Driving into the forbidden Spergebiet -- but we have a permit!
That's the crater there on the horizon.
From near our campsite, looking away from the crater into the wind scoop.
Initial look at the outside of the crater.
The outside of the crater is caliche with some small amount of sand mixed around.
A particularly large piece -- ejecta?
Vern (The Frantic Naturalist) at left, Roy Miller (former head of the Namibian Geological Survey, and expert on the Roter Kamm crater having written the seminal papers about it) at right.
Roy
Vern ponders the wind scoop.
Climbing dune on which we drove up to the crater rim -- see the barren couple meters to the right; presumably this dune has moved toward the left in recent times.
viewing the NE rim of the crater -- doesn't look like a crater from here, yet!
Typical ground outside the crater -- my foot for scale.
Ralph, with the climbing (falling?) dune that we drove up next to behind him.
Roy talks with a ranger for Spergebiet National Park (left).
Despite being a park ranger, the ranger hardly ever gets to actually visit the park, since the Forbidden Diamond Mining area supercedes the park authority at this time. That's the ranger's wife on the right, whom he brought in to see this part of the park.
This is the climbing dune on the verge of the crater.
Mosaic from the crater rim.
More climbing dunes on the inside, far wall of the crater.
BYU crew.
Ralph & Alex at the crater rim.
Back at the vehicles.
From here Alex Hayes and I set off on a circumnavigation of the crater -- about a 5 mile walk.
And we're off! This is the rim peak nearest the vehicles, proceeding counter-clockwise around the crater.
Here I'm looking out from the crater, across the windscoop at bottom, and some dry pans in the far distance (whitish blobs).
Same view as last, without zoom.
Parts of the rim are pure dune.
As you can see from the saltation at the top, the dunes are active.
A shot with the Moon.
Moon shot with my small camera -- not so great.
Climbing dunes back on the far side of the crater, from slightly different angle now.
Sweet lee dunes behind little plant obstacles.
Such an amazing place!
Wicked ventifacts at the crest of the rim.
This part of the rim is part solid, part dune.
The dune has a definite slipface.
Looking West from the NW rim.
