Sesriem

Today we drove through some pretty countryside. The road travelled around some small mountains, passing through the valleys rather than climbing over them. We saw heaps of springbok, some gemsbok, ostriches and a black-backed jackal along the way. We even had a herd of springbok travel with us alongside and in front of the car for a few kilometres. They definitely have some stamina and can travel at quite a speed. Even after staying with us for some time they were still moving at 60 km/h. They are quite cute the way they hop on all 4 legs into the air, which is apparently called pronking. It was definitely a highlight of the day.

We are now in Sesriem, staying at the Sesriem Camp – which even though yesterday when I rang they assured us they were fully booked and could not possibly reserve us a site, we were able to secure a perfect spot when we arrived! So, don’t believe anything you are told over the phone and turn up anyway! We have a pleasant site, slightly away from the other sites with a huge tree providing shade and a gentle breeze blowing – not a bad way to spend the afternoon.

We took a walk through the Sesriem Canyon this afternoon. It is an odd small canyon, that is more like a large crevice,  that has appeared for some reason here. We walked to the bottom as it isn’t that deep and along the riverbed for a bit. All in all it was quite a pleasant walk.

Tomorrow we are aiming to get to the dunes for sunrise. The gate opens at 5am for us as we are staying within the park (for those staying outside the park it opens at 6am) and it is about 45 minutes drive to the dune. Definitely an early start and I am not looking forward to the actual climb up the dune!