Swakopmund, Namibia 12-15 August 2008

When we camped in the sand/rocks close to the Skeleton Coast, we were actually ridiculously close to Swakopmund but didn’t realise it and no-one told us in case (I presume) we clamoured to be taken to a camp ground!! We arrived in Swakopmund early the next morning and we’d been warned that is was a bit of an odd town with odd people and it didn’t disappoint. Swakopmund is large (in area) for its population of 25,000 and has few trees (apart from the odd Norfolk pine growing at an angle), wide one way streets, loads of shops and is very very German. Its right on the Skeleton Coast surrounded by desert and can be, as it proved to us, a very desolate and dreary place. The day we arrived the cloud had rolled in from the sea and it was grey, damp, quiet and kind of eerie.



The people running the hostel we stayed in were at first humourless and seemingly without personality but I know for a fact that if you smile at someone long enough, they’ll smile back. Doesn’t matter whether they’re smiling at you (for looking like an idiot) or with you (for being friendly), they will smile. It worked. There was a rather odd chap staying there who got chatting to us and told us how he’d already written off two rental cars. One was totalled when he hit an Oryx that jumped out in front of him and while the car died, the Oryx didn’t and headed to the side of the road where it lay down. He called the ranger who came with a small hand gun and stood, arm shaking, in front of the Oryx to try and shoot it. The horns on the Oryx are super long, so its not like you can get too close. Apparently they managed to put it down but it didn’t sound pleasant. I never got to hear how he wrote off the second car as he got started on racism and that was the end of any other conversation! We heard of another chap had been sleeping out by the camp fire and had been attacked by an old hyena that went for his head. He managed to fight it off but had it been a younger animal, he wouldn’t have stood much chance. Some of the other trucks and 4x4’s that we run into had lost passengers along the way. One woman broke three ribs quad biking and that was the end of her, her husband and daughters trip. Another few just hadn’t realised that the going would be so rough (its not really) and weren’t expecting to be bush camping, sleeping on the ground in tents. Not any other option most of the time!

We had three days in Swakopmund and we had our first bath for months and months – bliss! The dirt that came off was embarrassing but not unsurprising given the dirt and dust that had been flying round the last few days. Swakopmund has loads to offer anyone who is into adventure sports and we were all well up for quad biking in the amazing dunes along the coast and skydiving if the weather allowed. We also went sand boarding which was actually more enjoyable than I thought it would be and sand is, I think, far more forgiving than snow – thankfully as I seemed to hit it a lot. The different styles of different people were entertaining to watch. I was fine with balance, stood up on the board and went for it (albeit at great speed and mainly out of control) and managed to turn before spectacularly wiping out. Euan on the other hand, was a bit wobbly on the board but mastered the speed control and stuck with going down the slope on an angle before attempting to (slowly) turn. He fell over but didn’t hurt himself or get absolutely covered in sand. I, on the other hand, crashed a lot and with great gusto. I did one face plant after turning at speed, winded myself and copped a mouthful of sand – so much sand was in my mouth that I couldn’t talk, honestly as I tried to answer someone who was shouting was I OK, and it took two full days before my eyes were cleared properly.

The quad biking was far more my thing and while there was a huge group that went out into the dunes, there were about five of us who were super quick and hooned off as a group. We were out there going full blast for at least two hours and to be honest, there wasn’t much chance of looking at the scenery as we were going too fast but when we stopped there was plenty of time for posing on the bikes



looking at the dunes



before rushing back for more biking at speed (“Come on Euan!!!”)



They were great bikes and you had a choice of full manual 250cc (me) and 250cc semi-auto (Euan), 125 full manual and some 350cc bikes that they insisted you had to be over 80kg to ride. Thankfully I'm not quite that heavy so stuck with the 250cc. Throughout the afternoon I was reminded exactly why I bought a dirt bike in the first place years ago and it wouldn't take much to get me back on one.

The mist rolled in for the next day and spoiled our chances of a skydive but the upside was that we had a day to look round Swakopmund and visited the crystal gallery (far less exciting than a sky dive!). Depends on what you’re into but they did had some incredible rocks in there



and what was claimed to be the largest mined quartz cluster in the world at 14 tonnes and 3.5m high.



Swakopmund was pretty geared up for tourism and its proximity to the sea meant that eating at a place that served up seafood was a given win. The best place we at was called Kuckis Pub and we went there expecting typical pub-grub but it was actually a seafood place and the seafood platter was to die for, and a bargin at about £12 equivalent. Four different types of fish (swordfish, kingclip, shark and one other that I can’t remember), lightly floured and pan fried, three giant king prawns, one baby crayfish (that should still be in the sea and I felt guilty eating it), two mussels, two oysters and a whole pile of crumbed calamari - the freshest I’ve ever had. Divine. It was so good we went there for dinner twice.

We could easily have stayed another two or so days in Swakopmund as there were some interesting people to talk to but there was a schedule of sorts to maintain and the Namib-Naukluft National Park was next on our agenda.