Of Accidents and Other Sandy Adventures
Saddened by our farewell to the desert, we drove through sand storms to Walvis Bay, the first place that looked like ‘civilization’ after a long time. It was also the first time we were able to see and smell the ocean since we left South Africa.
Sand storm on our way to Walvis Bay
We ate a VISA-payed pizza -we couldn’t resist the temptation- and then kept driving towards Swakopmund, one of Africa’s most famous extreme sports capitals.
Since we had plenty of time to get there, we stopped on the way and drove off the road to see some dunes that were next to the ocean – a beautiful mix of landscapes. After enjoying the view for a while, we returned to the car and tried to get out of there, but the car laughed at us. We were stuck in sand, and I don’t even know how that happened. The more we tried to get out, the more stuck we were. But suddenly, before we had time to laugh at our misfortune, a messenger of God came to rescue us in his pick-up truck! We hadn’t even been stuck for 5 minutes when he came, a Capetownian middle-aged man who had seen us from the road and thought we could be in trouble. And yeah, we were. But not only that, besides he just happened to have a rope and pulled us out in a second. It looked like he was used to save stupid tourists from their sandy deaths. After thanking him we continued our journey to Swakopmund, where we stayed at a cool backpackers, thinking we had escaped from the dangers of the sand.
‘Beware of elephants’, a completely normal traffic sign
The next morning we decided to try sandboarding, which is exactly the same as snowboarding, but on sand. My friend was used to going snowboarding, but this world was completely new to me. We spent the morning going up and down the dunes, it was really fun! We couldn’t slide down many times, because to be able to do that you had to walk up the dune first, which wasn’t easy. But it was an interesting and enjoyable sport that I recommend you try if you have the chance.
Sandboarding
After all that adrenaline rush from the morning, my friend convinced me to try quad biking in the afternoon. Big mistake.
First of all, don’t use an automatic quad if you’re driving up and down the dunes, it gets stuck all the time. In flat areas was fun, though.
Getting stuck in the sand, before the disaster
Secondly, if you see it’s getting stuck all the time, don’t try to go up a steep dune – it will get stuck and fall backwards. And that’s what happened to me. I fell backwards with the quad, which got the best part because it fell on top of me – lucky quad. As for me, having a 200-kilo-monster on my back, eating sand, being unable to breath, and having gasoline dripping on my face was not a nice experience. Those seconds before my friend and the guide got to me were never-ending. But the worst part came afterwards, when we had to go back to the quad station and the guide asked me to drive the quad back there, because we were pretty far away. So in pain and terrified of having another accident, I had to drive that monster back to its cage for what it looked like hours but I think it was 20 minutes. Of course, when there were high dunes I just left the quad there and walk – with difficulty -, and let the guide do his job.
After that, I had to stay in bed with ice for a couple of days, which forced us to stay in Swakopmund a bit longer than we expected. Quad bikes: never again!
Bearing in Mind 