Great couple of days

Well as the title might suggest we have had a fantastic few days packed with fun, gorgeous mountains, and massive sand dunes. Since the start of our trip we have gone through 2 cars and have travelled a total of 4,500 miles. We have just under 4 weeks left and have already scene things I have dreamt about my entire life.

Saturday morning we left Windoak early and headed south west to Sousuvle near the coast. That is where the worlds highest sand dunes are. The drive was only 300 kilometers but we were driving through mountain passes and on dirt roads the whole way so it took a little over 8 hours. As we traversed the mountain passes heading deep into the Namibian desert we were accompanied by gorgeous views of the African Veld.

The roads in Namibia are very interesting indeed. There are 4 or 5 main roads in the country and they are pretty much the only tarred roads. All the other roads are a mixture of dirt, gravel, rocks, and sand. Some are decent others are horrendous. The quality often changes in the blink of an eye. It is a big country with a small population. For the majority of our drive yesterday we were the only car we saw.

We arrived to the place we were going to camp around 4 o-clock with a thick film of dust all over our bodies. I was too tired to shower so I lied down and read my book ina hammock looking up at the mountains. The sun started to set around 715 and so we headed up into the mountains to get a better view. The sun melted in open veld in front of us turning the entire sky orange. We headed back to our camp and started a fire. As we sat back with our feet up we just happened to be facing east the dirrectino the moon was to rise. the sky was completely black and then we watched as a full moon,as bright as I have ever seen in my life, seemed to rise from inside the moutnains we were looking at. It was by far one of the most amazing things I have seen in my life. Without trying to sound corny it literally took my breath away with how beautiful it was.

We went to bed early that night because the following morning we were going to get up at 430 to drive to the highest sand dunes int he world to watch the sunrise. We awoke and started driving west. We could have driven without our lights and only with the light from the moon (I would have done this if I was not nervous about hitting one of the many animals along the way).

If you have ever seen a picture of Namibia it is sure to have a shot of the sussuvle sand dunes in it. They are bright red and over 300 meters high (about 1000 feet). When the sun rose over the dunes the colors changed hughs before our eyes (I will put pictures up when I get back to the US the Internet is too slow here). We hiked to the top of the dunes and ran down, or rather ran/tumbled down. We then went to a place called dead vle. it was nearby and as we walked over the dunes to see what they call dead vle. This was a place of erie beauty. It is a dried up pond which is an off white. The trees have all been dead for thousands of years and they are still standing. It is completely surrounded with towering red sand dunes and that led into the cloudless blue sky. the entire place reminded me of a children's book. None of it seemed real, it was just too massive, too gorgeous, too amazing.

Yesterday we drove to sacomond in the north west. The drive only took about 5 hours and when we arrived we went in search of the flamencos we had heard about. Well, we did not have to search far. as soon as we got to the coast we could see them. In fact it was hard to see the water. There were thousands upon thousands of flamencos all various sizes and colors. We hung out with them for a little while and then found the place where we were going to camp. This morning we woke up for a day I have been waiting for for a long time. The day of sand dune surfing!!! We got picked up at 930 and headed out to the dunes. The city is surrounded by miles and miles of sand. The sand looks similar to the ocean except frozen and yellow. We were issued our sand boards and we hiked to the top of the dunes. I strapped in and point my board south. It was amazing flying down the sand trapped a board. My next run I thought I was professional enough to launch myself off the huge jump built into the sand. Well I launched myself for sure but there was nothing professional about it. I landed on my face to the shouts and cheers of everyone watching. I got it caught on video so that helped take some of the sting away.

We sand boarded the rest of the day but I kept clear of the suicidal jump. They also had sand sleds which I think I liked even better. It is a piece of thick card board and you down and slide face first. My first run I made it up to 61 kph but my second run I blew that speed away when I clocked in at 70 KPH. I was sweet indeed. We are headed off to Etsosha national park tomorrow to find the elusive cheetah, leopard, and LIONS!!! Not sure if I am going to have internet for the next few weeks but we will see...