Aus (12-9)

Aus was another destination I knew I had to visit after reading a comment about desert hiking trails at the guesthouse. I chose to camp there rather than pay $135/night for a room since I’d paid nearly that the previous nights. As I was driving I considered inquiring about room availability for the second night, but when I woke up at the campground I knew that was where I wanted to be. 

I really enjoyed waking up and viewing the desert, the hills, and my tree with its large sociable weaver nest.

After checking in, I relaxed in the shade at the lodge for a couple hours waiting for the temperature to cool down a bit. Then it was time for an evening hike. Of the several options, I chose one of the shorter, not too challenging ones. 

It went up to a viewpoint from which you can see the vast Namib Desert on the other side. I like the flat desert landscape with bumps. It’s very surreal. 

I didn’t stay for sunset, as I didn’t want to go down the rocks while it was still light, but I enjoyed the changing color of the rocks as the sun went down behind me and the shadows went up the rocks in front of me.

When I was checking in, the receptionist asked if I was going to Luderitz the next day. I was thinking about going there because I had heard that it’s a nice town. She said she’d like to go with me, and I agreed. So Friday morning we set off for Luderitz. When she commented that I look different without my hat, I knew she meant that she had thought I was younger since she couldn’t see my hair.

The drive is a long, straight road through the desert, reminding me of such roads in Texas and Oklahoma, but this one had hills. Luderitz turned out to be much smaller than I had imagined. There really isn’t much there. There are a few old German-style buildings, but the rest of town is new and has the same shops that are everywhere. We had a very brief walk around. I didn’t find it very interesting and wondered why it had been recommended. We started with a walk down the jetty. 

Then we headed to the beach, since Pascha knew how to get there. I enjoyed walking on the beach and picked up a few shells of a type I hadn’t seen before. When I returned to where Pascha had spent the time, a man who was cleaning the area gave me several small agates, which was nice since the beach is Agate Beach. We had him take our photo together. Then we had a delicious fish and chips lunch.

On the way back, we stopped at Kolmanskop, the diamond mining ghost town outside Luderitz, but it was closing at 1:00. Since it was 12:35, we didn’t go in, which was OK since it wasn’t a priority for me, and I would have gone only because I was there.

After relaxing in the shade at the lodge, I took a drive to another part of the complex where there are upscale cottages. The view from there is lovely, the same view—but from a lower level—as I had Thursday from the top of the hill I walked up.

Saturday morning I enjoyed watching and listening to the sociable weavers flying to the nest in my campsite tree. Very peaceful.