Today we travelled from Windhoek west through the Namib Desert to Sossusvlei. This amazing desert has been in existence for some 43 million years and its current landscape has remained unchanged for the last two million years. We were in the 4 wheel drive bus for about 6 hours. The road was mostly dirt, full of potholes and had we not been belted in, would probably have hit our heads on the ceiling. What a rough ride. The land is harsh. I saw a meerkat running along a dusty roadside carrying dead prey in its mouth. Not sure what it was. We saw a jackal running as a solitary figure across the stark land. We stopped under a few trees to have a lunch that we put together ourselves. Our guide’s wife baked a lovely spaghetti lasagna type dish and we had baked beans, salad, tea and coffee and a large pack of biscuits for dessert. As we ate our lunch in the welcome shade of the trees we faced a fairly large hillside of rocks. At the top of the rocks we could see baboons sitting across the skyline and we could hear them barking. Angry barking sounds. Nearby there was a skeleton head of a baboon. All teeth were still intact.
Travellers along the road ranged from small cars through to four wheel tour buses. We also passed a donkey cart with a singular man and three little donkeys pulling it. One would not want to get lost in such a place. Hot, dusty, mountainous, eerie, stark with dangerous animals behind every rock. It was always good to get going again.
We arrived at our lodge at 3:30 and the cool showers were a welcome relief. Enjoy that photos. Try not to sweat onto your keyboard.

Our Vehicle

Six hours on these roads.

The donkey cart we passed

These birds are weavers

More road photos

Having lunch under the trees

A rock agana (lizard)

This is a Weaver’s nest. The weavers fly into it from below. More than 1000 birds can be in it. They build the next so eagles will roost above the next. When the snake climbs into the weaver’s next they all make a lot of noise. The eagle hears the weaver’s alarm calls and catches the snake. HE then lifts the snake high into the air, dropping it, catching it, dropping it, catching it until it dies. He then brings it back to earth when he eats it. Clever eh?

More beautiful scenery. 

The view from our hotel room now we have stopped. We will be here two nights.