The meaning of “Namibia” means “land of endless space”. The final leg of our trip begins with two nights in the picturesque town of Swakopmund which divides the Skeleton Coast and the Namib sand dunes; it then takes us down through what can only be described as endless space! The group thoroughly enjoyed their time in Swakopmund as there are plenty of activities to keep busy with, such as skydiving, sandboarding and fishing plus many many more; a few of the group took themselves off for an afternoon of sandboarding whilst Minwoo and I went out to the jump site for some skydiving. As a self confessed adrenaline junkie out of all the activities on offer across the tours that we do I have to say that this is my favourite!
After Swakopmund we head south through the Namib-Naukluft park, the oldest desert in the world is stunning as we drive past sand dunes that have been formed over thousands of years and have literally changed the course of eco-systems in the area. We stop so that the group can go out on a guided desert tour where they learn about the local boesman culture, about the wildlife in the park and also how the sand dunes are formed; they pick up useful information so as not to get lost whilst out on the dunes….I won’t spoil this as you have to come and witness it first hand :-). We arrived at our campsite outside of Sossusvlei ready for an early night as we are climbing sand dunes the following day and have to be up before sunrise so as to reach the top of Dune 45 before the sun spills over the horizon. The group made it to the top in time and witnessed the beauty of the surrounding dunes as they were painted with the early morning sun.
After a visit to sossusvlei we move further south towards the Fish River Canyon; the second largest canyon in the world really does take your breath away and as you are lost in it’s magnitude you suddenly feel very small in scale. We walk along the canyon edge up to the viewpoint where we enjoy snacks and a couple of beers whilst we wait for sunset. A beautiful evening and our last in Namibia. So it was off to South Africa! Our stop on the Orange river saw most of the group come rock climbing and exploring the canyons with me, it was hard work but satisfying as we captured stunning views from the top, whilst walking down through the canyon we saw first hand how the river had created the meanders and explored the naturally formed caves, and collected some Quartz crystals as souveniers on our way down. Our last night was in the wine regions of the Western Cape and the group enjoyed
their final meal together, some rugby and a few games of pool to relax at the end of a great trip before hitting Cape Town the following day.
The ending of a trip in Cape Town is always bitter sweet as it is lovely to be home however after a great trip you don’t want it to end!