Let's hope you don't use a phone line for surfing this site - otherwise you might be frustrated over the number of pictures on this page. But believe me, we have spent hours attempting to reduce the numbers. From about 350 pictures we're down to less than 30 now - can't do better than that. Colin picked us up at 5.05. By then the camp site seemed almost deserted. Pretty much everybody had already left for Sossusvlei. The darkness didn't stop Colin from 'flying' low over the track at over 100 km an hour. Believe me, the road is bad. So bad in fact that a red Golf, which we passed at some point that morning, later had the bottom of his car ripped of by a pothole. Meaning the car had to be towed all the way back to Windhoek.

By the time we got to Sossusvlei Colin had let everybody else far behind us so we had it all completely to ourselves once he had left us and headed back to the so-called 2x4 car park. All tour-operators apparently go to Dune 45 in the morning, so we didn't see any other tourists until we left Sossusvlei again about two hours later. Luckily there weren't any at Death Vlei either. By eight o'clock the camera was running hot - we had shot exactly 256 pictures. Stunning and unreal scenery - you could go as far as saying it's impossible to not do magnificent photos here.

When we headed out of Death Vlei again we noticed the wind had picked up a fair bit. In fact so much we hardly could see the other side of the valley anymore. We were cought in the middle of a dust-storm. We gave up going to Dune 45 because of the bad weather and got a lift back to the camp.

From a distance we already could tell that there was something wrong with our tent. It was completely deformed by the wind. A look inside confirmed our fears. There was sand everywhere. All our stuff was covered in red super-fine grained sand. The sleeping bags, the clothes, the books and papers, everything. The wind still blowing and the temperature reaching what I believe to be approx. 40 degrees, we spent the next two or three hours in cleaning up the mess.

After this missery we rewarded ourselves with a buffet lunch at the Sossusvlei Lodge next door. The buffets here in southern Africa are really something and this one was amongst the best we have had so far.

By 17.30 we were back at the gate to catch a lift to Dune 45, but that was apparently to late. We didn't get a ride anyway and decided to go to the Sesriem Canyon instead. We figured it to be easier to hitch there than Dune 45 but no car whatsoever drove down that road either. Hence we walked all the way and reached the canyon an hour later - minutes before the sun set. Nice, but nothing really spectacular. At least we didn't have to walk back. The driver of some tour-operator took us back with him.

Sesriem Camp Site

This place has not impressed us, to say the least. No, I don't want to be misunderstood, so let me be more direct: The place sucks. At NAD 210 per night it is, together with Etosha, probably the most expensive camp site in all of Namibia. But where Halali had more facilities and friendly staff, Sossusvlei Camp Site is just a hole in the ground. The pool is tiny and dirty, there is not electricity and no tables and chairs-.'. With a few exceptions, the unfriendlyness of the personnel beats it all. You sure can tell there is no competition out here - otherwise they would (or should) be out of business within a very short time. The fat lady at the reception (claimed to be the park manager) told us that we were not allowed to land at the strip inside the park (I still don't believe this to be true, but will investigate it further) and at the same time she didn't want to pick us up at the other air strip, allegedly because she is not allowed to (first time I've heard that one). They told us we couldn't pay with a credit card because they were off-line, but when we hadn't cash enough it was all of a sudden possible. They didn't want to sell us fire wood when we arrived - because the shop had officially closed shortly before. They said 'No' when I asked if they had a fax (I wanted to file my flight plan), but how then can they have a fax number? Josef, supposedly the camp site manager, is unreliable.

The bad weather conditions the day we were there of course weren't their fault, but it added up to the overall bad experience we have had with Sossusvlei.

Beeing Sossusvlei, you have to go there of course - it is after all the top attraction in Namibia. And it really is a stunning place. If you go by car there might be other places of accommodation further away from the entrance. I would definitely suggest to stay overnight somewhere else, no, anywhere else. The Lodge next door is not really a budget alternative at NAD 2000 per night for a double room.