Last night we got stuck in the sand as we tried to drive to dead vlei. The drive from the Seesriem Campsite to Dune 45 takes about 45 minutes. Its another 20km further to get to the end of the tar road and begin the 4km sand road drive to the Dead Vlei. The sand is thick and tricky and we weren't prepared for it at all. I put the gear into H4, but didn't engage the differential lock and forgot to drop the tire pressure.
We tried to dig our way out with a shovel, going back and forth with the car but it didn't help. The sun was setting and we were pretty scared we might have to spend the night alone in the desert. You can see the despair on Roger and Nadine's faces.
Roger and Nadine dashed back to the main road to get help. As soon as they left I realized they ran off without water and was scared they would dehydrate quickly. They just ran out of sight when I saw them return with a caravan of Landcruisers piloted by experienced South Africans. They pulled up and said, "not to worry, don't stress yourselves. We'll just go and have a sunset picture and come back and pull you out."
We were so happy to be saved!
Half an hour later they came back and towed us out. We drove back to camp with them in a long caravan and made it back in time for some some kudu steaks at the restaurant at 8:30. I had two beers with dinner and it was good to relax together with Roger and Nadine. later we had two more beers at the campsite and talked until 11:30.
The day began with a drive from The Rostock Ritz to Sesriem via Solitaire, L to M on the map below.
Solitaire was a gas station pitstop with a nice restaurant, cash machine, and a general store. I got gas, cash, and some water. While walking around, I took some nice macro shots. Even in the most normal gas stations there are plants and flowers that are really lovely. This cactus flower was not yet open and I used a shallow depth of field to produce the starburst effect below.
The skies in Namibia really are this blue!
Leaving Solitaire, we came across a springbok that had been hit by a car and ravaged by jackals or hyena. Its a common sight along the roads. Springbok are everywhere and so are cars...
Once we arrived at Sesriem, we parked our cars in campsite #13 and had a rest under our tree in the hot afternoon sun.
The drive from Rostock Ritz was only 100km and had taken about two hours with stops along the way. I snapped this shot of Roger in the campsite while we were talking about cameras and photography.
After a few hours rest we decided to take the sunset drive to Dune 45. It was 4:30 and we felt confident we had enough time to make it there and back before dark. Along the way, the sun got low in the sky and created some really interesting silhouettes in the trees against the desaturated hills. The resulting photos look Black and White but I didn't change them to monochrome. I just shot into the sun with a 300mm lens and this is how they came out.
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