Namibia 2014

Wednesday1October

We leave the Klein Aus Vista campsite and its goats to join the Tok Tokkie trek 2h30 drive from here!

And here we are with plenty of oryx and springboks to welcome us!

The reception of the Tok Tokkie Trail and its small flower garden in the middle of the desert.

Red-headed finches (Amadina erythrocephala) also enjoy the garden.

The local oryx and springboks gather here, taking advantage of the waterholes.

And so, after picnicking on the house terrace, a car takes us a few kilometers from here for the start of the trek. Sébastien, whose real name is Sebastiaan Kazimbu, will accompany us and, above all, guide us through this desert for the next 48 hours.   His mission is simple: bring us back alive in 2 days!  

So there will be 5 of us to explore this small corner of the Namib desert. The program consists of very easy walks to reach two different bivouacs where we will spend two nights under the stars!

During this walk, we pass between fairy circles. These are bare circles devoid of any vegetation. Scientists still haven't agreed on an explanation for this phenomenon, though the trend would lean towards ancient areas occupied by termites, particularly Psammotermes allocerus, the only species found under all the circles...

Not a soul for miles around. The landscape is superb, the world is ours!!!  

Our guide knows his subject and doesn't fail to tell us about the nature around us, especially the friendly beetles we regularly encounter. Here, a furry beetle (Sparrmannia flava).

And here is one of the representatives of the Tok tokkie! Indeed, this is the nickname given to these desert beetles. Tok tok is the sound these little insects make by tapping their posterior on the ground...

And here's another beetle, a Pachysoma rodriguesi.

And yet another from the Tenebrionidae family.

These species, like the tok tokkie, have been able to adapt to their environment thanks to a few stratagems, especially for finding water. The trick is simple: in the early morning when the air is most humid, the little beetle climbs to the top of the dune and... does a handstand! By doing so, droplets of water accumulate on its body, allowing it to quench its thirst to face the hot day ahead!    

After the beetles, here's a big orthopteran with a crazy head! Apparently it's a grasshopper (Caelifera) from the Pamphagidae family, but nothing is less certain...  

The wind becomes an artist, drawing waves on the red sand.

Sébastien is also an artist and pulls out a handkerchief in which he puts a magnet... By simply passing this small setup over the ground, all the iron hidden in the sand attaches to the fabric. It is indeed this iron that gives the dunes their black nuances. Once the metal is collected, all he has to do is write the theme of our trip!  

We often see traces of its passage, but here it showed the tip of its snout, the reticulated desert lizard (Meroles reticulatus).

And here are the tracks of springboks...  

Here we are at our first bivouac with our camp beds.

The panorama surrounding us is splendid!

This bivouac always remains here, but it's really well done; nothing spoils this corner of the desert, despite the dry toilets on one side and the bucket shower on the other...

And in the middle, the kitchen area with two cooks waiting for us!

The large mattress-duvets rolled up at the end of the bed will perfectly protect us from the cold. Indeed, the nights are very fresh in the desert!

Water previously heated is put into this bucket and hop! You can wash yourself facing the desert in complete tranquility!  

The meal is perfect, the aperitif is even planned!  

Thursday2October

And it was around 2 in the morning that I accidentally opened my eyes, and became completely fascinated and hypnotized by this starry ceiling. After regaining my senses, I immediately took out my camera and tried to take some photos of the sky.

Having been passionate about stargazing for a long time, I quickly recognized, among others, the constellation of Orion (photo above). Then, in the part I rarely observe because it's only visible from the Southern Hemisphere, two enormous white patches caught my attention, as I had never seen anything like it... These two shapes fascinated me, and I was incredulous at the sight! And it wasn't until the next day that I understood they were the two Magellanic Clouds!!!   These are two neighboring galaxies of our Milky Way that are only clearly visible in regions without light pollution. And the Namib Desert is one of these privileged places, so privileged that this area of the world is part of the "International Dark Sky Reserves"! It's certain, I will remember this first night in the desert for a long time!  

They are not very visible in my photo, but by enlarging the image, you will clearly see the two galaxies: On the left, the Large Magellanic Cloud, and on the right, the Small Magellanic Cloud.

And the blue sky finally erases its luminous stars from the celestial vault... But rest assured, throughout the night, every time I woke up, I checked that my galactic clouds were still there!  

And the first rays come to warm us through the savannah grasses.

A few red-headed finches (Amadina erythrocephala) to start this morning.

After breakfast, we leave our bedside kerosene lamps to begin our second day of walking.

And to change from beetles, here's a neuropteran, in fact an antlion larva (Myrmeleontidae).

We are in a desert and trees are rare, but that doesn't stop us from encountering once again the enormous nests of the sociable weavers (Philetairus socius).

Seen from below the nest, one can see all the work of these birds who unite their forces to build this high-rise and its multiple entrances revealing the internal labyrinth of the nest.

Another pretty darkling beetle.

A small ascent to elevate the viewpoint and all the mountainous relief unfolds before us.

The sun is beating down hard, it's hot but contrary to expectations, the heat is very bearable and the walk very pleasant. Here, I'm making a short video next to a tree assailed by flies, but that wasn't the case elsewhere, fortunately!

In the distance, two zebras also enjoy the wide open spaces.

Lunch break under this provided tent.

Our sociable weaver friends were eagerly awaiting us! An opportunity for me to get to know them much closer by letting them peck from my hand!

They are not the only ones enjoying the place; a small field mouse, lizards, and other wasps also squat the area...

Sébastien's keen eye doesn't let us miss the star reptile of the area, the Namaqua chameleon (Chamaeleo namaquensis)!

Spotted like a leopard, striped like a tiger, it has eyes everywhere, as they say (see video)!  

Acacia pods.

We find other fairy circles in much larger numbers, and from the top of the embankment, the whole is truly incredible and superb.

The Moon does not fear the Sun and proudly shows its craters (through the camera's zoom, of course...).

And here we are already at our second bivouac for our second night. The setup is identical to the first. Camp beds, kitchen, dry toilet, and the bucket shower!

The shower and the magnificent view you have when you take your shower!  

The cook agrees to repeat a few phrases in her incredible language: Khoisan! It is one of those famous dialects that has 4 additional letters in its alphabet. They are unpronounceable for us because they are "clicks" that must be made by clicking one's tongue! Listen to this...

Left video, the 4 "clicks" in a single sentence ("let's dance" in English). Right video, our menu from the day before in English then in Khoisan.

Friday3October

Second awakening in the Namib Desert.

Chilly breakfast on the seats of the Tok Tokkies Trails.

And off we go again to leave our ephemeral traces in the desert dunes.

The Scarabaeus rubripennis didn't wait for us to start its day...

Acacias widely populate this corner of the desert.

Yet another curiosity that only an initiated person will be able to see. It's a burrow of a ctenizidae spider from the family of trapdoor spiders. An operculum closes the burrow and makes it disappear from the ground. The animal remains ready to emerge from its lair just long enough to catch its prey a few centimeters from the burrow's entrance...

The end of the trek is approaching and we pass by NaDETT (Namib Desert Environmental Education Trust), a kind of school that teaches, and I quote the brochure: "to protect Namibia's natural environment by teaching its citizens sustainable living techniques." The welcome there is very friendly and we are treated to a demonstration of different solar ovens.

And there you have it, the sign confirms it, we were indeed in an "international dark sky reserve"! A protected area ensuring the most total darkness in the night sky, thus allowing for the most beautiful observations!

As soon as we return to our starting point, we will hit the road again to reach Sesiem and the Sossusvlei desert with its majestic dunes.