On a horse with no name

Our journey to and from Walvis Bay and Swakopmund was pretty cool.  If you look at the country on the map, Namibia is only the size of a couple of our midwestern states combined.  Even so, we get all the landscapes.  The amazing thing about the drive is that there were no transitions.  You turn the corner and you're out of the desert and into the plains.  You top the crest of the hill and BOOM...you're in mountains.  You go from sea level to nearly a mile high in about 200 miles.  Incredible drive...even if it is all dirt road.  So, I've included some pictures in chronological order of our drive home.To the right here, you'll see the where the ocean meets the desert again.  

 Here is the desert.  We cruised through nothing but sand and gradual desert vegetation for about 70 miles.  It's the straightest road I've ever been on.  Straighter and flatter than Kansas if you can imagine that.

You'll notice it stayed flat, but we got some grass.  With the grass came a few animals.  The most impressive (and within picture range) was this Gemsbock here.  It's a gorgeous animal.  It took off running and we were able to stay with it for a few kilometers before it changed directions.  Really a remarkable animal.  In a related story, we had Gemsbock fajitas last night.  So, apart from magnificent, also quite delicious.

Same story with this fella.  This is a Springbock.  Really fast.  We were cruising along around 60 kph and this little guy was keeping up right in stride.  You'll notice the fence posts.  Well, he didn't.  He decided he wanted to come our direction and went right through the fence, doing a full flip, and crashing in the weeds.  He didn't jump right up either.  We stopped and went back to check on him when he got up and tried to jump back over the fence, only to another flip and crash to the ground before taking off across the field.


A little further down the road, we happened upon this riverbed in the mountains.  The mountains were incredible.  You can kind of see the ridges in the side that look like God swept over the region with a comb.  The entire area of about 50 km looked like they were formed quickly and violently.  This picture doesn't do it any justice.  I'll try to find some others. It's very impressive and breathtaking.  I never got bored looking out the window.

 You can kind of see the rolling hills that created deep, deep caverns in the landscape.  These were for as far as they eye could see.  I've really never seen any other formation quite like it.

So, there you have a brief tour of the Namib desert.  Amazing drive, absolutely amazing.  Next week we are going to Etosha, and game reserve in the north, so I should have more pictures coming.  Hopefully, we'll get to see the "lion's share" of the Big 5.  Get it? "Lion's share"?  Seriously.  I really want to see a lion.  

  

The other side of the desert

 We took time to be tourists this weekend.  After church on Sunday, we (Bryan, Dana, family friend Sybille, and the four of us) departed for the coastal town of Walvis Bay.  A little bit of history, Walvis Bay is one of the few deep ports on this side of the horn of Africa.  It's such a crucial port that when Namibia became an independent country in 1990, South Africa refused to release Walvis Bay.  However, in 1994 South Africa finally gave Namibia their prized port.  To your left, you'll see the sunset at the lagoon in Walvis.

After breakfast on Monday, we loaded up in the car and drove outside of Walvis Bay by about 15 km and came to Dune 7.  Namibia is home to the largest sand dunes in the world, which are even more amazing because they are right next to the coast.  It's a pretty impressive sight as there is absolutely no transition from ocean to desert.  Since we were at the dune, we had to climb the dune.

Topher climbed the dune 2.5 times.  We were incredibly impressed as he trekked up there twice and seemed like he would've gone more if we weren't exhausted.  He went with Kaci and Bryan for the second trip and they came across a Namibian at the top.  When he came down he said to me "I'm very impressed with your son.  I can't believe he has climbed it twice and it keeps pushing them to go on. He won't stop and they're at their max."  I think this phenomenon can be explained that Topher has a shirt back home that says "Sand Lover".  It's obviously true.

We then drove down the coast to some of the nicer beaches.  The water travels from the south from Antarctica.  Furthermore, it's winter.  So, the water was quite frigid.  When we arrived the high tide was coming in so Topher and I played chicken.  The game was going well till the tide knocked him off balance and he fell in.  He embraced the moment and the fact that he was wet to go ahead and play in the water a bit more bravely.  I'm not sure how, but he did.  In the picture to the right you can see another dune in the background.  It shows how the desert butts right up to the ocean.  The thing about Namibia is that you never run out of beach.

We travelled another 20-30 km down the coast to the tourist haven of Swakopmund.  We went there solely for coffee and sunset.  We were able to walk out to a jetty and watch the water crash into the rocks.  Because of the mist around Swakop, the sunset delivers some pretty amazing colors and really lights up the splashing water.  You can also see below the misty haze it casts on the city.  It's an impressive spot.

We only stayed through Monday and had to return Tuesday (today).  We drove to and fro through the Namib desert, which was also spectacular.  But, more on that tomorrow.

Biking Adventures Redux

We were finally able to get back on the bike today.  It was a special time.  Sure, its great exercise and bonding and all that.  But, what it really came down to was the opportunity to watch the human spirit prevail over a nemesis.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, refer to previous posts.

Superman had kryptonite and Lex Luthor.

Batman had the Joker.

Democrats have Republicans, and vice versa.

Children have broccolli.

Skydivers have gravity.

Large people have gravity.

Small people have large people.

Gravity has outer space.

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Bryan Bullington had train tracks....until today.

Bryan, 1.  Train Tracks, 0.  Well, I guess technically the train tracks were in the lead to begin with and Bryan just evened the score today, but, whatever.....