Day: April 9, 2017

Overland Day 7

Straight after breakfast I took off on a quad bike tour of the white sand dunes of Swakopmund in search of any wildlife the guide could find. Georgie decided to stay in comfort and relish the more than adequate bathroom facilities for hair washing and general girly stuff.

I was fortunate to be the only tourist on the tour, so as soon as the young fella guide found out I was a bit of a hoon he took the initiative and did some hooning of his own. Tearing up enormous steep dunes, motor roaring and sand spraying, then sweeping down into deep valleys to swoop up the other side. Adrenaline junkie stuff, heh heh! The sharp eyed guide managed to spot a few spider burrows and traces of a couple of different geckoes, he managed to unearth the geckoes but the spiders eluded him. We saw sidewinder snake tracks but were unable to locate that particular beastie, most unfortunately.

But it was a couple of hours of fun in a stunningly beautiful setting. Namibia is fabulous.

Later we went into town and had wonderful massages for less than a third of what we’d pay in Australia. Cool.

We visited a crystal gallery that had a wonderful collection of all sorts of fabulous and colourful rocks, minerals and crystals. The quartz crystals were second to none, including enormous clusters of giant crystals that were almost unbelievable. The pietersite (only found in Namibia) was very impressive.

(Click to enlarge)

Web footed gecko

(Click to enlarge)

Shovel headed gecko

(Click to enlarge)

Big quartz crystals

(Click to enlarge)

Pietersite

Overland Day 6

It was a tiny bit sad to leave that stunning place, but we progressed further north toward Swakopmund, through more dramatic scenery, rugged and unbelievably twisted and ancient rocks, so big, rearing up from the flat desert floor.

The Namibian roads are regularly graded dirt that do have the occasional corrugation, but are basically pretty good. Heaps better than the tarred roads in Madagascar. (It’s funny how I keep comparing things to Madagascar, that place was unique in every way.) The dust was the only problem, but that wasn’t too bad because there is very little traffic anyway.

We stopped at a lookout that was called ‘The Moon Mountains’ or something like that. Truly it did look like another planet, certainly nothing like an Earthly view. The whole place for multiple kilometres around was twisted and uplifted shale rocks that sparkled like something Liberace would wear. Gobsmacking.

We saw a large herd of springboks that kept criss-crossing the road and giving us multiple photo opportunities. Boing boing they go. Very pretty critters.

At Walvis Bay we saw flamingos just off shore on a sand bar. Click click.

Walvis Bay and Swakopmund are both beach towns built on the edge of the desert – a strange sight, especially for those houses on the back street, whose rear fences abut what looks like a million miles of sand dunes.  Not a blade of grass to be seen in anyone’s ‘garden’ – just sand and paving…

(Click to enlarge)
(Click to enlarge)
(Click to enlarge)