Dune 45

 March 17, 2013

We awoke at 5am.  I downed a Red Bull, some rasberry streudel we bought in Solitaire, and packed up my tent while Roger and Nadine got ready.  We piled into my care and left the camp gate at 5:50am, two cars behind the first in line.  The second car was driving slow so we passed them and made it to Dune 45 at 6:40.

The climb up is by no means easy.  The sand is soft and you have to walk on the edge of the dune.  The sides are steep and it is very early in the morning.  Everyone is groggy and the trek up takes 40 minutes to get to the top.

We sit down at the top just moments before the sun rises over a dune 20km in front of us.

Everyone feels elated.  Only a few thousand people make this journey each year and it is a special feeling to be here to watch the day begin.  I took some photos of the surrounding dunes as the light opened up the horizon.

 I asked Matt, a Canadian we met in camp, to take some photos of the three of us on the rim.

 Roger then took this fantastic shot of me.

 And I took this one of Matt.

We stayed on the rim for about 20 minutes and then launched ourselves down the dune.

On the way down, with the sun rising and throwing everything into colorfull contrast, I snapped a few great shots.  This environment is perfect for photography.  The colors are fantastic!  This was one of the highlights of the trip and I will never forget the feeling of sitting on the Dune and watching the sun rise.

I shot two into the sun to give you a sense of the space in front of us.

A magical moment.

Sesriem

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 cactus was sitting amidst this scene.

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.

The Rostock Ritz

March 16, 2013

I met Roger and Nadine on the way to the Rostock Ritz.  They had stopped on the side of the road to photograph a flock of vultures who were eating something 30 meters away.

Vultures in Africa are huge ugly birds on the ground, but graceful and beautiful in the air.

I didn't know then what a fantastic stroke of luck it was to meet Roger and Nadine, for we would go on to spend the next five days and four nights traveling together.  They had already been on the road for 10 weeks camping in South Africa and Namibia, and we went on to lodge, camp, explore, and dine together at the Rostock Ritz, Seesriem and Sossuvlei, Tsauchab River Camp, and Kooismasis.

The road to the Rostock Ritz went wide open plains with far mountains, undulating with deep canyons and river beds.  The road was fascinating, and we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn before finding the Ritz.  The Ritz was a collection of earthen huts cut into the hillside.  Each hut had a circular fan above, a mosquito net over the bed, a nice bath and shower, and a small balcony on the back.  The main area included a wonderful pool with hammocks, a great restaurant where we dined on Kudu Steaks, and some fantastic hiking trails that I discovered the next morning.

 

The sunset was colorful and welcome because the afternoon sun was so hot and it cooled off nicely at night.  I slept very well at this place and woke at 5am to hit the trails and work on my photography.

Walking on the Desert Plateau

March 16, 2013

Woke up this morning at 6am after sleeping well in the tent.  The Gogobad team had a party last night in their "Old House" but I wasn't into it.  I went to bed at 9pm.  It was hot at first, but the wind came at 10pm and then it was quite cool and comfortable.

I downed a Red Bull at first light, and made my way back to the Kuisib River bed and up the bank to the start of the Desert Plateau.  I thought briefly about walking up the dune to take another sunrise photo but I actually prefer the long shadows and slanted light of the time just after the sunrise so I stayed on the Mesa floor.

I walked for five hours in the morning, across the plateau and deep into the desert.  No one else was up or around and there were no other sounds except for the sounds of my footsteps and the birds.  The dunes were red, the grasses blue, tan, and green, and the stones were white and brown.  The sun came up over the dunes and filled the plateau with golden light.  Some gemsbok and springbok walked a few miles off.

The longer I walked the more I began to understand the pattern of light and color in the desert.  At times it seems like the wind creates waves with crests in the sand.  Other times, you get swept away with the patterns of light and contrast.  I tried to capture what I saw in landscape abstractions.

Then I began to see the small things below the landscape.  The individual plants. I would get down low near the sand and shoot with shallow depth of field to isolate the plants as a subject.  The rising sun and contrasting colors of the dunes and blue sky created excellent backgrounds.

Then I noticed the small animals living within the plants.  The desert is full of life.  Lizards, snakes, huge ants, a red beetle - there was so much to see when I looked down on the ground.

But by 11am, the sun was too hot and I walked back to camp to pack up my tent and drive off.  Michelle only charged me N$150 a night for the camping.  Gogobad was one of the least expensive destinations in Namibia, but certainly one of the most rewarding from a photography perspective.

I drove then about 100km to the Rostock Ritz to spend a night in a lodge and enjoy some good food.

Sunrise in the desert

It is 90F outside right now and there is too little wind, but last night it was so cool and nice I slept in my tent in the sleeping bag.  I guess by morning the temperature was about 55F when I was awoken by the sounds of the birds at 6am.  I quickly got dressed, organized my camera gear, downed a diet coke to wake me up, and ate two breakfast bars as I made my way down to the dry river bed to begin the climb up the large dune across the river to catch the sun before it rose on the horizon.  I had seen a group of German students make the trek up the hill last night and they left copious tracks in the sand for me to follow this morning.  It was easy to find the way but it was not easy to trudge up the deep red sand this morning.  I had to pause many times in the ascent and could feel how three weeks without exercise had weakened my condition. 

But once at the top, I sat on the edge of the dune and watched the sun rise quickly to the East. 

The first light creates deep shadows across the dunes and I then spent an hour just photographing the contrast between the shallow light, dark shadows, and red dunes.

As I looked behind me I could see the sun filling in the plateau, creating new textures and shapes.  Sometimes the light desaturated the colors and everything looked black and white. 

I quickly walked down the dunes to the plateau below.  The dunes themselves rest on rocky outcrops and move gradually every year with the shifting winds.  But on the plateau, the earth is rocky and tough.  Animal tracks and dung litter the landscape, creating new opportunities for photography. 

A springbok jumped across the plain too fast for me to capture.  But a gemsbok stood and watched me approach.  I'd heard that gemsboks can be aggressive when alone so I gave him a wide berth. 

Later, I walked back to the river bed and found some plants and flowers to shoot with my macro lens.  I was only out for 3 hours, but by 9am the sun was so hot I had to go back to my room and have some water.  The experience, however, was so special I decided to spend another night in Gobobad just for the opportunity to get up early and hike across the dunes as the sun rises.  This is something so wonderful I don't want to do it just once.