Sossusvlei

The days we spent there are really extremely hot: always between 38 and 40 degrees - in the shade! The first night it doesn't cool down much either, so we toss and turn at 30 degrees. Nevertheless, it's time to wake up at half past 5 because the gate opens at 6 o'clock and we can drive towards the dunes 🏜️ The parking lot is just under 70km away and we want to be there as early as possible, because we want to climb Namibia's highest dune: Big Daddy (380 meters in altitude). The first third is by far the most difficult part for me - you keep sliding down the sand 😅🙈 in between, we can hardly believe our eyes, everything looks so spectacular!! Because it rained so much, there is water in one of the pans, which hasn't happened in about 20 years - so on one side is the famous salt pan Deadvlei, on the other is water. Amazing! Since it's Easter Sunday, we peck eggs on the 'summit' and treat ourselves to a Zirberl - cheers to the climb 🍻 afterwards it's going downhill very quickly: it only takes us 5 minutes to get back down. The Deadvlei lying there is very impressive, but extremely hot because there is no breeze. We chat a bit with a local who tells us that sometimes up to 300 people are out here - we are so glad to be able to experience everything without these crowds!

During our time in the national park, we constantly have the feeling of being chased by storms because lightning and thunder have been going on around us constantly in the past few weeks. Every night we go to bed with the possibility of having to climb back into the car if the storm comes 😅

Highlights: the incredible vastness of the dune landscape, climbing Big Daddy, magnificent sunrises and sunsets, spotting oryx antelopes and springboks, 'cinema' under the starry sky, breakfast right next to Dune 45 - wonderful!!, swimming in the canyon where there is normally no water, the different shades of yellow-orange-red and the overall atmosphere in the dune landscape