Hot Air Ballooning over Sossusvlei

We kept the best for last: Ballooning over Sossusvlei. We had never done it before and we were excited to see the Namib Desert at sunrise from high above. A truck picked us up at 5am and were driven to the take-off site. When we arrived it was still dark. From the distance we could already see fire coming out of the propane burners. It was an experience on its own, watching the balloon slowly inflate in the middle of the Desert. When ready, we climbed into the basket and the balloon started to rise.

We had chosen a superb day with a fantastic sunrise and a few scattered clouds. Gradually, the balloon sailed higher over a rolling vision of mountains, plains and red sand dunes. We were observing the silent dawn at is rises over one of the most beautiful landscapes we had ever seen. It was amazing. 

We were floating at wind speed with only occasional bursts of gas interrupting the silence. The colors were so mind-blowing and so spectacular that we it felt surreal.

We really didn't want this to stop. It was romantic, surreal, mystical all at the same time, but we were already running out of gas and we were slowly going down. As we came closer to the ground, our balloonist indicated that we may have a 'sport landing' in front of us as the wind had dangerously turned. We squeezed in the basket and prepared for the impact... Our balloonist managed the situation very well and we landed safely. 

However, we were about 1 kilometer off there road and the staff needed to pull the balloon all the way back on the truck which was a lot of work. 

We finished our last day in Africa with a champagne breakfast in the desert. The entire trip was wonderful and we - once skeptical about traveling to Africa - are completely in love with the beauty of this continent. We will be back... For sure!!!

The Red Dunes of Sossusvlei 

Our final destination was Sossusvlei, a salt and clay pan surrounded by high red dunes, located in the southern part of the Namib Desert. Its a 300 kilometer drive from Sossusvlei and we came across fantastic scenery on the way.

A few miles away from Sossusvlei - in the middle-of-nowhere - there is a small, remote town called Solitaire. It is a large dot on the map, but its just a few buildings and a gas station run by a guy called Moose. Yet it is so atmospheric, so typical of a middle-of-nowhere stop in the desert, that its been the location for several film and advert scenes.

And believe it or not, but it seems that the best Apple Pie in all of Africa is located in this remote town.

We continued on to Sossusvlei and finally arrived at our lodge where we stayed in small huts. The accommodation was directly in the Sossusvlei National Park and had modern facilities. 

Next morning, we were curious to explore the surrounding area and Bastian wanted to drive into the dunes. After almost 10 days in Namibia, he felt confident about his driving skills and maneuvered the car through the soft sand.

However, there is a material risk to driving here: You will get stranded in a desert and have to wait for someone to rescue you, if you get stuck. I will never forget the look on the faces of all the stranded 4x4s that we passed by and I was glad that we made it out of it safely.

 

Sandboarding in Swakopmund 
Swakopmund is located directly at the coast and has a nice wind chill in the air. The town is small, but has lots of German influence. We found a bit of time to relax and recharge our batteries. Bastian was pushing hard to get some adventure arranged and booked a 'sandboarding tour' for the two of us. On a beautiful morning, we were picked up by our sandboarding instructor. We drove to a huge star-shaped dune located about 11km away from Swakopmund where the action takes place.

We were in a great mood and enjoyed the freedom of walking in the sand. Our instructor provided us with helmets and protection gear... Hm, I wondered why and started to get slightly nervous about it! We also carried simple wooden boards up the dune...

After walking all the way up, I needed to take a rest. Sitting on this massive dune was a great, but sliding down on a board with your head first sounded like a crazy stunt. 

We started with small dunes and then step by step took bigger and steeper ones. It was fast and I swallowed a lot of sand, but I have to say: It was so cool and we could not get enough! I really enjoyed it and I almost beat Bastian for the highest speed. Both of us were fearlessly sliding down at a tempo of over 70 km/h. Our instructor (all the way down) measured us with the help of a speed camera.

The next day, we were going South to Walvis Bay and arranged a 4x4 drive at Sandwich Harbor where giant sand dunes run straight into the ocean. Its creates a wonderful scenery!

Walking around in the sand was incredible. We were all by ourselves and had a fantastic picnic right in between the giant dunes.