Day 6: Living Desert Tour
We had early start for the Living Dessert optional. The owner of the campsite took us out in the dessert to show us how to survive. He told us the first rule was to stay away from trees. In a storm, lightening will strike a tree and if you are underneath it then you will be killed. Another danger of trees is the tics that gather underneath them. Sitting under the tree makes it easy to get bitten and catch an illness like Lyme disease.
We then inspected the different animal tracks including scorpions, lizards, mice, etc. If you are stranded in the desert, he told us that the best thing to eat would be raw lizards since they carry quite a bit of water in their system. If you cook the lizard then you will lose out on the water content. He also showed us a plant that would open with one drop of water. If the plant gets a second drop of water then the seeds will come out but it will close up without water.
He also told us a little about the Bushman and how they survived off the land. When they killed animals, they had no way to store and preserve the meat. So their solution was eating up to 10kg or 20 pounds of meat a time. He showed us a photo of their a tribe of bushman after a meal and all of their bellies protruded making them look pregnant. He showed us a second photo of the bellies when they hadn’t eaten for awhile and their skin was all wrinkly and saggy from where it had expanded so many times.
We arrived in mid afternoon to Swakopmund. It was one of the bigger cities that we visited during our entire 25 days. During the afternoon, we sat around playing games of Uno and King’s Cup before heading out to dinner at Napolitana.
I chose to get the game grill with consisted of 4 types of game meat. The Zebra which was kind of dry and reminded me of pork. It wasn’t my favorite so I tried to give away pieces of it. My absolute favorite was the Kudu which tasted like a tender piece of steak and was delicious. Both Springbok and Oryx also tasted a bit like steak but weren’t nearly as tender.
After dinner, we went into the bar at Napolitan. It was a small local bar where we sang karaoke for the next three hours straight. There were a few locals in the bar as well but our group dominated the microphone. Any popular karaoke song that you can think of and we probably sang it. I was the only one in our group that managed to escape singing on the microphone but I happily danced along to the songs in the background.
We then decided to go the club which I think may be the only club that exists in Namibia. We walked in and discovered that we had the club completely to ourselves. About 15 minutes later, 4 guys walked in and started dancing with this coordinated dance moves that looks like they were trying to be a boy band. I have never seen guys dance in sync for such long periods of time. Is that popular in Namibia?? They certainly seemed to think they were really cool and tried teaching some of the girls in the group their dance moves. They didn’t seem to realize the girls were just making fun of them either. The locals from the Karaoke bar followed us to the club but there were still only 20 people there total. So lower your expectations for what a club in Namibia is.
Day 7: Quad Biking in Swakopmund
I found Quad Biking in Swakopmund to be simultaneously thrilling and terrifying. I have been Quad Biking one other time in Cappadocia but that was pretty easy compared to the Quad Biking in Swakopmond. I hadn’t gone up and down any steep hills. The first 15 minutes of the tour were mainly straight lines and fairly flat to get us comfortable with the Quad Bikes. We had a quick stop and then they sped things up and we started going up and down the dunes. As the tour progressed, the more extreme it became.
They had warned us at the beginning that there would be hills that we would need to almost come to a complete stop at the edge. You would get to the edge, give it just a little gas to get you over and then completely stop using the gas and the brakes and let gravity take you down the sand dunes. This was the part that scared the living shit out of me. I had visions of myself flipping the Quad Bike over while going down the hills. I didn’t want to die Quad Biking in Swakopmund! The sensation reminded me of roller coasters where you have a steep drop and lose your stomach. I wasn’t sure if the sensation in my stomach was the actual drop or just the nervousness and loss of control that I felt as I sped down the dunes.
After awhile, I started to wish the tour would be over due to my fear of flipping over. When I found out that we only had 15 minutes left, I was finally able to relax and realize that I was going to be fine. It took me awhile, but I could finally enjoy the rush and thrill of going down the dunes. I wish that I had gotten out of my head sooner. Even at the end of tour, I was still most comfortable taking up the rear since I wasn’t holding anyone else up. Go at a pace that is comfortable to you. At one point, I managed to get stuck going up a large dune. Don’t make the same mistake as me and give it enough gas to avoid getting stuck.
We would also go up and down the side of the dunes which scared some in the group because they were scared of going sideways and sliding down the dunes. However this part didn’t scare me at all since I found it easy to steer the bike and I had plenty of room at the back of the pack to avoid hitting anyone else.
Most of the people in my group, absolutely loved the tour and wanted to go for longer. One girl hated driving the bike, so they gave her the option to abandon her bike and hop on the back with one of the guides. She enjoyed not having to drive and felt like she got to go much faster with the guide then she would have ever gone on her own. So if you are hesistant about going, at least know that there is an option to turn back or hop on the back of a guide’s bike. If you get a chance, you have to try Quad Biking in Swakopmund.
We went to Swakopmund Brauhaus, a German restaurant, for dinner. The food was good, the waiter had a great sense of humor, and the service was fast. I would highly recommend it for a dinner in Swakapond. Now it was time to head out to the bars! We were unsure of the place when they seemed to be out of half of the drinks of the menu but the place quickly filled up. The locals were all friendly and seemed to enjoy talking with us.
We later saw that a tour guide had gotten knifed and his stuff was stolen walking home that night. I was almost surprised to hear that it was a local targeted. I would think they would focus on robbing tourists that they assume have money. It was just another reminder to not walk alone in Africa. They are lots of stabbings and robbery but if you stay with a group then you will be fine.
Interested in hearing more about my Africa Acacia Desert Tracker tour? Read about Day 1 of the tour , Day 2 and 3, or Day 5 touring Dune 45.
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