The drive from Brandberg was, in short, about seven hours of sand. Haha! Luckily, though, my route took me back through Swakopmund, and at lunchtime. So I went back to Fork ‘n Nice for another helping of the best fish ‘n chips on the planet.

After a couple of hundred miles the terrain finally started to become a little more interesting. Suddenly, there were hills and then mountains as I got closer to my next stop, Naukluft Mountain Zebra Park. I still can’t figure out why it’s named that since there are no zebras in this area, but whatever.

I’m staying at the Tsauchab River Camp. They have several campgrounds available, but they’re all so spread out and out of sight of each other for privacy that the only one I get to see is mine. It’s beautiful though. A huge lot with a kitchen area, outdoor sink and a really nice bathroom/shower. And the view of those Naukluft Mountains is amazing.

My plan here was to hike two of Namibias most popular hikes. First up was the Olive Trail, named that because of all of the olives that grow along the trail.

I had to register and get a permit first. The ladies at the office were so worried about me. They said they never let people hike this trail alone and once you start it’s impossible to turn around, IMPOSSIBLE, because I wouldn’t see the trailmarkers going the other direction and I would get lost and never be seen or heard from again. They really tried to put the fear of God into me and it took some convincing, but I got my permit.

The selling point for getting the permit was that I would return to the office after I was finished to let them know I was ok, you know, so they could sleep that night. All the way along the six mile really well worn trail I kept thinking, “who needs trail markers?” The trail was so well defined that if I needed to turn around for some reason, I could just… you know… like… turn around. Ha!

The Olive Trail does have one really scary bit. Towards the end you come to this deep ravine filled with putrid water. You have to hug the wall to get past holding onto a chain for support. You can see the chain on the right in the pic below.

I had the whole trail to myself that day and since this was almost at the end of the trail, turning back would’ve been possible, but would’ve really sucked. Talk about conquering some fear! After I made it across I thought, “I can’t believe I just did that!” In the pic below the chain is now on the left side towards the top of the pic.

The rest of the hike down was just littered with some of the craziest, kaleidoscopic rocks you can imagine. The whole canyon was really beautiful!

Back at the Tsauchab River Camp, I went to hang out at the main lodge for a congratulatory drink and to upload these pics. The owner of the camp is a pretty creative guy. His wacky sculptures are all over the grounds, made from old car parts, tools, nuts and bolts, old dishes, and whatever other hardware he could find apparently.

Him and his wife are really great hosts. His artwork tells me he’s either got a few screws loose or he’s a genius, perhaps both.

Next up and just down the road from the Olive Trail, is the Waterkloof Trail. It wasn’t as interesting as the Olive Trail, but it was almost twice as long at around eleven miles.

The beginning was probably the most interesting. There’s apparently spring water here all year because the river was trickling in little waterfalls and made really beautiful pools of clear water all the way.

I also ran into a lot of baboons. They were really shy and it was near impossible to get pics, but I managed a couple of mediocre shots.

Below, meet the quiver tree, indigenous to southern Africa. It’s actually a type of aloe, but was named because the local San people used to hollow out the branches to use as quivers for their arrows. It’s really unique.

Finally I reached the well marked half way point. So I sat on a nearby log and had lunch.

After lunch, a steep climb up to the top of the ridge and down the other side. Most of the hike was just trying to stay upright in the rocky river bottom. The pools at the beginning and the views from the top of the ridge made it a worthwhile day. And the wind was as tremendous as the views were.

Tsauchab River Camp has a few trails of their own. Since my next camp was only about an hour away, I decided to spend the morning hiking the Quiver Tree Trail. It was a pretty easy hike through some different aloe groves and there were several quiver trees at the top. I really didn’t know aloe was so prevalent here.

After my short hike I had lunch and hit the road to the Sossus Oasis Camp. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Actually it was pretty nice. There’s a gas station, store, small restaurant, the campground, and not much else. On the way the wind was blowing so hard it was causing dust storms. Sand was blowing across the road as I was driving.

Sossus Oasis was setup right outside the entrance of Namib-Naukluft National Park that leads specifically to the Sossusvlei area. The national park is actually humongous, stretching all the way to the coast. Why the national park and the Naukluft Mountain Zebra Park are separate, I have no idea. Especially since their borders are less than five miles apart. But anyway.

Sossusvlei means “no return marsh”. It’s a salt and clay pan in the middle of Namibias gigantic 34,000 square mile sand sea. It’s primarily known, however, for the red sand dunes all over. Most of them just have numbers.

Now, I was told the dunes here are red because the sand settles here making these dunes permanent, allowing the iron in the sand to rust, because there’s less wind. FALSE! Swakopmund, the Skeleton Coast, Damaraland, Brandberg, Naukluft, I have been living in a tornado for the last twelve days! Howling, can’t stand up straight, sand blowing everywhere, wind! But I digress.

As beautiful as this entire area is, the main attraction is Deadvlei (Dead Marsh). Around a thousand years ago, these dunes blocked the river (which no longer exists) killing all the trees. There wasn’t even enough moisture for them to decompose properly. Now they are some of the most fascinating and most photogenic dead trees in the world.

I had to drive a few miles in the sand, which wasn’t nearly as stressful as my last attempt in Brandberg, and then about a mile and a half round trip hike in the sand to get to them. This place is definitely way up there on the list of truly unique places that I’ve visited.

I was so enthralled with the dead trees that I didn’t even notice that the wind had finally subsided to a nice breeze. Finally, a break! On the slow drive back I just let myself get mesmerized by crazy swirling red dunes.

Also of note, gemsboks, also known as oryx, prefer to live in the sand. I’ve seen quite a few around. I haven’t seen any water anywhere. There must be some somewhere, though. This guy below got super close. Just look at those horns! Wow!

The break from the wind turned out to be short lived. By bedtime it was back with a fury. My rooftop tent was rattling and rolling. It was like trying to sleep in a Yahtzee cup being shaken by a neurotic six year old. After not much sleep I spent my last day hiking Sesriem Canyon.

Sesriem Canyon was a fairly short, beautiful little slot canyon just east of the Sossusvlei area. The good news was the wind settled down again as I started. Further down, as the canyon opened up there were a lot of cool wind blown rock formations. All in all, it was a pretty good way to end my time in Naukluft.

I spent one more night at Sossus Oasis Camp, thankfully with only a light breeze, and then sped off early for my last stop. That’s right, I only have one more stop to make on this African adventure and then back to the States. We’re almost finished…