The days in the middle of Namibia were full of new impressions. We spent hours “photo hunting” for animals around the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, we visited some real German towns on the coast line and we explored the dunes of the Namib desert. The view of Deadvlei was kind of topping it all.

Lüderitz area – a Little Germany in Africa

The visit in Lüderitz was two-fold: on the one hand we saw on its peninsula an unbelievable abundance of wildlife: flamingos, seals, dolphins and at the Halifax island even penguins. On the other hand we learned, that you should not visit a Namibian town on the weekend, as it is really deserted. Streets are empty, shops are closed, even restaurants take a break. Sunday we did not even find one open in the whole area. Luckily we had enough food in the car fridge and made a nice room picnic.

Enjoying the sun

Enjoying the sun

But the truly abandoned town is Kolmanskuppe, some kilometers away. It used to be the richest city in Africa during the diamond rush in the early 1900’s. Today the desert takes back the remainders of the buildings, and sand dunes are meter high in the rooms. But you can still get an idea how life was at that time: the German colonists built a whole town for their needs. With shops, a school, a hospital, a casino a bowling and a ball room for their entertainment, etc. The first x-ray machine in Africa was installed here, but not for health care, but to find diamonds swallowed by the workers. Nice…

On the way to Lüderitz we also saw the famous wild horses of Aus. They did not seem to be extremely wild, though. When we drove to the waterhole of Garub half a dozen of them approached us and begged for some food. :)

Horse looking into the car

Truly wild horse…

The Namib desert – the feeling of endlessness

The next stop led us into the Namib desert. Here we could get an impression of Gondwana land, the oldest geological region on our planet. Our favorite were the spectacular high sand dunes in different colors of yellow, red and orange surrounding the white salt pans. With a bit of adrenaline rush we even managed to get over the deep sand and see the most famous part here: the Deadvlei, with its dead trees.

Deadvlei

Spectacular contrasts in Deadvlei

The Sesriem canyon was a nice change in scenery, with a narrow gorge, some cooler spots and even vegetation.

The more north we came the more pristine the landscape got. But this we will show next time.