Sam's Giardino Hotel Swakopmund

... Ahh, the power of being back in civilization!<br><br>The next day was the &#8220;adrenaline day!&#8221; Some people went out skydiving. We decided to do some sandboarding and quad biking (ATV). Sandboarding is quite like snowboarding but without the snow (and unfortunately without the lifts). We thought the difficult part would be boarding down the dunes but boy were we wrong! The hard part was climbing back up ...

... and offers skydiving, quad biking, sand boarding and other sports. We all signed up for sandboarding, and tried to be put in a group that did not include Wayne. Unfortunately, we didn't have that many options.<br><br>The first night in Swakopmund we had a family dinner at a game restaurant in town. Unfortunately, like a dysfunctional family, we were unable to get through the meal without an incident. Sarah ordered the springbok burger, Lindsey got the ...

... expensive. It cost around $130 US but I figured with Jaimie's $100 it wasn't too bad and I wanted to make sure it was done well so agreed to have it done and pick it up in 2 days. So now my goal was to go visit the different wine regions around Cape Town but I wasn't sure if I should do an organized tour or just rent a car and head off. I talked to a few people and they made a good point that it wasn't exactly smart to go tasting alcohol and then drive around all ...

... the drop zone while waiting then returned to town to go quad biking at 2pm. We chose manual bikes while others could have fully automatic or semi auto bikes. The manual ones took some getting used to as the throttle is a hold down button not a wrist twisting handle one. The quad bike is so different from a road bike that getting my head around the idea we were on sand and not going to fall on turns took me awhile to get off my road rider headspace and into the quad bike ...

... At one point I was really surprised when, after taking a picture of some kids and showing them, a young guy called out and asked if I&#8217;d take a picture of him. I said sure and another guy leaned in, a woman in the back stepped forward shyly and a little toddler looked at me uncertainly. My group had moved on so I used two hands to show them the picture in case they actually wanted to grab my camera, but when I showed it to them the woman ...

... morning we went to a water that was just teeming with life, zebra's, wilder beasts, giraffes, warthogs, eagles, impala's, kudu (a rather tasty steak), orix and the omni present Guinea fowls. It was truly magical to see so many animals all interacting in one place. We waited quite a while and were rewarded with seeing a giraffe drinking - it was quite comical :) <br>The next night we went to a camp ground at the other end of the park and quickly cooked dinner and raced down to the ...

Joel:<br> Today was really fun. We got up at around 8 AM, and after a minor travel miscommunication we headed off to the Swakomund sand dunes around 9ish to go sandboarding. Once we arrived, we chose whether we would be "stand-up" sandboarding, which is equivelent to snowboarding, or "lay-down" sandboarding, which is sledding on a 2x4'' thin piece of press board. <br> Once we got our boots fitted up and ...

... renowned as an adrenaline capital, we decided to go sandboarding this morning. It was actually lots of fun, really similar to snowboarding, just a lot slower. You have to wax your board before every run, and you can feel it slowing down as you get towards the bottom of the dune. The walking up is a great workout too...so we only got a few runs in. They also had a little wooden jump set up, so we had a bit of fun going off that for awhile too. One of the guys found ...

... water or play with their paddles. Such cute cheeky little creatures. <br><br>Didn't see very many dolphins, maybe a dozen at the max but that didn't bother us. Near the end we moored up and had oysters and champagne.... the main reason for me doing the trip. Not as tasty as natural ones but fresh as can be so can't complain. <br><br>Cruise when from 8:15 to 1 and cost N$450pp. Not bad for a morning out. Was great just being out on a boat. Nearing the harbour we had another seal ...

... the lie down boarders for a run down the steepest slope, the Dizzie Lizzie. They had on knee and elbow pads and gloves, where we had no protection...apparently we were suppose to be the tough ones cause we could standup. We didn't see this as the case when we watched the experienced boarders fly down the hill with their faces mm's from the sand and catch some air on the jump at the bottom before it was our turn. It involved lying face first on a piece of plywood ...