Totally Extreme
Trip Start
Aug 05, 2006
1
40
55
Trip End
Ongoing
Swakopmund,
Namibia
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Traveling southwest we came to Twyfelfontien which contains some ancient rock engravings done by the Bushman including the famous "White Lady" which is actually not a lady at all due to the fact that it has a penis. We camped out that night at the base of Brandberg, Namibia's highest mountain. It is only 2570m in elevation but is quite beautiful around sunset as light reflects off the rock making it look like it is on fire.
Some of the other tourists and I also went to a local festival which even made the Adair county fair look exciting! The only "interesting" part was when we tried to leave and our bus got buried in the sand. After about an hour of digging and a helpful push by most of the locals present we were unstuck and free to head back to the campsite.
The following day we arrived at the Skeleton Coast which was once famous for shipwrecks and is one the most inhospitable places on Earth. There is an interesting seal colony here at Cape Cross that contains nearly 80,000 seals and was given its name by the Portuguese Explorer Diego Cao who placed a stone cross here in 1485.
Driving parallel to the coast we moved south until we arrived at Swakopmund, Namibia's recreation mecca. There is an amazing number of activities to choose from here but the two at the top of my list were quad-biking and sand boarding. Along the coast are miles and miles of awesome sand dunes. For two hours we flew up and down the side of dunes on the quad-bikes, which cured my hangover from the night before. After that came sand boarding which is basically like snow boarding except it is on sand instead of snow. For me it was more like sand crashing though as I seemed to get worse instead of better the more I practiced. Still, it was a lot of fun although my left shoulder still hurts after a particularly stunning fall. To be continued....
Another Try
