Travel Photos - Dead Vlei, Namibia

Dead Vlei is an amazing sight to behold - its just one of those places that you feel chilled out in although the temperatures are incredibly hot. All around are sand dunes that seem alive and nearby are the famous dunes 17 and 45.

A lengthy drive to a small garage/bar/shop (Solitaire) for lunch on our oasis over land truck (http://www.oasisoverland.co.uk/) – a white lion rug, zebra and springbok heads adorned the walls in the shop. On to camp for a quick dip in the pool before squeezing into a pickup for a trip out to the dunes of Sossusvlei.

The landscape on the days drive is quite stony plains with more rocky outcrops – not the orange sandstone that we saw at Spitzkoppe, these are greyer and many formations have flat tops. We walked with an extremely informative guide out to Dead Vlei – a limestone pan which previously held water now dried up, the trees have died but they do not rot as the heat is so dry. Dead Vlei is 1.2km long and the trees 900 years old. A new sand dune is building across the Vlei and dividing it into two parts, burying the trees underneath it. We learnt so much from our guide, beetles which run 50kph across the hot sand, stand on top of the dunes to catch the morning fog in ridges on their shells and excrete a sunscreen which gives them a bluish tinge. Spiders which bury themselves in tunnels and the oryx which conserves energy by not running from it’s enemy – just waiting and then spearing the attacker with their long horns. We learnt more about the San people or “bushmen” so called because they would hunt by hiding behind bushes. They lived like animals killing infrequently and eating up to 10kg of meat at a time. People used to hunt bushmen. We stopped on the way back in the truck to see Dune 17 and then Dune 45. Dune 17 is often pictured with a Camel Thorn Tree in front – that’s actually 2km away, such is the effect of perception of distance in the desert.

Dead Vlei was the highlight for me this day, the distances were so misleading and it was such an eerie place to be but a real must when visiting Namibia - truly amazing! You've just gotta go if you're in Namibia

Travel Photos - Monument Valley, Utah

What an amazing place this is - so many films have been filmed here. It was just like being on a real, life filmset - we were!

We stayed overnight at an original 1920’s Trading Post – where Navajo Indians used to trade hand made blankets and livestock for supplies. The trading post continues to sell a number of authentic hand-crafter Navajo souvenirs such as pottery, rugs and jewellery. A couple of hours drive and large mesa’s began to dominate the horizon into the Tribal NP and the scenery became even more spectacular. From the gift shop on a small hill, 4WD trucks crawled like ants along a dirt road with colossal fiery red monoliths towering above them. It was an extraordinary landscape, like nothing we’d ever seen before. We drove the rough 17 mile track around the park. Everywhere was red and dusty and the flat desert was punctuated by these colossal monoliths rising 100’s of metres, with sheer sides out of piles of rocky shale, often eroded into unusual shapes including narrow spires defying both the forces of nature and gravity. We stopped for lunch at Sand Springs – we could have whiled away hours here. It was blissfully peaceful and totally awe-inspiring. The landscape here has been showcased in hundreds of westerns and we could re-create the cowboy’s pistol ricochet by slamming the car boot! The vista at Artists Point was mesmerizing, 100’s of miles of flat red desert accentuating the grand monoliths in all their rugged splendour. North of Monument Valley we stopped at Goosenecks State Park where the San Juan River loops back and forth in a series of S-bends over 1000ft below the desert surface. Having carved its way through layers of sedimentary rock uplifted millions of years ago, it really was an incredible sight.

The South West revealed itself as a showcase of nature’s most dramatic formations, it really is remarkable. A rollercoaster of a drive east of Goosenecks took us through the aptly named Valley of the Gods – more huge sandstone monoliths dominated the landscape but here they were more frequent and often thousands of metres in length giving the area a greater intensity than Monument Valley. It was a more jumbled collection and less regal, but never-the-less mind-blowing. It wasn't a long day but the seemingly endless expanse of overwhelming topography that we encountered left us feeling somewhat dumbfounded and we decided to retire early in an effort to comprehend it all!

Travel Photos - Koh Samui, Thailand

This is Thailand - Koh Samui. We spent just over 2 weeks lounging around on the beach here in a fantastic place called Samui Paradise on Chaweng Beach - http://www.samuiparadise.com/. They have fantastic beach bungalows with an infinity pool (see photo below). The food was excellent along with early morning runs along the beach before breakfast. A short scooter ride or taxi away from the shops and restaurants of the main drag in Chaweng, Samui Paradise is the ideal place to stay to chill out.

We were whisked away at the port – after arriving on the island – by a plush four wheel drive and a man in smart hotel uniform from Samui Paradise. Chaweng town was busy and a little bit tacky (in a nice way), but the resort was wonderfully isolated, beautiful and quiet. Our bungalow was just a few steps from the picture-postcard beach and we ate the first few nights with our feet in the soft sand with a white linen table cloth on the beach – pure bliss! After a few days of lounging we took a snorkelling trip to Koh Tao and the tiny Koh Nang Yuan – actually three small islands joined by a sand (or shell grit) bar. The snorkelling was some of the best with an amazing array of fish both large and small. One fish nipped my finger as I pointed to another and at Nang Yuan where the water was so shallow, if you stood for any length of time the nosey fish would swarm around your toes, looking for titbits!

One day – I can’t remember which as I lost track of time here – we hired a moped from our regular internet café and toured the island. It was a cool day, and good fun, although our backsides paid for it! We visited several other beaches and the waterfall at Namyuang and located Doug’s Sala Samui resort – very nice! It was interesting scooting through the “back streets” – quiet lanes, overgrown with grasses and coconut trees.

Our time here – just over two weeks – was blissful. We loved the happy hour cocktails, watching playful stray dogs while away their time playing in the sea and catching crabs, watching odd people walk for exercise to the end of the cove and back, listening to the unusual chirpy geckos at breakfast hidden in the woodwork and the amazing “starlings” – brown and white, chatting to sunbathers and taking up residence on their loungers. I miss this place – the beach, the breakfasts, the pool and the view!