We left the Namib Desert and the spectacular red dune landscape of Sossusvlei and headed a short way inland to the Naukluft Mountains and the former Naukluft Mountain Zebra National Park, now folded into the Namib-Naukluft National Park:
Once again, our visit to the Naukluft Mountains the Park was mostly a repeat of last year’s visit with Steve and Ki, the only difference being that this year we did an extra little hike from the campsite in addition to the full-day Olive Canyon hike (see below). However, in case you want to revist last year’s trip, here’s the link to the corresponding blog post:
overlandwithkmcgee.com/august-26-27-naukluft-mountain-zebra-park/
Briefly, the Naukluft Mountains form the eastern part of the Namib-Naukluft National Park and originally it was a separate Park designated as the Naukluft Mountain Zebra Park to protect the Hartmann’s mountain zebra, but it was folded into the Namib-Naukluft National Park in 1979. The mountains have a very complex geologic history and, as a result, contain some incredible rock formations. Here’s an example:
The mountains largely extend westwards from the Great Escarpment out to the Namib Desert, but they “feel” like they are part of the escarpment itself, although they are not. Here’s a few photos of the Naukluft escarpment and our entrance to the Park:
We had an awesome campsite with fantastic ablutions and, of course, another set of great meals by all parties. Here’s the campsite and Mark and Kirsten preparing another great curry dish:
Our first hike started from the campground and proceeded up a canyon to pools, and eventually to a waterfall but we didn’t make it that far in our short afternoon hike. We did encounter some spectacular Quiver Trees and some dazzling desert wildflowers, including some in “rock gardens”:
Day two included a full day hike up to the top of the escarpment and down the narrow Olive Canyon, including traversing a deep plunge pool along a steep rock face with the assist of a chain bolted to the rock – fun fun fun -, as well as some very cool wildflowers and wildlife sightings along the way, such as the Dassie Rat (equivalen to our Pack Rat of the American Southwest) shown in the photo below:
Our last day in the Park finished with a dinner at the Park restaurant (we were the only guests), followed by an evening at the bar watching the Canada versus Morocco World Cup knockout game (Morocco won). Let me remind you that we were in a fairly remote Park in Namibia, yet we managed a restaraunt dinner and a World Cup soccer game. In case you are surprised by this, I should point out that Namibia appears to model their Parks, and more specifically their Park facilities, after the South African Parks, in which the campgrounds are more often than not exceptional and the facillities first rate:
Not a bad way to finish off a great visit to a great little Park, right?. We are off to the coast at Walvis Bay for some fun in the dunes and in the Bay, but first a stopover to the small but famous little crossroads of Solitaire and Bushman’s Desert Camp. See you there!