u/FawnLeibowitz_

Just wanted to post a warning for anyone self-driving in Sossussvlei. We recently fell victim to a coordinated blackmail trap set up by corrupt police and park officials on the deeper sand route coming out of Deadvlei. Here is exactly how the scam works so you can avoid it:

-They park a random tour vehicle dead in the center of the deep sand track so it looks completely stuck, blocking the only way forward.

-Because the route is blocked, cars (including ours and several others) are forced to briefly detour onto the side sand to get around the "stuck" car.

-The absolute second your tires leave the established track (even if it is still a sand road with no vegetation), someone (in this case a tour driver in the beat up van) waiting in ambush jump out and corner you. They aggressively accuse you of "illegal off-roading" to extort you and take photos of your car and report you to the park - .this happened to us and three other couples that we witnessed.

When I realized what was happening at the gate where we were detained and called the lead officer out for scamming us, he became verbally abusive and started saying sexist, racist, and classist things. Being detained in the remote desert with an aggressive, corrupt official who is actively abusing his power is an unpleasant situation to be in and a surprise for a national park to say the least. We were eventually forced to pay $1200 ND (cash only of course) for them to give us back our passports and hand us an “admission of guilt” form which we did not sign.

If you are driving to Deadvlei and the road is blocked by a "stuck" vehicle, don’t go around it. Stop your car, stay on the designated track, and wait it out. Do not give them any excuse to claim you drove off-road. If you have a dashcam, make sure it is running.

Stay safe out there, and please pass this on to anyone you know traveling to Sossusvlei soon.

Just wanted to post a warning for anyone self-driving in Sossussvlei. We recently fell victim to a coordinated blackmail trap set up by corrupt police and park officials on the deeper sand route coming out of Deadvlei. Here is exactly how the scam works so you can avoid it:

-They park a random tour vehicle dead in the center of the deep sand track so it looks completely stuck, blocking the only way forward.

-Because the route is blocked, cars (including ours and several others) are forced to briefly detour onto the side sand to get around the "stuck" car.

-The absolute second your tires leave the established track (even if it is still a sand road with no vegetation), someone (in this case a tour driver in the beat up van) waiting in ambush jump out and corner you. They aggressively accuse you of "illegal off-roading" to extort you and take photos of your car and report you to the park - .this happened to us and three other couples that we witnessed.

When I realized what was happening at the gate where we were detained and called the lead officer out for scamming us, he became verbally abusive and started saying sexist, racist, and classist things. Being detained in the remote desert with an aggressive, corrupt official who is actively abusing his power is an unpleasant situation to be in and a surprise for a national park to say the least. We were eventually forced to pay $1200 ND (cash only of course) for them to give us back our passports and hand us an “admission of guilt” form which we did not sign.

If you are driving to Deadvlei and the road is blocked by a "stuck" vehicle, don’t go around it. Stop your car, stay on the designated track, and wait it out. Do not give them any excuse to claim you drove off-road. If you have a dashcam, make sure it is running.

Stay safe out there, and please pass this on to anyone you know traveling to Sossusvlei soon. If any locals have tips on who to report this warden to, I’d appreciate the heads up. Thank you!!

Edited to clarify the extortion was for $1200 ND, not $1100 as previously stated.

Hello all. My 75-year-old mom with Parkinson’s has started having terrifying “off” episodes over the past few days and I’m trying to understand from others who have experienced this and what helped.

I live long distance, so this has been especially difficult to navigate and assess from afar.

She currently takes regular carbidopa/levodopa during the day at four hour intervals and Sinemet C/R overnight.

She has now had at least 4 episodes that occurred very predictably about 30 minutes before her next daytime dose was due. During them, she experiences intense panic, crying, internal distress, pain, inability to get comfortable, and major difficulty moving or repositioning herself. She becomes extremely physically overwhelmed and says it feels awful/terrifying while it’s happening. Cognitively, she remains sharp the entire time. She knows who she is, where she is, can answer questions normally.

Once she takes her next dose, it takes about an hour for the symptoms to improve and then she becomes much calmer and more functional again.

She has also had several similar “panic attack” episodes earlier this year severe enough that EMTs were called. She was also wearing a Holter monitor this week for possible heart/palpitations issues, though we don’t know if that’s related or separate.

Has anyone dealt with severe wearing-off episodes like this? Did extended release meds, rescue meds, dose timing changes, hydration/nutrition, anxiety treatment, etc. help? How did you help your loved one cope during the episodes themselves?

Hello! We’re visiting in a couple of weeks and want to be safe and not get in over our heads somewhere. We’ll be on the typical tourist loop (Windhoek to Sossussvlei to Swakop to Uis to Khorixas to Etosha and back to Windhoek) and staying in lodging and not walking in towns at night or flashing expensive gear. Is there anywhere we should avoid from a safety perspective, and I’m talking both animals and people. We’ve done extensive research on the best practices for driving on your roads and it seems that the only true danger would be from reckless driving — but in light of the recent issue in Kruger, I’m wondering if there’s somewhere we should not venture to avoid poachers or other bad actors. My overall impression is that we will be as safe as if not safer than in some of Europe or the US. Thank you in advance!