This post will be about a recent trip I took with my family to Namibia, South-West Africa, just above South Africa. Rather than list what we did day by day, I believe it’s best to just describe some of the most breath-taking moments of these days. The first one I’d like to share is about the excursions we did in the Namib Desert to see Dune 45 at sunrise.
We arrived at Dune 45 by 7:00 am, just before the sun rose at around 7:15, since it is winter in Namibia at this time of year. As the sun was already shining high on Asia, I could not truly see the desert surrounding the dune. The morning dew accompanied by a nearly fluorescent blue light and a cold 10°, stayed by our side during the best part of the walk uphill.
Nearly at the top of the dune, the sky began to clear and some sporadic hot breezes would caress our freezing faces.
While waking up a dune for the first time, I believe not many people feel confident enough to look around instead of watching which sand grains their bare feet are touching, so you are not aware of what surrounds you. But the first time you stop to catch some breath, inhaling that maybe too fresh air, you finally open your eyes and realise the immense beauty that is Sossusvlei.
Except for the long and straight road running through it, Sossusvlei is a vast grouping of tall sand dunes interrupted by salt and clay pans. The kind of sand dunes you dream of or that you see in photographic albums. Those that you see in print and think “Oh, how wonderful would it be to be there”. I never thought I would actually find myself on top of one of the most photographed sand dunes, in a desert which is home to the tallest dunes of the world.
Dune 45’s winding soft curves make for the perfect frame to watch the sunrise. But it’s not the only one that creates the perfect scene. The other dunes, bigger dunes, are those who truly steal the show.
You see, Dune 45 is good to take pictures on, to roll or run down its walls, or to look at the sun. But once you’re on top of it you can’t really admire it anymore. The beauty of sand dunes stands in looking at them from far away. It is in the gentle curves lightly touched by a gold-orange colour that creates symmetrical shadows, making them look two-dimensional. You can find it in the valleys between the dunes which keep a bluish-purplish hue until the sun is up in the sky.
Those same valleys nearly look disconnected from the sand dunes, as they are rocky, flat and have dead-looking trees scattered around, which never touch each other. As if they all want some privacy in that vast land.
This surreal view was made even more surreal by the perfect silence we had all unknowingly agreed on. We were there, about fifty people all sitting on top of Dune 45 in various spots, all far away from each other, of course, like the trees in the valley, as if we were waiting for something magical to happen. Holding our breath understanding that the true magic was in being able to witness such beauty – always present in our world but hardly ever thought of.
Even if for just one early morning, we were one with the desert. We were one with the sun and the sky. We were one with the trees and the rocks. It was a little intimate moment, a secret shared between us and the Earth.
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