We left Morocco on Monday morning, and after a long and complicated journey, we arrived in Namibia on Wednesday afternoon. We spent an hour or two sorting out logistics for our trip with our driver, James, and then had sundowners and a delicious dinner at the rooftop bistro on the 15th floor of the Avani hotel.
This morning, after some more logistics and other problem-solving, we left for the desert around 10 am. We stopped briefly in the town of Rehobeth (there is no beach any where nearby!), and started a long but lovely drive through impressive, high desert and mountainous valleys (altitude was well over 5,000 feet almost day.) This area was extremely arid territory, with dry riverbeds and waterfall traces, and sandy land amid the rocks. We stopped frequently to look at birds, take pictures of rocks, etc.
We reached the Gondwana lodges on the edge of the Namib desert around 3. We got settled in our amazing cottage/suite, complete without own private pool and a view of the magnificent multi colored but mostly pink dunes.
We headed out for the Sundowner Dunes tour at 4:30. We had an amazing 3 hour tour on the narrow, winding, rocky, steep tracks. Our excellent guide, Rafael, showed us all kinds of birds and animals found around the area - springboks, oryx with their long slender horns, wildebeests, a black-backed jackal, a family of owls and many other birds including the Social Weavers which build huge nests that up to 300 birds live in, and the Dune Lark, the only bird indigenous to Namibia.
The tour culminated with drinks and snacks on the top of the sand dunes that loom over the lodge, with the sunset and raindrops falling behind us. It was spectacular.
Rafael not only gave us a fun and informative tour, but also showed us a hand signal that represents Namibia. He told us that the logo for the Gondwana Lodges (of which there are several) is an open hand that represents the earth before it split apart into different continents.
We had a light dinner at the lodge, and an early night.
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