-----Teaching in Namibia-----: Sand Dunes

This adventure begins quite early in the morning as many adventures do here in Namibia. We were up before the sun and in the three cars headed down the bumpy old gravel road once again before 6 am. We made our way out of the Zebra River Lodge "farm" and onto the public road just as the sun was beginning to peek up above the canyon wall. We had quite the little trek to get to the entry of the dunes and a great and very hot adventure waiting for us there.

Helen stayed behind at the lodge so that some of the other staff members who had never been to the dunes could go instead. Because of this, Paula became the driver for the third vehicle and as it turned out, I was riding in her car. We made our way through the bumpy roads and watch the beauty of the sunrise as we weaved through the valley with the canyon walls all around us. Once we got to the dunes, we had the beauty of the piles and piles of sand to gaze upon. We stopped briefly at a small dune so the driver who was a tour guide could give us a brief over view of the history of the dunes.

She told us about how the sand had traveled a very far distance to get to where it is today. She also talked about the very red color of the sand and how it is caused by the high amount of iron and the rusting that is caused by the intense sun. The color of the sand also changed and got more orangy and brown the closer you get to the coast. Then she poured some water from a bottle on the sand to show us how porous it was. Once the water was soaked in, she dug up the area with her hands where she had poured he water and picked up a mass of sand that was now stuck together. While looking at the side we could see the different layers of the sand that had been moved across the area over time. She said it was masses like this one that over time harden and become the sedimentary rock we saw all around us there. She then took the mass of sand and rubbed it on her arm and shirt sleeve to show us how clean the sand was despite its bright red color. Finally she showed us a few animal tracks and some desert animals such as the blind golden mole, shovelnosed lizard, desert ants, and spiders. Once we were finished there, we continued driving down the road until we reached Dune 45.

At Dune 45 we ate the lunches that were packed for us by the staff at Zebra under some shady trees. After we ate, we took off up the side of the dune. At first I didn't think I would climb it since I had yet to put my tennis shoes on, but the sand was still cool enough that it didn't burn my feet. I made it almost to the top of the first hill and decided I wanted to save the rest of my energy for the other events of the day. Jill concurred with my thinking and we sat and chatted on the dune playing with the sand and overlooking the beautiful landscape. After some time, we ran down the side where our bodies sunk into the sand up to our knees in the points where the sand was the softest.

Our next stop was the dune called "Big Mama", to get there however, we had to go on an adventure. You see, the part of the road we had been driving on so far in the dunes was made of tar, but this road ended quite some time before our next destination. So, we had to drive in 4 wheel drive on pure sand. Not sure if anyone has ever done this, but it's a doozy. Paula mastered it like a champ by the end of the trip. They key is to keep going (pretty fast) so you don't get stuck and to control the wheel as best you can as it goes crazy. It's like driving on pure ice the whole way but much bumpier.

We didn't have much time at Big Mama, so we quickly hiked up to see the pan and then went back down again. We then drove over to see Big Daddy which is the biggest of the dunes here. We didn't have time (or energy for that matter) to climb it as it is 12 times as tall as Dune 45. Instead, we took a long hike from the parking area to its base through a place called Deadvlei. At the base of Big Daddy there is a large area with clay that had many dead trees sticking up out of it. These trees were about 400 years old when they died and have been dead for about 400 years now. The wood is too hard for termites to eat it and there is no moisture to rot it away, so they just stick up out of the ground forever.

Once we hiked back from the base of Bid Daddy (which was quite the feat, Jill and I felt like we were stranded in a desert) it was time to head back since the sun was getting to hot to be out on the sand in. After our drive back to the lodge, we were more than ready to hit up the pool. We spent the rest of the day lounging around, eating dinner, and gazing up at the miraculous display of the Milky Way.

The canyon wall as the sunlight first hits it in the early morning