2002 Namibia - Namib desert I started by driving over the highland, through the desert and towards the coast. I also found the special Walwitchia plant, and tried a sky dive over the Namib desert.
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After I arrived in Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia, I rented a car, and started driving over through the Khomas Hochland from the central plateau to the Namib Desert plains and the coastal town of Swakopmund. The distance was nearly 350 kilometer, and most of the way the roads were not tarred.
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At some places, the road is in a very bad condition, but to compensate, the scenery is beautiful.
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Behind the car was only a large cloud of dust.
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There are no petrol stations or kiosks between Windhoek and Swakopmund, not even a signal for mobile phones. On average, I met a car every 30-40 minutes.
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The last 150 kilometers ran through the Namib-Naukluft Park, where I passed these ostriches.
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Closer to the sea, the landscape changes to a desert.
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These are the sand dunes between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay.
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And this is me driving around in the sand.
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Some of the slopes were quite steep and long.
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The desert goes all the way to the beach. It is always misty at this coast, and this day was no exeption.
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One day I drove 40-50 kilometer into the Welwitschia Plains to see the welwitschia plant. This plant can only be found in certain areas of Namibia and Angola, and it is believed that they can grow for 2000 years.
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I also wanted to see this desert from above, so I signed up for a tandem skydive from 10000 feet - or 3 kilometer above the sand, and about 2.5 kilometer above the clouds. This is when we are jumping out of the small airplane.
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The first seconds is called the "oh shit" period.
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After a few seconds, a small parachute is released, to adjust for the extra weight of two persons (with only the air resistance of one), so that we will fall in the same speed as the cameraman who jumped out at the same time. For about 30 seconds we raged towards the ground in 200 km/h. It was great! And the view was wonderful.
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The Trans-Kalahari Highway between Swakopmund and Windhoek.
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Not much water in Ekararu river. The only river I saw water in was the Swakop, and even that wasn't much. Not even enough to get your anckles wet.
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In the highlands, closer to Windhoek, there were many such termite hills.
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