Soussusvlei - Day 1
This is a bit of a lost day as my cold/infection has really laid me out. So we are going to call a rest day with no activities planned, just sit and read and enjoy the peace and beauty of the desert. I’ll try to get a bit of sleep and see if I can shake it a bit.
Colors of Sunset
Kelly went out to take some photos as there was a bit of activity by the waterhole with a large herd of Oryx milling around the trough, occasionally head butting each other, intimidating the Springboks.
Waterhole activity
While the Oryx are dominating the waterhole the Springboks hang back, patiently waiting for the Oryx to leave so they can drink, accompanied by one lone Ostrich who comes down to join them. After an hour of waiting for the Oryx to leave the Ostrich gives up and wanders off. Kelly didn’t have much luck getting the shot she wanted as every time she was ready for the moment the Oryx would turn away or walk off.
I thought I’d give it a go and walked down by the swimming pool and managed to get a couple of pics without scaring them off, must be the good looks LoL.
Oryx
I think the Oryx are one of the most beautiful animals we have seen here with their long, straight, almost-upright or swept-back horns and large muscled bodies they look amazing.
After I've taken a couple of shots it’s back to the room to backup some images from the cameras and some rest time in bed. Kelly hangs out in the overstuffed couches reading. Ah holidays.
Looking back toward the main lodge
I’m feeling a bit better by evening, and we head down to the main lodge for dinner. The guys have arranged for a table on the upper deck for us tonight. It’s a really quiet night as everyone is still out on game drives and it feels like we have the lodge to ourselves. We sit and watch the sunset, and I’m playing with the small Canon Powershot D10 doing some flash exposures with a long shutter, I think they have potential!
Plants at sunset
The sunsets here are so beautiful and the mountains take on the most incredible colours.
Mountains at Sunset
We head up to the upper deck just after the sun has set and have a wonderful dinner and the lodge is still quiet by the time we finish.
View toward our lodge, second from the end
After dinner we head downstairs and meet up with our guide, Sigfried. Sigfried, has arranged for a drive to the Soussevlai dunes early tomorrow morning, which means a 5 am wakeup call, and he’s also arranged a session of quad bike riding over the dunes in the late afternoon. We also find out the main office has booked us in for a sunrise Balloon ride over the dunes in the morning prior to our drive back to Windhoek.
So it’s an early night for both of us as we get ready or a busy day tomorrow
