Page 6 - Cape-Camera-April-2022

Cape Camera April 2022

Wolvwedans mountains in the rain (from left) Kim Stevens, Anna Engelhardt

doned diamond mining villages of Kolmanskop and Elizabeth Neel’s Story:
Bay were given their due visits - while facing the big challenge “I have travelled to Sesriem at least five times during the past
to find different photographic angles from what had been done few years and I have always shot the dunes with my telephoto
many times before. The same happened later as well when we lens from the road that leads from Sesriem to Sossusvlei. I no-
spent three days at Sossus Vlei and Dead Valley, but ‘patience ticed that the shapes and colours of the dunes always changed
always prevails’ as Neels Beyers will highlight later in his part of depending on the prevailing weather conditions. During our
this story. visit in March, I finally struck it lucky and got the type of images
From Lüderitz, the group travelled to Wolwedans, were I finally I had been after! It happened one morning, between 8 and 10,
met up with everyone. Wolwedans consists of a collection of when I travelled on this road, it was cloudy with the sun passing
exclusive desert lodges and is situated within the NamibRand through the clouds from time to time lighting up some of the
Nature Reserve - a private nature reserve in the Namib Desert, dunes. All excited I travelled many kilometers up and down the
measuring more than 215,000 hectares. The reserve originated road, taking photographs and watching the landscapes change
in 1984 as the dream of J.A. (Albie) Brückner to extend desert constantly as some dunes were being lit up with streaks of light
frontiers by integrating a large number of former livestock and others being in shadows.”
farms and developing a wildlife sanctuary. To date, seventeen
of those farms have been rehabilitated into a single continuous
natural habitat.
It was registered as a non-profit private nature reserve in 1992
and all landowners belonging to the reserve have signed agree-
ments and adopted a constitution which sets the land aside for
conservation - now and in the future. It is financially self-sustain-
ing mainly through high quality, low impact tourism.
We spent three days in this exceptionally beautiful place that
provided us with photographic motives of desert landscape Photograph by Neels Beyers
that are beyond description – all this with the luxury of being
driven everywhere by expert guides. At the same time we could Lesley’s Story:
enjoy faultless service and attention to our every need, while “Our trip to Namibia in March was an unforgettable experience
serving us food that any top chef could be proud off. and lived up to all the expectations built up over many years
Our drive to Sesriem was relatively short but with more beau- of seeing stunning photographs from so many photographers.
tiful landscape to admire, particularly the ‘meadows’ of silver The fact that it had rained in the preceding months delivered
grass that stretched as far as the eye could see, often speckled an almost surreal experience of green and silver grass in the red
with a range of wildlife. Arriving there, we booked into a lodge sandy desert. This phenomenon when combined with beauti-
that is situated inside the Namib Naukluft Park which allowed ful clouds made taking a bad photograph almost impossible.
us to drive to Sossusvlei before sunrise and return after sunset This was Lambe and my first trip to Namibia and so everything
– all a bonus when aiming for the perfect light at the right time was new and exciting, however the beauty of the NamibRand
for our images. After four days of ‘wall-to-wall’ photography in, reserve and our stay at Wolwedans must rate as one of the high-
out and around the dune landscape of Sossusvlei (including lights of the trip.
an obligatory walk to Dead Vlei at sunrise), we said good-bye “We were treated to superb hospitality in an incredibly beautiful
to most of our group who headed south towards home with a environment. Everything was geared towards making us com-
stop over at the Fish River Canyon or the Quiver tree forest. Un- fortable and for obtaining the best possible photographic ex-
fortunately, Trudi and Nicol could only be with us in Sossusvlei perience. A highlight was riding into the rain storm in an open
for a very short time and had left us already two days earlier. vehicle and being stung by piercing needles of horizontal rain.
Kim, Doug and I drove on to Swakopmund to enjoy a few more Thankfully the ponchos provided for us protected us and our
days in beautiful Namibia, but not without stopping in Solitaire camera gear, but it was an experience to remember! The after-
to enjoy the owner’s excellent ‘Kaffee’ and by now the very fa- math of the storm was an incredible sky, which we took full ad-
mous ‘Apfelstrudel’. vantage of photographically. After a warm shower and a good
dinner, we were restored but still buzzing from the experience.

Cape Town Photographic Society 5