Off to the dunes…Climbing Big Mama

We set off early this morning for our trip to the Sesriem National Park, home of the dunes. The front part of the park is peppered with campsites.  I imagine the Philadelphia girls are camping here.  We see both tents and lean -to structures with covered carports.

As we drive into the interior the landscape changes from hard packed red to rolling foothills of ocher.  The color comes from its iron oxide content. This soil is born in northwest South Africa in the Natal region where there are iron mines.

This soil then travels down the Orange River to the Atlantic where it is dumped straight into the Benguela current.  This current runs a serpentine course zig-zagging up the Namibian coast and every where it kisses the land the soil is deposited and then moves inland on the prevailing winds from the Atlantic; hence there are only dunes in certain areas. Today we tour the most majestic of them.

Every view is so Georgia O’Keefe to me, a beautiful mix of light and shade with one side charcoal and the other a beautiful ocher.  We pass Big Papa, the tallest dune in the park.  Later I will be grateful we pressed on.

At the entry to the park we switched from bus to four by fours. We continue deeper into the park and alight under some acacia trees near the base of Big Mama. Here Wimpy gives an interesting geological lecture drawing a map of Namibia in the sand.  A swarm of flies also enjoyed the talk.

                                          BIG MAMA

Tony, king of the flip-flop, or flops as he calls them, has started the climb ahead of us.  The group sets off but we are not sure where to begin.  One of the younger guys makes a scouting trip and gives the thumbs up.  So we are off.

The trail runs up the spine of Big Mama with ankle or more depth sand.  We are early so the sand is still cool but the downside is the path is not packed from previous climbers.

I have an aversion to sandy shoes from my time of beach living so when Tony says one can wear flip-flops I choose a heavy duty Ryder model that I wear all the time at home. BIG MISTAKE!  With each step I am bringing up a shovel of sand with me, a burden I don’t need.

Paul falls on the entry to the trail and wisely decides to go back to the trees.  The rest of the climbers set off, some turning back at various points.  After losing my shoes twice I remove them and go barefoot.  I don’t recommend this either.  There are thorns in the sand blown up from the trees at the base.  But they are white against the orange and I just keep a watchful eye.

I am slogging along, huffing and puffing, at times using my flip-flops as canes while I right myself in the shifting sands.  Some of the younger group are trailing me, perhaps to be of service in case I croak.

Another colleague is wearing closed toe Keene’s.  Also a BIG MISTAKE!  Eventually he opts for barefoot.  His toe box has filled up numerous times and it is difficult to remove and replace shoes standing on one leg while balancing on the one foot wide spine of Big Mama.

My advice to future travelers: wear solid, soled shoes.  If you don’t want sand to accompany you for the rest of the tour, invest in some cheap sneaker that you can throw out afterward.

The ascent so far is about a 45-degree angle.  I watch fellow climbers reach the summit.  I am about 75- 80% up the trail, but the final leg is a 65-degree climb.  In truth, I don’t think I can make it but I try for ten yards.  Now I am finished….and disappointed.

But how do I get down?  My friend, Penny, who is also quitting decides to walk back down the spine but I dread that idea.  Is there an easier way? Having been told we could slide down I opt for that.  Let me tell you, this is not sledding.  Pushing off, your bottom immediately sinks in the deep, soft sand.  This is where I should have crawled back to the path and followed Penny.

But no, Miss Trailblazer opts to persevere.  So now I am doing a sort of seated dog paddle using my flip-flop as a minesweeper for thorns.   This is almost as much work as finishing the climb!

When I am low enough I think I can walk down but first I need to stand.  After several tries and falls using a bizarre sort of downward dog, I am back to the dog paddle.

Now I am totally disgusted with myself.  Finally I am able to stand up and begin, what is for me, the walk of shame to the acacias.  Alas, just another check mark on the to-do list of decline!.... but I’ll get over it.

Rehydrating, we await our successful colleagues to return.  At the summit, the eleven link hands and begin to walk down the slope.  It is quite steep and they are skeptical but perhaps my labored performance made them listen to Tony.  Group photo taken, we welcome them.

Lessons learned: Wear some sort of sneaker or sport shoe, take two bottles of water from the bus, and if you need to abort the climb stay on the path.

Back on the bus, another climber and I compare FitBit numbers.  While we have 17 flights of stairs we have only around 5000 steps, and she finished! 

We are headed on the bumpiest road yet to Sesriem Canyon.  This translates to six reams.  The ream was a measure of a standardized leather thong linked together to lower a bucket into the water in the channel far below.

The canyon is a conglomerate of different rock and some of it is quite unstable.  Tony warns us not to get close to the edge.  Apparently some other travelers were not warned or chose to ignore the advice.  One lady is out on a precipice, arm extended with a camera over the abyss while tethered to her hapless male companion.  Good luck!  There is neither EMS here nor any medical facility here.

We have a buffet lunch back at Le Mirage and an afternoon of leisure.  Paul opts for the pool in a most welcome temperature of 105.  I am back to doing laundry.

One thing I can say about Le Mirage….the laundry dries fast.  I managed to wash all my clothes except the jackets on this short stop, using my Container Store clothes pins and affixing socks to the sides of the drapes and using my tubular hangers from home on the curtain rod.

We use some of our afternoon time to pull our clothes for tomorrow and pack the suitcases.  Our room has the lighting of a French restaurant and we’d rather not pack using the flashlight app on our phones.

Group dinner tonight.