Namibia day 4 - Flight over the dunes

It was another early start this morning, we left the lodge at 6am to drive to the helicopter pad where we were booked to do an early morning flight in a doors-off helicopter. This was an optional extra on the original photography trip that I was booked on, and friends who had previously done that trip said it was worth every penny and a must! Our pilot was a young man, but very accomplished and I felt confident stepping into the small helicopter that had no doors so that you could take photos without anything blocking your view. All you had was a lap belt holding you in, and he warned us not to stick our hands or camera out the helicopter as the vortex could cause us to lose our cameras. Yikes! I did not realise how windy it would be without doors, my cheeks felt like Xena’s when they flap as she runs and I am sure even my eyelids were blowing in all sorts of directions! It was much harder to take photos than I realised, but oh my goodness, the scenery from up there as we flew over the red sand dunes of the Namibia-Naukluft park was incredible. We watched the sun rising over the mountains and it was so beautiful. We could identify all the big red dunes that we visited yesterday, and we flew over Deadvlei, Sossusvlei, then back over the mountains to the landing pad. The flight was an hour long, and while I was rather nervous I am so glad that I went. I took so many photos!

The first extra is of the sun rising over the dunes, you can see the white clay pan of Deadvlei which is much larger that one thinks when standing in it looking at the trees.

After we landed Toni collected us and we found a picnic spot to have our breakfast. Then we went on to Sesriem Canyon, which is located near the gate to the Namibia- Nauklift park. The second extra is of the beautiful landscape as we drove there. By now it was incredibly hot, 33C at 10.30 in the morning! The canyon is small but has a fascinating rock structure, and we walked along the dry river bed. March is generally considered the off season to visit Namibia as it is the end of the rainy season, but they have had so little rain this year which is very sad and everything is so dry. So it’s good for visitors as it is not too busy, but sad that the rains have been poor yet again this year. Being in Africa you soon realise what a precious commodity water is.

When we got back to our lodge Tommy had a tutoring session before lunch. It got hotter and hotter so we opted not to do anything this afternoon, Gavin had some emails to attend to and I wanted to edit my photos. I also read Blip journals and caught up a bit. It was just too hot to go out again.

Tomorrow morning we leave here to drive to Swakopmund where it will be much cooler as it gets the cool breeze off the sea. We will be taking a scenic route with many stops along the way. It will be another full day so not sure when I can look at journals again.