talk about an early start into the day: at 6:40 in the morning, we were already at the foot of dune 45, sossusvlei [G] - heading towards a good spot to watch the sunrise.
within just 5 days, it had become kind-of a tradition to watch the sun rise or set whenever possible. :-)
a sunrise in the red dunes of the sossusvlei was something very unique.

it was pretty chilly that morning, and we hadn’t been in namibia long enough to remember that it can get cold overnight. at least it wasn’t as cold as when two friends were there in 2006: they ended up trying to unfreeze the windshield using hairspray and a butane lighter…

even after sunrise, the view was still almost unbearably stunning!

we spent enough time up on dune 45 for all kinds of crazy photo motives (i’ll admit that i had prepared for that specific opportunity).
after breakfast, there was some botanizing (of course) done in the area, and then a hike in the dunes, to get to the actual sossusvlei salt-pan [G]. every few years, when there’s enough rain, it is transformed into a short-lived lake.
during our four-hour walk through the red dunes, we got a good impression of what “desert” actually stands for.

in the evening, we made a quick stop at sesriem canyon [G] and - naturally - took some extra time to watch the sun set.

[view photos: dune 45, sossusvlei, sesriem canyon]
[view photos: the botanical side]

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as cool as viruses are - imagine a little snippet of genetic information that hijacks a host’s cell and forces it to make more of these snippets, then pack each one up neatly in a special protein coating and send them out to invade other cells - i was reminded this week (and last weekend) that they’re also a huge pain in the ass…

check out my new …”shoes”:

well, i’ve had them for some time now, but never got to blog about them…
they’re called vibram fivefingers, and they’re really cool to wear. [more...]

this is what i found in the terms&conditions of a european rental car company:

“Minimum age: 23 years, maximum age: 75 years.
 For drivers with an italian or spanish driver’s license, the minimum age is 30.”

my little chef brother’s first cookbook was just released, and it became even better than we expected!
he’s been putting a lot of effort into it over the past months, and i think it has really paid off.

Einfaches. Abwechslungsreiches. Leckeres.
Die beliebtesten Rezepte von chefrezepte.at

congrats, bruderherz!
 

[more...]

september 4th was almost entirely a driving day. on the one hand, that’s an “i’m hot and sitting in a moving box with at least 20 other sweaty people”-day, but it also means “i get to see a summary of the vegetation changes along a 300 km drive within a few hours.”
our route: swakopmund [G] - walvis bay [G] - kuiseb canyon [G] - sesriem [G]¹.

we had a first encounter with quiver trees (aloe dichotoma), had a look at the flora around kuiseb river (or kueseb river), which is carrying water underground for most of the year, and finally arrived at sesriem restcamp in the late afternoon.

sunset was observed from this spot: [G] on elim dune, with an optional sip of red wine.
on the way back, most of us rolled down the dunes (it was completely dark by that time, and we had forgotten to bring flashlights), which is about ten times more fun than it sounds now.
a side-effect of this was, that the professors and maria ended up with all our backpacks, which they had kindly offered to carry down during our phase of extensive rotation. i don’t think they knew how many backpacks there were when they made the offer. :-)
 

[view photos: swakopmund to sesriem]

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