So we've been in the little coastal town of Swakopmund now for 4 days. It is suppose to be the top local holiday destination although i think (or hope) that is out of season at the moment as it is very quiet! Whilst we've been here I've been sand boarding (check out the photos), visited the local township and looked around the museums. On the first day a group of us opted for sandboarding down the massive dunes just outside Swakopmund. You could choose to lie down on the board or actually have a snowboard and stand up. I decided to be safe than sorry and do the lie down, I could just seen me breaking a leg or something! We were kicked up with elbow pads, helmit and gloves - thats when it occurred to me it could still be a dangerous sport! It was a fantastic day, even if it was hard work walking/climbing up the dunes in the blistering heat (about 35 degrees) only to whizz back down them! We were give wooden-type plywood boards to slide down loads of different dunes of different sizes, shapes and heights and towards the end I did a tandem with John
(who it 58! and a legend). It was the first time he'd been able to stay on the board for the whole time to the bottom as much to his disappointment he kept wiping-out halfway down. So he was estatic that he had stayed on, and apparently it was all my help! As you can imagine we had sand everywhere, even in places you can't imagine, so we headed back for a shower before the camera guy showed us the film he had recorded of us and the photos he'd taken (the ones on the blog) on the big screen in the local bar!
The following day (25th) I spent soaking up the rays and people watching (you know me!) by the beach in a cafe waiting for the museum to open. It is school holidays so there are loads of kids playing on the beach and jumping in the waves, fun to watch. The local museum was actually very interesting as it had a lot of displays on the different environments in Nambia, the abundant wildlife, local history, a huge display on all the different tribes in Namibia and info on the Uranium mine near Swakopmund. In the
afternoon, I went to the Krystal Gallery, which was intersting from a geologists view and those who wanted to buy jewellery, but the best bit was that it had on display the largest Quartz cluster in the world! It was found in 1985 and took 5 years to excavate and weights 14.1 tons - amazing! In the evening i met everyone back at the hostel bar for a few drinks and then a meal at the local Italian for the 'spare ribs challenge'; a challenge between the boys (and some of the girls) for who could eat two huge ribs the fastest! Obviously I didn't participate but watched in dispair! Afterwards we headed to the local 'club', if thats what you can call it, as some people on the trip were on a high after doing the skydive.
On the afternoon of the 26th, me and another guy on the trip went on a tour of the local township, Mondessa. It was very interesting and was run by the local people that lived there so we had first-hand information and could ask loads of questions. They explainned how the township had formed here and how several thousand people were
still waiting to be homed in the main township as they were in temporary housing in a separate area; we visited both these areas. it was intersting to hear about government incentives and schemes for helping build new houses- it is very slow but progress is being made. We visited a local artists house (crazy paintings), a medicine women and we went to see the chief but she had gone to a wedding! Anyway, we had a stroll around the village and the local kids would run up to us for their photo to be taken and then afterwards they loved to see it on the screen. In the evening we had a beer in one of the township bars and then a traditional meal of caterpillar-type worm things, mixed beans, maize, nuts and spinach -yum!! I have to admit that i did go back to Swakopmund and have pizza!
Tommorrow, we head up the Skelton Coast.......
Namibia's Flag
Map of Namibia