Shitty Sesreim and the spectactular Sossousvlei!

The thing we have started to notice about the beautiful natural wonders of Africa is that they always have the worst and most expensive accommodation nearest to them….and they are almost always a national park.  Sesreim was our wake up call.  To be honest, the camp site was fine, more than fine, but the fact that we were paying almost triple for this site did not give us a good impression.  Also, due to booking mishaps, we were bumped down to the overflow section which was a nuisance more than anything.  I heard my first jackal rummaging in a rubbish bin that night.

 None of this mattered the next day when we woke before dawn (pretty standard these days) and drove 70km to the Sossousvlei dunes of the Namib desert.  I had obviously never seen something like this before, and was a little lost for words that morning.  Fiver took pictures while I filmed Stuart climbing a big dune.  The light was incredible and we had chosen a good time to go as it wasn’t too hot.  I ran down the dune, nearly tripping over every time I lifted my legs and I giggled hysterically like a kid the whole way down.  I kind of looked like one of those cartoons when they run with their legs sticking/winding out the sides and there's a big circular dust cloud going on..classic.

On our way back to the car, we saw an oryx.  He was just hanging out behind a bush, having a standing snooze in the morning sun.  Apparently oryx are one of the animals that the unicorn tale comes from (don't forget my favourite narwhals now!), and this guy was a classic example - he had lost a horn; maybe in some brute force oryx on oryx man battle or something, and was just standing there, looking rather mundane and unimpressed that he had lost one of his weapons.  He can't of been that gutted, because he posed so well for my camera. 

 'Bye Merryl, hope you had fun in the dunes...Thanks Mr Oryx!'

 After that fantastic morning, we headed off to Naukluft camp and I got to drive us through some rough ass gravel!  This does not necessarily mean it was I who got the tire puncture….