under the namibian sun

another fantastic weekend. can it get any better?

friday me and 5 of my friends rode out in our combi (van-ish "allibian!" type vehicle) with our driver joe in search of the world's tallest dunes in the namib desert.

the drive in was absolutely stunning. the sun was low and shining on the mountains in all the right places. we saw lots of wild baboons and they scattered up the mountain like spiders. it was so cool!

we decided to set up camp in a game park (makes sense) but we didn't want to pay for an actual campsite, so the side of the road looked pretty promising. (i like to think all the animals were hanging out in our campsite in the middle of the night). after we pitched the tents and made a bonfire, we were lucky enough to see a beautiful sunset over the mountain ranges, and pledged to wake up for the sunrise in the morning.

...

the alarm went off around 5, i think we mozied out of the tents around 6. we didn't exactly see the sunrise as planned, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

we ventured into sossusvlei park, home of the world's largest sand dunes. after driving the 20 km inbetween mounds and mounds of red sand, we had to park the car because the combi lacks the 4 wheel drive. we walked the last 5 km to the main dunes. it was quite a hike. we finally reached our destination and picked a dune to climb. it took us a good 3-4 hours to get to the top at noon (during the high sun. thanks heat). we had a picnic lunch at the peak and enjoyed the sights from up so high. we were surrounded by nothing but sand! literally, the desert. and it was so big! (which is crazy because the sahara is supposed 30x its size!)

we ran down the dune and it took us a good 5 minutes! (thats how flippin tall it was). we ended our jog down in "dead vlei," which is basically a dried up lake from 10s of thousands of years ago. lots of dead trees are in it and its almost like a ghost town. it is so eerie and cool and surrounded by so many sand dunes. it was an awesome sight! (until we tried to climb the trees and got tons of splinters. cool.)

becky and adela decided to pay teh N$60 to get a ride back in a safari vehicle to our car. just as the rest of us cheapies were about to embark on the long 5km walk back........ an angel came in the form of a friendly polish couple who offered us a ride. YES. the stars were aligning. we rode back and saw lots of animals along the way, included gemsbok, antelope, ostriches, and oryx! it all worked out so well. becky and adela even learned from their driver that we climbed the tallest sand dune in sossusvlei! the world's freakin TALLEST sand dune. sup.

we then drove to sesriem canyon, we put our swimsuits on and were all ready to jump into the water and rinse the sand out of hair (or at least try)... little did we remember that it is DRY SEASON. there was not a drop of water in the canyon. why are we blonde? it actually worked out though because we got to climb down into the canyon and creep around in the caves, have close encounters with baboons, and later snuck into a lodge's pool and swam before they kicked us out.

we camped out on the road again, this time in an area that was unfamiliar to all of us (including our driver). we heard jackal's howling in the night. and of course, after me and emily specifically told joe not to put the rain block on our tent so we could look at the stars through the roof, it rained in the middle of the night.

mind you, it has not rained a lick since we got here.

so funny.

after emily jumped out of the tent, grabbed the rain guard, and put it on, it stopped raining.

go figure.

:) this morning we traveled about another hour to a lodge with BIG CATS. we got to get up close and personal with 5 cheetahs, a leopard, and a caracal. i love cats in a way that is borderline obsessive. and these ones were no different! there were 2 wild cheetahs that we could stand about 5-10 ft from, the leopard was too wild to be in the same area as, and the caracal was chillin in a tree when we stopped by. then we had the chance to play, pet, snuggle 3 tame cheetahs- they licked our hands and sucked our thumbs and nuzzled their cute little heads. it was... AWESOME.

photographs: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2001155&l=180a0&id=1166100002

and now a 3 week adventure lies ahead of me. my rural homestay starts on tuesday, which includes a week of no electricity, no toilets, and houses made of dried dung. can't wait to get down on the FARM! :) and week 2 we are traveling to etosha, the infamous game park in the north. hopefully i'll make friends with some giraffes, elephants, and zebras! and then week 3 i am going to victoria falls in zambia/zimbabwe, and to botswana for hopefully hippopotamus sightings.

i'll be back on oct 27. i won't have any access to internet or communication... so talk to you then!

love!