Continuing on my adrenaline filled day after sandboarding, a few members of my group and I decided to go quadbiking through the dunes around Swakopmund in the afternoon (better known as riding ATVs to us Americans). A driver came and picked up our group, though we drove for about three minutes, circling around to the backside of our campsite, realizing that we could have probably walked there just as quickly, since the site was literally just outside the fences of our area, which is also the edge of the strange town of Swakopmund. Along with me for the afternoon were Simon (British architect guy), Bruce and Stuart (British brothers), and David and Jennifer (retired Aussie couple that were my teammates for chore duty throughout the trip). We were given a very brief bit of instructions, and then we were on the quadbikes, revving the engines and ready to go.
Swakopmund is surrounded by sandy desert, so it's not hard to find empty areas to ride, though thankfully this company sticks to a piece of the dunes to the South of the city that are blocked off for their own activities, preventing too much environmental damage to the rest of the area. Buzzing down a road for just about a minute, we entered the beautiful golden sand dunes, laying down tracks as we went along, slightly tentative at first, though we soon got the feel for what our machines were capable of. Bruce, being one to always go full-speed, opted for the manual transmission bike which had a larger engine, so he soon disobeyed the instructions to stay in line, weaving in and out and past us at times, slicing fairly close to us at times with a huge smile on his face. Riding up and down over the huge rolling dunes with no one else in sight, we began making our way to the faces of the dunes, riding up the front of them at a steep angle and then turning back downhill just as the quadbike would lose momentum (if you don't turn, you'd lose all momentum and then roll down the hill), then picking up a huge amount of speed as you raced back down the large dunes, catapulting back up another mound to the next dune. We did a few circles on some of the more enjoyable ones and continued making our way around the area, having to stop a few times for Bruce who either was too far ahead or behind doing his own thing or, on two or three occasions, stuck in the sand while trying to shift when he shouldn't, leaving himself stuck digging into the soft sand and needing the guide to come pull him out. (Bruce and Stuart always mentioned how he loved to go all out in anything, and he told me that he's made sure to never get a motorcycle, as he knows he'd kill himself, so this didn't surprise me.)
After about an hour of riding over the dunes, we took a quick break, looking over the spectacular patterns of the rolling dunes going off in every direction. The late afternoon sunlight illuminated the area with a brilliant golden hue, making the exhilarating experience that much more magical. Each of us had loved the first half of the journey, and we couldn't wait for more. We turned around and headed back towards the base, taking a track closer to the coast this time. As before, we circled up and down the face of some of the larger dunes before coming to the top of a few huge ones where we actually had to slow down quite a bit to make it safely down the steep descents. Not long afterwards, we came over another ridge, revealing the setting sun reflecting off the dark water of the ocean just a few hundred yards away, providing a perfect ending to an incredible experience. Another guide also got a small gecko in the sand around us, showing his version of an "African earring" with the gecko clamping on to his earlobe with his mouth and not letting go. I had not originally thought that I would do the quadbiking, but I was so glad that I did; it was almost worth it just for the perfect views over the massive field of sand dunes, and the quadbiking part was amazingly fun in and of itself. It was so good that a few of us even talked about doing it again the next day, though we eventually decided not to do that. Another few people in our group did the quadbiking the next morning, and although I'm sure it was great, they had mist and clouds, so I was glad that we had the spectacular views and late afternoon sun when we did our trip.
I also thought about doing a little bit of solo paragliding on the dunes with three of the group members the next day, climbing up the dunes and floating down a little bit above the sand on the air currents, though I decided to relax and save a bit of money, instead taking the day to rest and get caught up on a few mundane things like laundry. Again, the day was mostly shrouded in mist and a bit of wind, making it quite cold on the coast, while it was very hot and dry just ten minutes inland. For dinner, a few of us went to an Italian place the first night; this is one of the few places in Namibia with many culinary choices, so we had to take advantage of it. Some had local meat (oryx) or fish, while I opted for a massive calzone that I barely even finished. It was so good, in fact, that I convinced Simon, Bruce and Stuart to go back to that place the next night, with each of us ordering our own calzone, since they were also impressed by it the day before. This time I went for the springbok version, filled with a bit of the tasty game meat (again, similar to beef) and a sort of stirfry mix. When the four huge calzones came out, we saw a lot of the other guests pointing and talking about our food, as they are quite impressive sights. All in all, I didn't think I'd have much to do in two and a half days in Swakopmund, but I had a great time with the sandboarding and the quadbiking, and the great calzones just added to my enjoyment of the place.
Leaving town, we had another dark, misty morning, heading down the coast to Walvis Bay, one of the most important harbors on this side of the coast and actually the second biggest city in Namibia, though that's not saying much. We passed a few elegant houses lining the waterfront, but most of the city was fairly generic, backed by some large fishing boats and freight harbors. We stopped just past the town at the boardwalk to wander around, checking out a few of the flocks of flamingos wading in the shallow water in front of us before heading back onto the truck on on our way inland again, ready to make our way to Sossusvlei, one of the most eagerly anticipated stops on the trip.
(After sandboarding in the morning, six of us decided to do the quadbiking (ATVs) in the afternoon. We went just outside of town to one of the many dunes and began a guided ride up and down the dunes. We would speed along up and down the hills and then do big semi-circles on the massive dune faces, going as high up as possible before losing momentum and turning back downhill before the quadbike tipped over. This is either me or Bruce, but I'd have to zoom in to see. Looks really cool, so it's probably me.)
(Me and Simon on our quadbikes, having a great time tearing up the dunes. They also assured us that we stick to a specific part of the dunes, leaving the rest of the landscape and habitat of the area untouched, thus not ruining the environment all that much. I had initially thought I wouldn't do this, but it turned out to be incredibly fun, so much so that many of us wanted to do it again.)
(Me making some tracks while waiting for the rest of the group. Bruce opted for the larger bike with the manual transmission, meaning that he'd often speed by us, but then he got stuck a few times trying to shift on the steep hills, so this was one of the times when the guide had to go back and get him.)
(Apart from the exhilarating ride, just getting out into the beautiful dunes in the late afternoon light was worth it, as we had some incredible views of the sand stretching in every direction, finally stopping at the cold Atlantic Ocean.)
(See if you can guess what's missing in this picture. Hint- it starts with a "Q" and ends with "uadbike.")
(Here's the whole group of quadbikers. From left: Stuart, me, David, Bruce, Simon and Jenny. We also did a really cool picture where we all did thumbs-up, but somehow the picture didn't capture the excitement.)
(After getting a massive calzone one night for dinner, it was hard to choose anything else, so I convinced some of the guys to come back the next night, and we were not disappointed. With our four massive calzones, most of the people in the restaurant were looking at us, no doubt envious. Mine was a springbok stirfry, and it was really good. We all had a bit of leftovers for lunch, too. From left - Stuart, Bruce, me (already taking a bite), and Simon.)
(Along with the wonderful calzones, I was also a fan of the donuts from the local supermarket. Apparently I'm perpetuating American stereotypes of overeating all over the world, but that's ok. I like food.)
(Leaving Swakopmund, we headed down the coast to Walvis Bay, where we saw large flocks of flamingos hanging out in the bay. Though the day was a little dark, it made for good reflections on the water. This peaceful little guy was just sitting there until Bruce started to chase a few of them to try to make for a better, more exciting video.)
(Though they're not all that rare, it's still cool to see them in flight.)
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