Caught in a sandstorm in Namibia [S5 - Eps. 49]

Good morning Internet, it is 7:07 in the morning and welcome back to the channel The sun is just coming up here Look at this amazing sunrise and the moon is still there as well So I am now in Sesreim in the Namib desert and I am leaving early this morning because today will be a long day I am going to cover 350 kilometers and except for that first stretch over here, that's all going to be unpaved And uh.. maybe in not such good condition But the destination of today is a place called Walvis Bay It's Namibia biggest port town I believe But when I get there, I will get the map out and show you my route but for now I just uh.. want to make sure that I leave early This was the end of the.. well what was it..9 kilometer tar From now on it will be 341.. unpaved What a beautiful morning I am back in Solitaire This is my last opportunity to fill up and then for next 270 kilometers there is absolutely nothing So I am gonna make sure that my tanks are full And that I bring some food with me Bye Okay, I brought a piece of their famous apple pie From the bakery Oh, I am going wrong.. ooops

To Walvis Bay That's where I am heading Look, oryx Look, I am .. Now on the.. Tropic of Capricorn Well, not really of course.. but the sign is at least here You can barely read it anymore It's quite a windy morning again And there is all this sand blowing in my face the whole time So Savannah and me are being sandblasted again a little bit But any case, so now this is where the sign of the Tropic of Capricorn is It depends a little bit on how long ago they put the sign here how accurate it still is because the Tropic of Capricorn is not a fixed location but it's moving northwards I already explained this phenomena in Season 3 when I was in Norway.. oeh I told you that the Arctic circle is moving northwards at a speed of 15 meters per year And of course the same goes for the Tropic of Capricorn So this is also moving northwards at a speed of 15 meters per year So yeah.. depends a little bit on when they put it here

How far is it off the real location of the Tropic But anyway.. details, details Other than that I am making pretty good progress 220 kilometers to go And um.. is it getting interesting? Yeah, so after I have completed this little loop then I am going to take a very small road Oef.. ah this sand Erm.. anyway and I think it's going to be a pretty awesome to ride there so I am really.. that's kind of my goal of today to ride there

But first I have to get there. Ahh look at all this sand Whoo Why.. okay, I think it is time to move on Wow, look at all this sand Just passing through a canyon now.. it's pretty cool

I am entering the Swakopmund district Wow, it's actually paved over here Probably won't last long but.. Check this out I just wonder if this is the.. Kuiseb River.. yes it is.. yeah So this is the Kuiseb River, well it's now dry This river only has water in the rainy season And then it can become like a torrent, like really dangerous fast flowing river But most of the time it is dry And this is the river that I will be following for a lot longer So I will see a lot more of it Well but.. the dry river bed.. okay the dry river Oh, it's unpaved again Ah, spectacular Gobabeb, that's where I am going Going to take this little road here It is so extremely desolate here I am riding pretty remotely I haven't seen anyone for quite a while and I actually don't think I will see anyone Alright, this place straight ahead is called Mirabib And uh.. I am just going to try and find some shelter

against the wind and have a small break Eat some of the goodies that I got in the bakery Before I continue It's just as far as I can see it's all these gravel plains Flat, flat, flat and then.. You suddenly get this Amazing Let's find a place where I can sit a little bit.. sheltered from the wind Ah, look at that.. there's a picnic spot Just for me Incredible Not the healthiest lunch but I think it is a good one anyway This is some pastry called Pigs ears I think And.. apple crumble.. I think Pie I don't have a fork to properly eat this but .. it's very nice Okay Re-energised Straight back into the wind And some more desolation Look at this Ohhh, it is so bumpy Savannah is getting another.. real proper, proper beating on this stuff

Literally no speed is good Fast is not good, slow is not good I just have to get through it It's the only way The visibility is not so good anymore, there is a lot of sand blowing over the road there Finally I start seeing on the horizon what I came here for Getting closer now.. finally Wow, unbelievable this wind But look where I am Here are the dunes again And this is also where the dunes end So all the way from Sesreim where I left this morning the dunes just kept on continuing north until this point This is where the dunes end and I will show you why I have reached Gobabeb It's not a town but this is a scientific research station So other than some scientists there is nothing here, I think Wow, I can just see all the sand just blowing over there It's almost like a sandstorm Oeh..yeah I think it's time to change my plan Visibility is really poor With this wind and sand and I don't know how bad it's going to get And.. this Gobabeb Research Station I don't know, on Maps.me it says that there is a hotel

Now obviously it's not really a hotel hotel but I think that they have some accommodation for scientists when they get there And I am just going to ask if I can stay the night 'Cause continuing straight into that sandstorm is maybe not the best idea Okay Let's see.. If they can.. host me for the night Gobabeb Research and Training Centre They have given me a room This one.. This is where I will be staying tonight And so this was my route today I started out this morning in Sesreim And then I first backtracked all the way here Then I continued here Here, here and then here I took a road.. well it's not even on here But here I just went like this and now I am in Gobabeb And from here the plan is to continue here to Walvis Bay So it is still windy but at least the wind has gone down a little bit So..

There is Savannah Parked there But it's a little bit better now the condition so I am just going to have a small walk to the river And to the dunes on the other side But yeah I am really happy, they let me stay here because it was a little bit dangerous driving through all that sand Not even seeing where the road is Apparently it's quite common over here So this is already the Kuiseb So the same river that I crossed earlier So now I am walking on the dry river bed but this river when it contains water it originates close to Windhoek and then it carries water 300 kilometers straight through the Namib desert and ends up somewhere east of Walvis Bay I don't believe it actually reaches the coast And when there is water here, it becomes such a raging torrent that it washes away all the sand of the sand dunes that are trying to migrate up northwards So because of that you get this sharp natural border between the great sea of sand on the one side and the gravel plains on the other side Wow, spectacular and this is reason why I came here I just really wanted to see this and see where these dark beautiful red sand dunes end and it is here So yeah.. even though I didn't make it to Walvis Bay, I will try there.. to go there tomorrow morning when the wind is hopefully a little bit more manageable Okay, let's continue the ride It is 94 kilometers left to Walvis Bay And the wind has gone Which is fantastic So uh.. I don't have to worry about crazy sandstorms Oh, it was so awesome to stay here They are mostly biologists doing research to all sorts of organisms living in the desert But there's also some people with Geo science degrees And yeah, they just stay out here pretty isolated so They were.. I think they were happy to see me and have some person, other person to talk to Now I can continue again and now that it is clear you can already see from here how the sand dunes just end there at the river and then here it is just flat, flat plains And back on tar, I am almost in Walvis Bay So 14 kilometers to go so..

Almost there See and here are the sand dunes again So the river doesn't actually make it all the way to the coast So this is the only area where the sand dunes have managed to migrate northwards I have arrived in Walvis Bay Walvis Bay I don't have a booking or anything so I am just going to look for a place to stay now Wow, look at that .. Ah, I see thousands and thousands of flamingos Okay, I will go have a look at that later Check out this place I found a place to stay tonight So in the next video, I will go explore around Walvis Bay and see all what's here but for now I think this was it for today I really hope you liked this video, if you did please give me a big thumbs up and subscribe down below and then I will see you in the next video

2021-07-12 07:31

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