Real Namibia: The Namib Dunes

“Dune Seven, the biggest dune in the vicinity of Walvis Bay, is home to a lone, narcissistic oryx that makes a habit of posing for photographers in the best possible spot in front of the dune, beneath the only tree.”

The tranquil beauty of the sands of the Namib will follow you in your dreams, and in little heaps in the toes of your shoes that you will struggle to get rid of for three days to a week.
Photo courtesy of Philip Niewold
at stock.xchng

Before the whole business with Baghdad and the Bushes, the typical image of the desert was a bunch of screaming Arabs and a couple of mangy camels swarming over endless dunes, egged on by a very emotional, slightly camp Peter O’ Toole, pretending to be Lawrence of Arabia.

Nowadays this image has been replaced with a bunch of screaming Islamic fundamentalists hurtling over the dunes in a couple of beat-up pickup trucks, egged on by very emotional, slightly hysterical mullahs pretending to be Che Guevarra. What the difference is, I really can't tell for sure.

Mercifully, the Namib Desert is apparently free of oil, ideology and, of late, high-tech weaponry and embedded reporters. In fact, if CNN sent in a camera crew, half of Namibia would probably emigrate. The benefit of this is that travelers can enjoy all the beauty of the desert, and the only dangers will be those that nature intended.

There are a number of parts to the Namib, including the gravel plains and the pro-Namib. The best know is the dune belt. This is the desert that everybody comes to see.

In the dune belt you can find very well-known Sossusvlei and stuck 4x4s. As you drive along the road between Sesriem and Sossusvlei note the large red sand dunes that appear. These have hardened and are now permanent fixtures on the landscape. Sossusvlei is the place where you are absolutely obliged to climb dunes. Anything less would deprive you of wonderful scenery and the guide to gleefully get his or her own back for whatever indignities you have heaped upon him or her.

Dune Seven, the biggest dune in the vicinity of Walvis Bay, is home to a lone, narcissistic oryx that makes a habit of posing for photographers in the best possible spot in front of the dune, beneath the only tree. Just outside of Swakopmund, a circle of dunes known as the amphitheatre, plays home to a large New Year’s party that provides wonderful stories that last a lifetime and hangovers that last for days.

Three other stretches of dune are worth seeing.

The stretch of 40 km between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay is probably the world’s largest sandpit. The opportunities for amusement here range from falling off sand boards and quad bikes to getting sand in your shoes and catching a truly awful sunburn.

Much of the area has been fenced off so that the rare Damara Tern can breed in safety. Damara Terns are picky in their choice of spots to build their nests: only the small stretch of flat ground between the dune and the upper edge of the beach will do. Until recently, insensitive pleasure riders destroyed their nests en mass. Now however, most of the residents of Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, as well as various authorities with the power to levy heavy fines, have sided with the Damara Tern. Stay well within the areas marked out for offroad driving and watch out for nests on the ground even within these areas.

The dunes are separated from the beach by thin ribbon of road, so with a little bit of imagination and the willingness to slog up and down , you can quite likely get a wonderful shot of ships and sea framed between the peaks of dunes.

The second area worth noting is Sandwich Harbour where the dunes literally do meet the sea. For a long time this was well known for a lagoon formed by the meeting of the sand and the sea. The lagoon is however a freshwater lagoon fed by a watersource beneath the dunes. Now the dunes are taking over and the lagoon appears to be a thing of the past. Everyone is keeping an eye on it, particularly as this is one of Namibia’s four RAMSAR sites and particularly well known for its birdlife.

The site was once a stop for whaling and fishing vessels which came for fresh water. It can be visited on a guided quad bike tour or tour in offroad vehicles. A permit is needed to enter the area.

The third set of dunes are those of the Skeleton Coast. These amazing creatures crawl across the landscape at a rate of up to 50 meters per day. Amazingly they leave the landscape undisturbed as they pass over it. Here you can see how permanent and damaging can be the marks of vehicles.

The dunes are far from devoid of life. In addition to hordes of shambling, sweaty travelers dragging large amounts of photographic gear, you can find a large amount of bird life and reptiles. Other sightings of particular interest are the coastal lions and the desert elephants. These creatures are rare, and photographs are yet rarer still.

Don’t worry about encountering a lion on the beach though: these are found only in the far northern reaches of the Namib, towards the border with Angola. If you are traveling in these areas, it will be with a guide.

There are a number of survival tactics for the Namib Dunes. Most importantly you need to be covered from head to foot, with all areas of exposed skin covered in a half centimeter layer of 50 + sun block.

You should also not stray too far. It is easy to lose your orientation, particularly as the dunes are very quiet when there are no quad bikes and 4x4s around. Nobody that I know of has died in the dunes for reasons other than getting too confident with a vehicle. Still, there are stories of bleached bones and sandblasted vehicles in hidden places, so don’t stray too far.