Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
Just before 5 pm we arrived at Kulala Desert Lodge.
At this point the sandstorm had raged for circa 45 minutes.
We rushed out of “our” vehicle, and into the Lodge’s hub/reception/lounge.
From there, the nearest of the nearby sand sea’s huge dunes is usually spectacularly evident.
At this moment, it was invisible.
Comments closed
This post’s featured image comes from circa one minute after the final image in #2 of this series, but it looks in the opposite direction, toward the Namib’s temporarily-invisible sand sea.
On a normal day, the horizon in a photo taken from this vantage point would have been defined by the crests of some of the world’s most spectacular dunes.
Namibia’s emblematic mammal – the gemsbok (aka “oryx”) – is superbly adapted to its very demanding environment.(as will be detailed in at least one future post, devoted entirely to Oryx gazella)
As you can see, stoic gemsbok just “get on with it”, sandstorm notwithstanding.
Comments closed
The featured photo was taken at 4.22 pm on 21 November 2022 – four minutes after the second one in #1 of this series.
The image looks across private property, once grazed by cattle, but now being “rewilded”.
Its present purpose is “conservation, funded by tourism”, as is true of much of the private land near to the Namib-Naukluft National Park – one of the world’s larger, more remarkable “protected” places.
Just one minute later, an appreciable amount of blue sky emerged, and it looked like the dust storm could be about to disappear as rapidly as it had formed…
Comments closed
When I took the featured image, we were most of the way through a long drive from Swakopmund, on the Atlantic Ocean, to the Kulala Desert Lodge, conveniently near to Sossusvlei.
The dunes around Sossusvlei defy belief; inevitably, they are the “big attraction” in the Namib’s “sand sea”.
As you can see, not all of the world’s oldest desert is “sand sea”.
As you can also see, at 4.00 pm on 21 November 2022, visibility was excellent, the wind moderate.
We had no idea how rapidly/dramatically those conditions would change…
One Comment
The mangled – but not rusted – metal object pictured above has sat on one of the world’s most “desolate” beaches since shortly after 29 January 1943.
It is an engine cowling from a Lockheed Ventura bomber which plunged into the nearby Atlantic on that day, off Namibia’s Skeleton Coast.
A short distance inland – as you can see, above – is the western edge of the world’s oldest desert’s “sandsea”.
That Ventura, several other planes, a number of ships, and a land-based convoy’s extraordinarily arduous/audacious mission were all part of an amazing true story of shipwreck/s, a plane-crash, and herculean rescue efforts.
MV Dunedin Star’s demise resulted in far fewer deaths than did RMS Titanic’s, but the smaller vessel’s end-story is, arguably, the more “titanic”.
One CommentAlso starring a fine example of “sleepless rust”, this post’s featured image is much easier to “read” than was the immediately-preceding, teasing post’s.
Obviously, here, you are looking at a shipwreck.
No reliable figure is even possible, but it is generally reckoned that Namibia’s Skeleton Coast is the world’s largest “ships’ graveyard”.
At least several hundred vessels – quite possibly, more than one thousand – have succumbed to its “treacherous” mists, turbulent waters, “carnivorous” rocks.. and to its utter remoteness.
For several centuries, sailors who outlived their ship would, inevitably, soon share its fate – on a shore where rain hardly ever falls and no rivers permanently flow.
Until well into the 20th century this was a place no road reached, and where no humans lived.
Even so, whales have provided far more of the Skeleton Coast’s skeletons than have ships and sailors.
Comments closed
“Intelligent, opportunistic, cooperative, yet also aggressive/territorial, highly attentive parents, omnivorous, oft-monogamous, very vocal, highly adaptable.”
Homo sapiens?
Yes, the “cap” fits, but not exclusively.
It is also a good description of another species – one which many humans revile, resent, defame and kill.
One Comment
The Namib is generally considered the world’s oldest desert; certainly, it is many millions of years older than the Sahara.
Some of the Namib’s dunes are uncommonly stable, exquisitely coloured, remarkably tall.
Contrary to common belief – and to claims made by promoters of various African and Eurasian deserts – the world tallest dunes are not in Africa, nor Arabia, nor China; by a considerable margin, they are in South America.
The Namib’s “sand sea” is, however, singularly beautiful, most especially around Sossusvlei.
Comments closed
These dunes are just behind the Skeleton Coast, not far from the generally-dry mouth of the Hoarusib River.
Their appearance changes radically, as the sun’s position shifts, clouds form, move or disappear, and as fog rolls in, intensifies, or “burns” off.
Generally reckoned the world’s oldest desert, the Namib is “another world”, albeit part – a singular part – of “our” planet.
Humans cannot yet directly experience the Martian landscape, but a few of us are lucky enough to have experienced the Namib.
One Comment
Atlantic fog-factor permitting, early morning affords your eyes and camera their best chance to experience/capture crisp, sharp views of some of the world’s most astonishing vistas.
(Namibia’s western side is one of “our” planet’s least rainy regions, but also one of the foggiest)
Once the sun is “high” and the heat is “on”, the light becomes flatter, yet harsher, and heat haze destroys fine detail.
However, late morning has its own special charm…
Comments closed
