Scenic Flight over the Desert

Emile had a scenic flight booked for the Wednesday morning. A French couple on their honeymoon wanted to view Sossusvlei from the air and this gave me the opportunity to join. Emile asked them if I could join and they approved.

At 07:00 we where up and flying across the dunes. I had the front seat next to Emile which gave me a great opportunity for taking photos. Flying over the desert gives you a different perspective and you realize the sheer size of this massive sand landscape. We took an hour flight and only viewed the start of this enormous desert.

Everywhere you would look there would just be more and more dunes. I am sure that some pilots could become bored by this landscape over time, though I was so excited and privileged to be flying over the Namib Desert I did not want the flight to ever end.

The scenic flight took us up to Sossusvlei, Deadvlei and through the dune corridor back to the Lodge.

Emile and Norman Esplin refueled the planes and we spent the rest of the afternoon just chilling.

The whole mission to get here was worth it. I had the opportunity to fly over the Namib – for free!

That night we drank lots of beers and red wine. I had a 4 course meal in the lodge and went to bed quite late.

Life in the desert can become lonely as one of the staff members pointed out:

“Tjom, dis die woestyn die, hier naai ek enige iets met ‘n hardklop, behalwe ‘n pofadder” – I am not going to translate that into English.

Both Emile and Norman would leave the next day to take their guests to other lodges. I arranged a lift with the lodge’s staff shuttle to Sesriem for the next morning to go view the dunes from ground level.