By Barbara Laesser - NDP Volunteer 2014
My trip
to Sandwich Harbour was a wonderful experience. The
adventure started around midday and we got picked up by a very friendly tour
guide. On our way to Sandwich Harbour we crossed a variety of landscapes
including barren salt pans and hummock dunes. These little dunes were covered
by some vegetation, which give shelter to all kinds of fascinating animals that
have adapted to the harsh conditions found in a desert. After a very short
period of time, our tour guide became very excited because in front of us were
the beautiful golden sand dunes, which he called his ‘outdoor office’. We were
told that these sand dunes have reached an age of around 1 million years. So they
are very old! Driving up and down these dunes was fun and around lunch-time we
decided to stop on top of one of the dunes, where we enjoyed an incredible view
of sand dunes lining up next to the Atlantic Ocean. Seeing all this dramatic
nature made us very hungry, but luckily we were served with some fantastic food and drinks. When the wind decided to pick up we quickly hopped back into
the vehicle and continued our journey. But this time we were heading towards
the beach to drive into Sandwich Harbour itself. Along the way we saw not only wind-sculptured dunes, heaps of cormorants and seals, but also the remainders
of the traders and fishermen community. Further inside Sandwich Harbour we
witnessed a fluffy white baby flamingo in-between some other flamingoes in the
freshwater lagoon. When it was time to head home we drove along another dune
chain that ended in some hummock dunes, where we were lucky to find a small
group of springboks and two ostriches. That was great! All in all, it was a
very lovely trip.
Thank
you so much Katja and Naude :)
Barbara
