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Published: June 15th 2008
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Some might say that Swakopmund is more German than Germany. Birgit, my travelling friend from Bavaria, does not agree. Still, there is an incontrovertible German influence here in this old colonial town, evident in the architecture and place names. Sandwiched between desert and ocean, Swakopmund is Namibian's main seaside resort.
No sooner had we arrived than we were hearing from a local tour rep of all the crazy activities you could get up to in Swakopmund. From sandboarding to skydiving, you name it, it's on offer here.
I booked up for quadbiking the sand dunes. I had the most amazing amount of fun. It took me a while before feeling comfortable on the bike. Learning how to handle the dunes was the most difficult part. We were after all flying down sheer vertical drops at times - the dunes are very tall and very steep! Compared to everyone else, I was pathetically slow to begin with. 'Grandad', they called me. But later, not long in, I eventually got a feel for it and went from geriatric to crazy speed beast at the change of a gear! Was racing Jodie and Melissa (travelling buddies) for poll position and I won!
As for the dunes, just AWESOME. A lot like the planet of Tatooine from the Star Wars movies - especially opening sequences in Return of the Jedi.
While I quadbiked, Kerry sandboarded. I thought this very adventurous of her. Before making our bookings, we watched a video of the various activities on offer. Don't get me wrong, the sandboarding did look fun but at the end of the day, belly boarding down the dunes is, in my book, a borderline extreme sport: crazy speeds reached and inevitable mouthfuls of sand at the bottom. I, being a big girl's blouse, did not see the appeal. Kerry did have fun but on the last dune broke the metacarpal of the little finger in her left hand. It's a break she's suffered from before. It's an extremely weak bone and putting her hand out to slow herself at the bottom of the last dune caused the break. She was in an awful amount of pain. Just an awful thing to have happened. On top of the break (and almost more difficult to endure) was the well meaning but meddlesome interfering by some of our tour group who fancied a go at playing
doctor. Felt very sorry for her.
In the evening, I had a bit of a stand off with a local in a Swakopmund night club. Some of us from the tour group were out for a night out on the town. Come closing time, there were about 6 us left still out. We were specifically warned at the start of the night that we must walk to and from the hostel in groups. I was insistent that the 6 of us were going back in one big group: it was late, it was dark and there were girls in the group that were a little worse for wear. For those particular girls, the prospect of hometime was not as an inviting as staying back to flirt with the locals. I insisted they drink up. One gave me 'daggers', the other collapsed in a heap on the floor. Some local chap - a sky diving instructor - told me where to go and that the girls would be staying out with him. I told him that we would not be leaving without them. He resorted to some unsavoury name calling. I summoned by best 'west-coast, Glasgow hard-man' gumption and told
Night out in Swakopmund
Claire, Swannie and me. him that 'I'd rather be a '@#*!' in his book and see these girls back safe to their beds than head back a '@#*!' for not looking out for them'. The guy backed down and let us be. There were however some fun and games on the way back to the hostel. Some of the guys followed us back in their car (yes - drink driving - everybody does it in Africa!). Back at the hostel, we found them parked outside. I and one of the other guys tried to shepherd everyone to their rooms. That was the most we could do. The next day though, I found out that the troublesome pair had later sneaked out and went with the boys. From what I gathered it was not a pleasant experience for them. For some people, you can only do so much!
From Swakopmund, we travelled to the Namib Naukluft Park, the location of the world's oldest desert and highest sand dunes. By the time we had reached the park, it was late and we were putting our tents up in the dark. I was definitely at a breaking point what with all the human contact on the
truck etc. Essentially an introverted creature, I can enjoy manic bouts of extroversion but still, I need my own space, my own company and my own thoughts sometimes. As soon as tents were up, Kerry and I removed ourselves from the body of the tour group kirk and sat ourselves in the bar. Not alone for long though. A scorpion scurried round our feet causing me heart failure. The scorpions here (we had been warned) are particularly vicious and, of course, poisonous. A local stepped in to our rescue and jumped on the poor thing, squishing it underfoot.
The next day, we had an extremely early start. The intention was to get into the park for as early as possible to catch the sunrise from the top of Dune 45. I know I'm prone to exaggeration but truly, folks - the celestial vistas of burnt orange dunes are emotionally overwhelming - tear-jerkingly beautiful. The pictures I have attached do not do them justice. People - this is a must-go, must-see.
One small warning about the dunes: climbing them is arduous work. They are after all just sand. That means no solid footing. As you scale the dune, your
feet sink quickly beneath the surface of the sand requiring considerable effort to haul yourself upwards. Comparable to a step machine but a whole lot harder. I was gasping for air the whole way up!
Heading further into the park, we visited Sossus-Vlei and Dead-Vlei. 'Sossus-Vlei' means something like 'The Place Where People Disappear'. Here, european white settlers used to hunt native bushmen like game. The natives, knowing the land more expertly, outwitted the hunters, took them down, their bodies to disappear forever, entirely without trace. Spooky - huh?!
Our guide through the Vleis was Boesman. He taught us about vegetation in this hyper arid environment. He explained how the wildlife survives. He was a real character. He tiggered the trap of a trapdoor spider. He caught beetles with his bare hands. He tricked a lizard into burying itself in the sand by pretending to be a bird, scooped the lizard out from where it had taken refuge and lectured us on how best to eat/cook lizard. When he put the lizard between his teeth, folks gasped in horror. But of course he was only jesting and released the little thing back into the wild. He took us
to the Dead Vlei which was most impressive. The remains of dead trees rudely standing in a white sandy pan hedged by huge terracotta dunes. Another visual highlight!
After the dunes, we had a fun night at the Konkiep Lapa Capa where we were received by the very lovely manager Elzabe. We drank Springboks, sang along to ipod playlists and had a very merry time to ourselves. We all ended up bringing our sleeping bags inside and crashing out in the bar. I was not flavour of the month when I was first to fall asleep and start snoring. I was pummeled and beaten to stop. I was polite enough to apologise, albeit in a state of half-sleep slumber. But the constant problem was that no sooner had people stirred me than I was back sleeping again, before everybody else and snoring more loudly. My ability to pass into sleep so quickly is noteworthy I am told.
The next day we were off to see The Fish River Canyon. This is the world's second largest canyon. Quite amusing given this time last year we were at the world's largest, the Grand Canyon. The Fish River Canyon was utterly
breath taking. We were able to get really quite close to the edge. We had some fun with camera pics. As you will see from the attached, I enjoyed some of my own posing. At sun down over the canyon, we set up a small table and ate cheese and biscuits and drank wine - all very civilised.
And here endeth the Namibian leg of my sojourns. What an unforgettable place. I will definitely be back.
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