Helmeringhausen

Trip Start Jun 23, 2008

Trip End Sep 08, 2008

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Where I stayed

Campsite

(Helmeringhausen hotels)

Flag of Namibia Helmeringhausen, Namibia
Wednesday, August 6, 2008

A night was spent camping in Helmeringhausen to break up the trip to Sesriem. We arrived quite early in the afternoon and had a full afternoon to relax by the pool. Even though this is Africa and perceptions are that it is a continent that is warm and dry, it gets down to less than 10C at night so the swimming pool water was not warm at all. For the more energetic amongst us there was a hill to climb which gave fantastic views of the surrounding area. Not done with the hill climb, a few of us went for a run along the main road. To give you an idea of the remoteness of the area, we ran about 3km from the campsite and back and only saw one 4x4 driving past us as it left a trail of dust. We returned to the campsite and all agreed that we must be quite high up as the run had left us struggling for breath at times. This was later confirmed when the NerveCentre set a waypoint on the GPS on his phone and informed us that we were about 1100m above sea level.

Sesriem Campsite

From Helmeringhausen we drove to Sesriem to go to Sossusvlei and to see Dune 45. This dune is the most recognisable of the dunes in the Namib desert. It is known as Dune 45 because it's 45km from Sossusvlei and 45 dunes from the ocean. We climbed up to the top of the dune and from the top, all that was visible were more and more dunes. It is hard to believe that there are some animals living in this area. The dunes offered some fantastic photo opportunities and with the setting sun the orange glow really highlighted the colour of the sand. Running back down the dunes as we left was a great thrill as we could leap from the sand all the way down.

Visiting this famous place which I had seen in many photos of coffee-table-style travel books had been the highlight so far and I was glad I was travelling in this direction towards Victoria Falls with so many more highlights on the road ahead of us.

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