A great day in the desert: Bloedkoppie and Tinkas Dam

Marooned!

Due to heavy rainfall inland, the Swakop River made a rare appearance at the coast (its mouth is south of Swakopmund). Unfortunately, it managed to wash away the back road that links Swakopmund with Walvis Bay. These photos were taken last night, looking west and northwestwards.

A special time of day

Locations:

1. On the banks of the Zambezi

2. An oshana (standing water after the floods) NW Namibia

3. Swakopmund, Atlantic Ocean

4. Walvis Bay Lagoon, Atlantic Ocean

5. A sand road in the bush, NW Namibia

6. The Kavango ... just before the croc arrived

Kuiseb River - water ... or chocolate??!

On Sunday afternoon we headed into the desert - along with what seemed to be half the local population - to see a rare event. For most of the year, the Kuiseb river bed lies dry and empty. During the rainy season (now) water flows down it from inland, but almost never makes it to the sea (our lagoon is/used to be the 'mouth' of the river). But, sometimes, the waters make it quite near Walvis Bay and the shallow, fast-flowing water makes it a fun place for the children.

You can see Etienne in the dry river bed in the January trip to Gobabeb (directly below this posting).

In the background, behind David, you can see the red sand dunes (Rooibank) across the river. In the posting below you can see photos of this spectacular red Sand Sea.

There was also a church out there, presumably for the Topenaar community.

To see the children enjoying the silty waters: www.matthiasmail.blogspot.com.

For more about the Kuiseb you can Wiki it.

PS We get our town water from bore holes into the river bed. When the river flows like this the pipes get damaged. At the moment, we only get water in our taps for a couple of hours each morning and evening whilst they fix it. So we came back dirty from the river swim but had to wait to shower it off! We are not complaining, though. A couple of years' ago the town was TOTALLY without water for quick a while.

A day away

At the tail-end of our break, we decided to 'get away from it all'! As David works over the weekends, it was a great chance to get away before school starts on Monday (Caris into Grade 4 and Étienne into Grade 6).

We drove 2 hours out into the desert to an renewable energy research station called Gobabeb (www.gobabebtrc.org). It was lovely just to be together and enjoy the quiet. We swam in the pool, walked along the dry Kuiseb River bed, and climbed the red sand dunes of the Namib sand sea.

They harvest water from the fog that rolls inland, and power from solar panels.

Despite the hyper-aridity, there were even mammals around. We saw a Springbok in the middle of 'nowhere'!

Overnight at Gobabeb Research Station

Picnic at Vogelfederberg (Bird Feather Mountain) on way to Gobabeb