Even more of the desert dust...

We left Desert Rhino Camp behind the next morning in the capable hands of James (with Lonni in the co-pilot seat) who flew the little Cessna just like some would ride a motorbike. Very capable and manoeuvred it with consummate ease. A talented young pilot of 23 who has been flying for Sefofane for 18 months. We landed at Swakopmund on the coast to refuel after having to come down under fog and cloud and following the road into town at around 400 feet for the last 30 minutes of the flight - which was fabulous. It was cold there and very bare, a temperature drop of around 20 degrees in less than 5 minutes.

After refuelling we took the scenic flight over the ocean and desert for as much as we could, over abandoned diamond camps and seal colonies, couldn't see the shipwrecks because of the fog, but we did see the coast where the huge desert dunes meet the sea. Very spectacular views of the monster red dunes, including Big Daddy, Big Mamma and Dune 45 - supposedly the most photographed dune in the world - and a brilliant (new word from the Englishmen) landing by James at Sossusvlei. We were met by our new guide, a Nama man called Petrus who was a truly gentle man, and who took great care of us at Sossusvlei.

Both camps are run by Wilderness Safaris and are quite beautiful, with fabulous staff. Sossusvlei was perched on a hill with an incredible view over the plateau to the mountains. All stone cottages with a private balcony which included a cold plunge pool. We were the next to last across the hill and we needed a cut lunch and most certainly a waterbottle to get to and from our room, but once again the room was beautifully decorated using local craft works, natural desert woods and seed pods etc. and again, the fabulous white linen. A ceiling fan helped keep us cool and showers could be had at any time. Both of us are certainly learning about water conservation however.

Once again the cool washers and drinks met us as we arrived (apple juice and grenadine - very nice). We lunched and then had a "siesta" and then afternoon game drive and sundowners. This time atop a mountain with one of the most spectaacular views - all we could say was "wow". Once again we saw few animals except springbok and oryx, but there are ostriches and cats, although we didn't see any cats at all, or even any sign of them. However, on all our safaris we saw at least one new species every day - I reckon that's pretty good going.

Next day we had a start in the dark to arrive at the national park as the sun rose and we visited the dead vlei and Big Daddy (which none of us climbed - just over 320 metres). The big white clay pan with its dead trees and surrounded by red dunes is certainly spectacular. Lunch under a camel thorn and then a return to camp again for a siesta, which was a hot and dusty ride. An evening trip to Seisrim Canyon was really interesting, there is even a water pool deep in the canyon that has frogs.

We were treated to lunch the next day at the "posh" Littlte Kulala camp and then our pilot Simone flew us back to Windhoek in a slightly larger plane. We even had a ten minute hop from the international airport to the local airport when we arrived. Fairly bumpy as it was an afternoon flight.

And now I'm back in J'burg and have said goodbye to Lonni who is on her way home - it made me cry of course, I will really miss her.

I'm about out of time on the terminal but will be able to update regularly from Nairobi where I fly tomorrow. With any luck I'll be able to add some pictures at last.

The trip remains amazing

lotsa love

Lyndall