Namibia | Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn into the Namib Desert
Imagine the setting: you are in one of the most adventure prone countries in the world, you just left a Coastal town surrounded by dunes, you have no aircon in your car, the tar roads are gone, you have endless gravel before you and you need to head to the desert in a 4-hour journey. This was us as we left Walvis Bay, to head to the Namib desert on one of the most drastic scenery changes we have ever experienced in our lives.
We left the chilly Coastal weather and the more kilometres we did on the C14 road, the hotter it got. And it was so worth it.
Jess
After the ocean, came the dunes and after the dunes, the bereft desert landscapes, with mountain ranges ponctuating the road ahead. From the bustling coast where we went by several trucks, we went on to cross less and less vehicles to being on our own for long extentions of time.
At moments, we had silence to ponctuate us taking in the scenery. Then we would have some music. And then the landscapes would play all the score by themselves. It was a challenging trip - with no aircon - and one we would repeat again endless times.
Jess
In the middle of the road, a car close to us stopped. We even thought they had a mechanical issue or that they even were the car we had called earlier to replace ours?! None of the above. It was a couple stopping at a sign. What sign, we looked?
TROPIC OF THE CAPRICORN.
Oh. My. Goodness.
We did a U-turn and stopped as well. We decided to take some pictures and instinctly both couples crossed to take pictures of each other.
The Tropic of Capricorn, also known as the Southern Tropic, is the southermost latitude in the world, opposite to the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere. It crosses several countries in South America, Australia and in Africa, it crosses Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique and Madagascar. Albeit just being a landmark, it's a very cute travelling achievement none of us had done before. I can just imagine what it is crossing the Equator, right?!
Jess
After that great stop, we continued our journey ahead into the desert, where the landscape was drier and drier and the warmth was soaking our clothes. We stopped at the most insolite of human settlements named Solitaire. When you stop your car here, you are completely transported to a western cowboy movie from the 1950s.
Solitaire is located at the junction of two main roads, the C14 (from Walvis Bay to Bethanie) where we were and the C19 (from Sesriem to Sossusvlei), where we were headed to next. There is a petrol station, a few lodges, some funky memorials, a bakery and a much needed (and clean!) public restroom.
Apple pie and cream, coffee and Savanna cider at McGregor's Bakery in Solitaire
After using those, we grabbed a few drinks and the apparently world famous apple pie with fresh cream at McGregor's Bakery. It was indeed good and warm. And we needed the few minutes under the fan to forget the heat from our car.
Jess
Before heading back to that moving sauna, we took a few pictures of the signs and old cars that are displayed there, and headed on our journey which would not only take about 20 minutes until the most incredible lodge of our lives.
Jess
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