Dune 45 is a star. It glistens in the Namib son — bright orange — sand saturated with rust and pulverized garnets.
Dune 45
It is so well known that my camera recorded the location simply as “Dune 45.” Located at the 45th kilometer mark on the road connecting Sesreim and Sossusvlei, it’s a popular site for climbers in the morning before the sand becomes too hot.
Climbers battle sun and hot sand to climb Dune 45.
It is also a star in shape, formed by winds from three directions. It grows highest at its center — 80 or 170 meters, depending on who you ask — and from there three arms spiral out. Sand blows in from the coast, the Kalahari Desert, and the Orange River. Geologists estimate that it’s 5 million years old.
Climbers approach the center of the top of the ridge.
By day people leave footprints on its spine and sides, climbing to its top, smiling for selfies, and then trudging (or sandsurfing!) back down. They pour the remains of metal and precious stones out of their shoes, drink water, and rest in whatever shade they can find. Then they leave the dune to the insects, snakes, birds, and wind.
A hiker rests at the base of the dune.
Night breezes will restore its natural beauty.
Sand ripples on the side of the dune.
We’re here for a blip of time. We climb, smile, and drive away. It’s a big day for us. The dunes just smile and wait for tomorrow.
Climbers on Dune 45A lone hiker atop Dune 45Dune 45I found the only shade available and jotted down my thoughts.
The exterior of the !Nara melon is so unappealing that its scientific name includes an editorial comment: acanthosicyos horridus.
!Nara melons. Photo courtesy of travelnewsnamibia.com
But the !Nara shrub – the ! indicates a clicking sound in the Nama language – and the melon it produces are essential to the Namib Desert. It’s called a keystone species, one whose influence on the ecosystem is so important that its absence might cause collapse.
Fossils suggest that the plant is more than 1000 years old, enough time to adapt to desert conditions. It has thorns but no leaves, protecting it from the desert sun. Its branches may grow 15 feet tall to adjust to the desert’s shifting sands, and it provides food for many desert inhabitants: beetles, gemsbok, ostriches, and the Nama people. Ostrich grass and Bushman grass, sheltered by the shrub, sometimes grow on the same mound. Botanically it’s related to the cucumber, and reports suggest that it tastes like an avocado or like a cross between a cucumber and a pineapple. The seeds are edible, and the fruit can be dried and stored for several years.
!Nara shrub and melons. Photo courtesy of TravelNewsNamibia.com
Ironically, the !Nara shrub is not considered a true desert plant. It can survive years without rain because it grows only where its very long tap roots – as long as 150 feet – can find a water channel underground.
Our guides showed us two true desert plants. The first, the dollar bush, is a succulent with a delicate white bloom. When the wind shifts, the dollar bush is quickly covered over by sand.
The dollar plant is a succulent with delicate white flowers.This dollar plant is being covered over by desert sand.
The second is the pencil bush. It, too, has a white flower. It’s sturdier than the dollar bush and provides food and shelter for desert animals like the horned adder or namaqua chameleon. Shifting sand will kill it, though.
If the !Nara shrub is covered with sand, its branches will grow longer, keeping the plant alive, providing more food and shelter to other species. Because its roots run deep, it can survive the challenge.
In the foreground on the left, a pencil shrub. On the right, a !nara shrub.
People of faith may see a metaphor in this. God provides what we need as we try to bear fruit in the wilderness. It’s up to us to develop roots that stay connected, though.
!Nara shrub and dune, photo courtesy of media.ellerstrand.se
Our homes reflect our needs and customs, what’s available and what we want. The same is true for animals.
Botswana: weaver bird nest
In Botswana the weaver bird builds a nest that hangs suspended from a tree limb and opens from the bottom. This protects against the sun, helps conserve heat on cold nights, and shields the young from predatory birds.
Botswana: sociable weaver birds construct group nests.
Its cousin the sociable weaver bird collaborates on a nest over generations, establishing a site that can hold as many as 100 chambers. Each chamber can hold 3 or 4 birds, which helps hold in heat on bitter winter nights. Other birds use the chambers when they’re empty. The complex nests are huge and heavy. Eventually they will break the branch, potentially killing the tree. The birds fly away and start a new site.
Earth from space, photo courtesy of NASA
If a weaver bird loses its nest, it can build a new home. But if we destroy our nest, we can’t build another planet. We need to make sure this one doesn’t break under the weight of our use.
