How often do you get to swim at Sossusvlei? Toast Coetzer waded in.
When I finally look in the mirror, I have to laugh: Mosquitoes have dotted my face with acupuncture. It's as if I have chickenpox, despite the insect net I pulled over my head when I went to sleep.
I'm camping at Sossus Oasis at Sesriem and I decided not to pitch my tent because each stand has an awning. I just unrolled my mattress and put my earplugs in to block out the noise of the camp - and the droning mosquitoes.
I pack away my sleeping gear, take out the Cadac and boil water for coffee. It's almost 7.15am. The gates have just opened for people wanting to drive to the Sossusvlei section of the Namib-Naukluft National Park, but it's overcast today and
I suspect the first rays of sunshine will only catch the dunes much later. I'm in no hurry.
I drink coffee, eat an apple and pack away the last of my things. When I pick up my toiletry bag, I find a big armoured cricket (koringkriek) underneath. It stares at me prehistorically, from a place where things like "toothpaste" and "anti-dandruff shampoo" have no meaning.
I reach the gate at 7.45am. The queue of vehicles has long since snaked its way into the park. The Mahindra's tyres sing on the tar and the road pulls me into the dunes. At Dune 45, fit figures are etched small against the sky. The dune itself is still in shadow, but a dune in the distance has caught alight. Another soon follows. The sun is coming.
I pull over where the tar peters out, kneel down and deflate each tyre for 140 counts. The last few kilometres of sandy tracks slalom through camel thorn trees and you have to be careful not to get stuck.
Vehicles are lined up in the parking area at Dead Vlei, but I drive past and follow the track for another few hundred metres to Sossusvlei. I'm not here to see the famous tree silhouettes at Dead Vlei today.
No, I want to see the last remaining water at Sossusvlei after a bumper summer rainy season. (This was in 2021.) To my surprise, I find no other vehicles at the picnic area. I stop and get out. The water is 150 m away. No wind.
I pour coffee from a Stanley flask and take out a bread roll
I bought at the Engen in Sesriem yesterday, along with a coil of boerewors. I make a hot dog and add some cheese that I bought at the Woermann Brock in Swakop.
An egret perches nearby, attracted by the insects along the seam of this unusual lake in the Namib Desert.
A movement catches my eye. A lanner falcon swoops down on the egret. The egret takes off in panic and flies right at me. I see the falcon over the frenetic flapping shoulders of the egret.
My camera is in the bakkie and I have coffee in one hand, hot dog in the other. When the egret is less than 5 m from me, it swerves and crash-lands in a camel thorn tree, where it hops up into the canopy to find shelter. The falcon gets a fright, turns away and flies off.
I take a bite, have a sip. Sjoe.
Stomach full, I put my camera in a backpack and walk around the edge of the vlei. There are falcons all around.
The water obviously draws birds - perfect prey for raptors. The vlei also forms a natural ambush trap; an amphitheatre where the falcons pull the strings.
Later, I put my backpack down in the shade of a camel thorn tree. I'm already wearing my swimming trunks, now I remove my shoes and shirt and wade in.
The mud is slippery and I waddle like a hippo. The water is cool. Around me is
the desert, slowly heating up. A Namaqua dove flies overhead, then two locusts, some sort of sparrow.
Dragonflies dance on the ripples that spread from my body.
How amazing is this? I decide right there to go swim at Sesriem Canyon, too, just because I can.
