We have just got back from Quad biking the sand dunes in Swakopmund. It was the best adrenalin fix I have had for ages. Thanks Dave for recommending we try it....
We joined a group of 4 girls making a total of 5 girls, 1 guy (me) and 2 guides. The girls all had no experience riding so took the automatic and Ann-Marie convinced me to opt for the more powerful manual 200cc bike. What brilliant fun. While the girls pottered around the flat undulating dunes following the lead guide I was taken on a rollercoaster roaring ride up and down the biggest dunes we could find. Often flat out in 5th before leaning into the inside and skidding the thing sideways before careering back down. All had great time and now I want one. I wonder whether 4x4 driving in the sand dunes in a toyota landcruiser would be the same?
Now Ann-Marie wants me to write about what we actually did in Namibia over the last week, so if like me you are only interested in the pictures or the exciting antics then feel free to skip this bit!
We started in Windhoek the capital of Namibia and opted to hire a car due to the difficulty of getting to many of the sites on public transport. Local South Africans had convinced us to hire a 2WD as all C roads (the big gravel ones) and most D roads are passable in such a vehicle. The only down side was we could not venture off into deep dark Kaokoland which would have required 4x4 driving skill and a convoy.
So after picking up our Toyota Corolla sedan we zoomed off to the North East up one of the few tar roads to Etosha National Park. The novelty here was we were alloed to drive ourselves on our own game drive searching for animals. We stayed in an old German fort at Namutoni and the next day ventured deeper into the park. Etosha is centered around a large flat salt pan and most of the animals we spotted around the few waterholes or on the flat grass savannah. After several hours our way was blocked by 2 elephants washing in a large puddle in the middle of the road. We were the first car to arrive on the scene and crept to within 40m before stopping to watch. After 45mins the elephanst still blocked our route and 3 more cars had turned up to watch. We were getting hungry and busting for the loo but in our little corolla did not want to be the first to risk passing within 10m of them on the dirt road. Another 15mins later one of the larger cruisers decided to creep by keen to get to camp and the elephants did not charge. So we went for it, with windows up, wondering whether elephant damage was covered under the car insurance policy.
We then headed for Khorixas where Ann-Marie had lived with her folks for 3months, when she was 1year old. She can't remember much (not unusual for Amms!) and so we drove around aimlessly for 30mins while taking snaps. A political rally was on with all the supporters gathering to watch as the president of Namibia was visiting town. It was a funny town, centered around the petrol station and we didnt particularly like the vibe (this might just be the different experience of a place you get when turning up in a nice car, I suspect had we turned up on a local bus with our packs, as per the rest of our Africa trip the locals would have felt more relaxed, less pesty). So we drove off towards the rock paintings and then north to Sesfontein, the corrugations and water crossings testing the suspension of the Corolla to the max!
We were given several stories in Sesfontein as to the condition of the road to Purros, a small settlement on the edge of Kaokoland with lots of Desert Elephant. 2 locals said it was passable in a Corolla (I assume driving as the locals do) and 2 said it was not (assuming I drive as westeners do) and that we would get beached on the deep sand. We opted to take a look and so we drove 15km towards Purros before deciding to stop and get out our 4ld (4 legged drive) to climb a hill and survey the land. The road was getting worse and although we thought we could make it all the wa, we were reluctant to fully trash our trusty car, we turned around opting instead to visit the local Himba village.
We drove back south from Palmwag via the Skeleton Coast which had less dunes than I was expecting and was one hell of a lot colder than we were prepared for. In fact overall Namibia has been one of the coldest places we have visited in Africa (the top on Kili the only exception) with most nights getting down to 13 degrees C and even mid day time temps only cresting 30-35 degrees and sometimes only a freezing 22!
Some of the nicest camp sites we stayed at were at the many luxury lodges where we could pitch our small tent and use the resort pool and bar. However the best campsite was near the rock climbing mecca of Spitzkoppe. No rock climbers, and we had no gear, so we opted to scramble our way up to the saddle and look for leopards. We will have to return one day as the quality of the rock was excellent and there were lots of slab climbs.
