Deadvlei Namibia

My jet lag is horrible. I always suffer after a long trip. Everything shuts down and refuses to calibrate. I'm hungry immediately after eating. Exhausted, I can't sleep and then I can't stay awake. We got home late Wednesday night. Thursday I felt like I was recovering from surgery and had a terrible hangover. I counted the hours until Friday when the symptoms began abating. Today is a bit better. I turned on my Mac (which I missed terribly) and downloaded a few photos.

In Namibia, we visited the great sand dunes at Sossusvlei and the famous Deadvlei. Famous because of a wondrous National Geographic photo by Franz Lanting of the 600-year-old dead Camelthorn trees scattered on an expanse of whitish clay pan known as a vlei. Here it is. Taken during the day, the photo was controversial because many thought it had been photoshopped but it wasn't. The effect is the result of lighting and timing. You can read about it here.

Richard took this photo of me standing by one of the trees. I stood in that one spot of shade waiting for him to complete his climb of Big Daddy, a huge sand dune, reputedly one of the biggest in the world.

I fiddled with the image on Lunapic—what else can you do when you're not thinking straight. With Lunapic you can try different effects with a single keystroke and remove them just as quickly. This was a little over the top.

 I replaced the day sky with a orange starry night for a strange effect.

I could probably improve this one with some work, but not today. 

Richard completed the hike up the Big Daddy dune. I gave up after four or five steps. My balance was so thrown by the shifting sand that I was afraid of ending up with a wrenched knee or back. This is a photo of a small party ahead of him. By the time he reached the top everyone else had quit. He had to slide down to the vlei (where I was waiting in the shade) on his butt—there is no other way, short of rolling—which some do. 

Later in the trip through Namibia when the subject of the dunes came up our fellow travelers expressed amazement that Richard climbed the whole distance. Most don't make it. He didn't think it was a big deal. 

Another Lunapic effect.

Time for another nap.