Leaving the canyon behind we headed to some of the world's highest, and most recognised, sand dunes. Along the way we had a brief stop to visit a much smaller canyon which is known as the Sesriem. We were able to take a walk down to the bottom where it has run dry for the last few years due to poor rainfall. Siziba told us that about once every 20 years or so the rainfall is so high the canyon fills up again and runs with reasonable water levels for quite a few years before eventually drying up waiting for the next big rainfall. In a small puddle still at the bottom we saw some quite large catfish and tadpoles but not a lot else.

An hour or so further on we stopped again to take in some more landscape. This area is known as the moon landscape but it is nothing like the lunar landscape area of northern Chile which is used by NASA to test vehicles so I'm not sure why it's called that! The area reminds me more of something from The Lord of the Rings!

We did meet an interesting bunch of "typical German tourists" (to quote several of the German's on our tour who were referring to their traditional explorer style clothes and hats) though who were happily being rude about the fact we were there taking photos and wouldn't leave so they could take their own photo's (we arrived at the same time). What they didn't realise though is that half our group are also German speaking and understood perfectly what they were saying. Johannes from our group spoke in English the whole time we were there until just as we were about to leave before saying, in German, "we're leaving now so you can take your photo's!" Their faces were a classic picture!

Throughout the drive we passed many animals and birds such as Jackal and Ostrich and countless Buck. At lunchtime we stopped at a small picnic area under a tree that contained a humungous weaver bird nest. We had seen lots along the way and the larger ones are known to weigh up to a ton! This one was certainly one of the biggest and there were weaver birds constantly flying in an out with new pieces of dried grass to add to the nest. Apparently they continue to build for as long as they are alive. Eventually the branch of the tree will break due to the excess weight!

You may notice that I haven't mentioned what we have eaten so far today. I can assure you that I won't bore you with food every day, unless even Vincent manages to surpass himself, but I wanted to give you an idea of the type of food we are getting. We certainly won't go hungry!!!

The campsite for the night is quite a large one with excellent facilities including a nice swimming pool and well stocked bar. Guess where we'll be spending the evening!

Sarah