Of course, when I got there, I was way too late to be able to drive to Sossusvlei, so I politely asked for the manager to be able to discuss my photographic ideas with him. We had a few drinks at the bar and I got some very interesting info on the power supply and the staff at Sossus Dune Lodge.
05/07/2012
The next morning, like almost all of the guests, I took part in the daily scooter rally to the 4x4 parking lot (which is 55km away) to stop there briefly, switch to four-wheel drive and immediately continue to Deadvlei. It's fun, with 15kg on your back and a tripod you could smack an elephant with, ALL ALLOWED to run up and down the fucking dunes. man I hate that. Please don't get me wrong, I love landscape photography, I'm just a bit lazy and would like Doppelmayr to finally build a chairlift to Deadvlei.
But since there is no chairlift and everyone else climbs Big Daddy like the idiots anyway to get up there in anticipation of the sunrise and let the sand blow around your ears, I take pictures calmly and especially alone in Deadvlei. I always laugh my ass off when I see all the exhausted tourists up there on the crest of the dunes and imagine them desperately trying to get a decent photo - against the sun!!! – to do what is of course impossible. An hour later they usually arrive in the lowlands of the Vlei and lumber around in the picture, which forces me to calm down and of course to smile friendly, when I would really like to use my tripod.
By 8:30 a.m. at the latest, the sun is already so high in the firmament that everyone has packed their stuff and starts the long way back to the lodge. This also brings me to the next cautiously worded point of criticism. If you're going to build a state lodge like Sossus Dune Lodge inside the national park, why not right next to the 4x4 parking lot? It can hardly be due to the meeting of the two dry rivers, because the Sossus Dune Lodge also stands on stilts. So you could do the same thing there and everyone would be safe from any rain that might set in. Is it environmental protection that drives hundreds of tourists to drive the 60 km twice a day in their "economical" four-wheel drive Toyotas, or is it the idiocy of those responsible? I hate spending hours every day in a hot car and putting my life in danger at 120 km/h just to be back at the lodge in time for sunrise or in the evening.
