Swakopmund Sept 22 to 28

After a good night’s sleep in our en suite tent we packed our bags and got into the back of a car driven by a Namibian, the road was straight there was nothing to see as we drove for 7 hours across the Kalahari Desert. The border crossing between Botswana and Namibia was uneventful and very efficient ( UAE and Oman take note).

We arrived in the capital of Namibia – Windhoek, reputedly the cleanest city in Africa. It has not much natural beauty about it and is mostly an administrative centre with a University. We stayed at a backpacker hostel and departed the next afternoon by mini bus to Swakopmund a drive of about 4 ours this time across the Namib Desert. We saw a tree which was excellent. The temperature was in the 30’s so we were dressed accordingly. Imagine our surprise when we drove into Swakopmund and saw women in winter coats, scarves and yes even gloves! From the warmth of our bus we thought we were seeing things...

Unfortunately, it was not an illusion the wind was bitingly cold even though the sun was shining. Swakop has a micro climate caused by the interaction of the desert and the cold Benguela current, it is fogbound until noon most days and the fogbank stretches upto 60k inland into the desert.

Swakop itself is incongruous, the main language is German, the street names are German and the restaurants and coffee shops specialise in German cooking and cakes. I felt quite at home having a German girlfriend and wearing shorts and boots. We had lovely Wiener schnitzel and chocolate cakes but the highlight was sitting out on the deck of restaurant one late afternoon scoffing fresh oysters and sipping a lovely South African sauvignon blanc, looking at the crashing waves of the South Atlantic.

We spent a few days in this strange town which prides itself on being the adrenalin centre of Namibia, we went kayaking with seals (close enough to pat on the snout) they were exceedingly friendly and playful, and were joined later by a pod of dolphins. The unique activity is sand boarding down massive sand dunes, a top speed of 73k per hour was achieved (yes, by me!). (you lie down on a piece of masonite and just go straight down with your chin inches from the hard packed sand).

As the days came closer for us to be picked up for our first period of African Volunteer work, we started to buy up provisions ...our best purchase by far were a couple of cheap blankets as sleeping under the stars in the middle of the desert proved very cold despite the 38c daytime temperatures.