Namibia 2024: Off to the Kalahari Desert

Off to the Kalahari

Today we set off on the first leg of the journey to the Kalahari!

The Kalahari is a thorn bush savannah, partly also a dry savannah, but is occasionally referred to as a desert because of the predominant sand. Wikipedia

But before we get going, we have to fill the car with drinks and snacks.

We also buy a cooler bag, soft drinks, biltong and ice cream at Checkers in Klein Windhoek!

We then wanted to buy a Namibian SIM card from the local mobile phone provider. However, this would have meant a very long wait, as it seemed that everyone wanted to top up their prepaid credit in the shop at the change of month.

So let’s continue “offline” for now.

At 11:30 we leave Klein Windhoek.

It is only 200 kilometers to the Kalahari Red Dunes Lodge.

A very relaxing ride for our driver Carsten today.

The route is even asphalted, so that we reach the gate of the lodge at 1:40 p.m.

Now it goes about 3 kilometers through the desert sand to the lodge.

We are warmly welcomed by Cinderella.

She explains the entire system to us!

The lodge was renovated after a flood and is now really very beautiful.

From each hut you can see the waterhole, where numerous animals take turns to appear.

We actually wanted to go on the guided sundowner safari at 5 p.m.

Unfortunately, one of the off-road vehicles was broken and we will do the tour tomorrow.

As an alternative, we chose a sundowner walk on one of the red sand dunes.

With a cold drink from our backpack we experienced a kitschy beautiful sunset there!

Afterwards it was time to wash hands, comb hair and go to the main house for dinner.

The cabins and the main house are all connected by wooden walkways.

So you can even walk through the camp with open shoes without a scorpion or snake jumping over your feet.

Dinner was served to us by the very shy Helena.

We gave all 4 courses 10 out of

10 points.

After dinner we played another round of billiards and then went to our hut to listen to the mysterious sounds of the dark desert.

Good night Africa…we look forward to tomorrow!!