Swakopmund: sand boarding, welwitschia, but alas, no racing dolphins

As we drove towards the coast of Namibia, the landscape began to change dramatically. Spitzkoppe

This little mountain is rather famous for Namibia, I guess it looks a bit like the Matterhorn back in the homeland.
Things kept getting dryer and dryer as we made our way through the Namib desert to the Pacific Ocean.
I took a little desert tour on the side, since not too many people cared about plants but I was determined to see the famous (if you are a botanist) Welwitschia.
The desert itself was spectacular

We spent a lot of our time 4 wheeling up old river beds that probably see water once every 500 years.

I think every desert has some area that they call the 'moon landscape' or something. But it works, so why not?

One of the fun things was the strips of black volcanic rock that outlined many of the hills

It's pretty, isn't it?

My first Lithops, or living stone plants, so very cool

More crazy landscapes

This one looked a bit like a dragon, frozen in stone

It doesn't really show in these pictures, but these rocks aren't simply black. They have almost a coppery sheen that is really pretty against the white.

Eventually, we entered the old river bed. Apparently, 100 years ago, while there was no running water per say, the river bed was muddy with pockets of standing water. Elephants, lions, leopards lived there, and German farmers had a heyday.But due to intentional drying up of the riverbed by planting eucalyptus (always a smart idea in a desert, get rid of the water), and use of the fresh water by an increasing population as well as a number of uranium mines, the water table is dropping at an alarming rate. It is now thought that within 20 years, the riverbed will no longer support even the hardy plants that reach their roots ever so far down to the water below.

In this region, I saw a pile of rocks that I unfortunately didn't get a picture of. But it looked very much like a sleeping rock monster, like in the never ending story. And finally, Welwitschia!

This is a very bizarre ancient gymnosperm that only grows in the Namib desert. The inflorescences are old, but this is a female

and this a male

They only have 2 leaves, and they can live for a very long time. These are younglings at ~500 years

I loved these swirly rocksPretty amazing place, isn't it?

On our way out, we drove up to the rim of the canyon and I must say, it was pretty impressive.

Then we stopped to see some sand dunes as a final hurrah before ending our tour

This little bird was very persistent in his beggingThe dunes were very pretty

The next morning I woke up super early to take a kayaking tour of Walvis Bay. Talking to the tour guide while we waited for the rest of our party, I learned we would be getting super close to cape fur seals, possibly racing dolphins, and if we were lucky, even seeing a whale or two. and then we waited, and waited, till it was obvious that no one was coming. Since singles don't cover cost (travelling in Africa alone is difficult for many reasons, but this is the main one), I got up for nothing, and the guide drove an hour for the same.

As a consolation prize, I got to slide down a sand dune on a piece of greased particle board. woo hoo. Fun sure, but compared to racing dolphins?

The dunes were admittedly stunning in the morning light, but I was a little bit cranky for some reason.

Here's my little revenge though. When I asked someone to take my picture on my turn down the dune, they used this opportunity to fill my camera with fascinating shots. To slightly soften the blow I will name no names, but boys, I told you these would make it on the internet!

Here I am, at the top getting my starting push

It was quite a long ways down, and we did get going rather fastSo it was kind of fun

Swakopmund itself was a sleepy little town

The main thing I can say is that it was cold. After weeks in the tropical heat, to be reminded that it was technically still winter was a bit of a shock.