Flying Adventure: Namibia Tour – Day 4 (FYGE – FYLZ – FYGK):
Today we are flying to our second Namibia highlight destination. The Sossusvlei, or “dead end marsh”, a seasonal river which empties into the Namib Naukluft desert.
Flight to Lüderitz
On our first leg, we fly from the Fish River Canyon over the Sperrgebiet to the coastal town of Lüderitz. We need some fuel to make it to the next re-fueling point. It is another beautiful clear day with amazing visibility.
What he did not know was that in Namibia, unlike in South Africa, flight plans must be filed whenever one flies into or from a controlled airfield. In South Africa a flight plan is only required from a controlled airfield to another controlled field. The Lüderitz tower controller pointed that out to him. The response that he was not aware of this requirement, was the plain truth, and the apology was kindly accepted. He therefore went up to the tower to file flight plans for the next legs to make sure we comply with the local air law.
Flight to the Sossousvlei
From Lüderitz we take a scenic route along the coastline up north. It is still morning, and the ocean is covered in a layer of mist. Namibia’s coast has a very cool climate, influenced by the Benguela current, which brings cold polar water from Antarctica. The current then meets the desert and forms a layer of mist during the late afternoons until the late morning, when the heat from the sun is strong enough to burn it off.
As we reach the latitude of the Sossusvlei we route westwards over the Dead Valley along the vlei to our destination, the Sossusvlei Le Mirage resort.
The Sossousvlei and Sesriem canyon
The Sossousvlei is a salt pan, where the Tsauchab river meets the large dunes of the Namib Naukluft desert which prevent it from reaching the Atlantic ocean, a good 60 kilometers away. Because of the bone-dry climate, the Tsauchab doesn’t carry any water for most of the year. Therefore the pan is totally dry most of the time leaving the salty clay crust of the river bed exposed. It is beyond doubt one of the most spectacular sceneries nature has to offer. This is exacerbated by the massive red dunes surrounding the vlei, which belong to the largest in the world with some reaching almost 400 meters in height.
The biggest dune is the Big Daddy Dune. The name probably implies already that it’s the largest. Some of us, including him, conquer the scorching heat and climb to the top of Big Daddy. Primarily for the views, secondarily for the ego.
From the Big Daddy dune we descend down into the Dead Vlei with its skeletons of trees. According to scientific tests, these trees have died around 600 to 700 years ago. Because the place is so dry, the trees could never decompose due to the absence of moisture. They just turned black and scorched by the intense heat.
On on our return to Le Mirage we stop by the Sesriem canyon. The canyon is about 1 kilometer long and up to 30 meters deep. The name “Sesriem” is Afrikaans for “six thongs”. The early settlers had to join six thongs to get a bucket down to the water.
Fortunately, he did not need any thong to reach a cold beer after our return.
