said people tie the pods to their legs to make noise when dancing. Cool!

 

Sesriem Canyon

After lunch, we checked out Sesriem Canyon – a 60-meter-deep gorge surrounding the Tsauchab River.
On the way back to the pod, we saw oryx, ostrich, and a springbok herd. We arrived at our retreat in time for afternoon cocktails and snacks while we watched the birds do fly-bys.

 

 

 

Relaxing, Grilling, & Stargazing

We spent the rest of the time at Desert Whisper looking at the view, grilling, drinking wine, watching the sunset, battling monster grasshoppers, and looking at the stars.

 

 

The stars…

We have never seen such a clear dark sky filled with so many brilliant stars. Venus and Jupiter were visible along with the colors of the Milky Way. Michael set up the camera outside to capture the star trails.

 

 

 

 

On the final night we went on a scorpion stroll near the pod with Levine. We walked in the pitch-black night holding black lights – I slipped on loose rocks, slid down a hill, and fell on my ass – pride hurt, body fine. Normally I don’t like scorpions, especially after living in Arizona, but thought it would be interesting. And it was.

Goodbye Namib Desert

“Whispers of the heart and echoes of the mind are discreet yet powerful; pay close attention to them.”
– Emmanuel Apesti

Join us at the next destination…

After four nights, we left the Namib Desert and traveled by small plane to the Skeleton Coast.

Skeleton Coast post coming soon.