The adrenalin capital of Namibia is Swakopmund. It is a tourist town with lots of neat cafes, shops, etc. and a very nice craft market. It is of German heritage and one actually feels like they are in a small town in Germany! The main reason people visit here is to take part in many of the outdoor sports and/or see the dunes in a variety oif ways. We tried the quadbiking on the dunes and one of the wonderful ways to experience the sanddunes of the desert: on a sandboard. It is simialr to snowboarding but requires a different emphasis on your front & back legs; so they say! As we have never snowboarded we decided this was a good way to try out the boarding sport! Rick actually got the hang of it and managed to make it down turning & WITHOUT falling on his final run!

This is one of the rare moments that Janet was ON the board Standing up! They say it is easier on the landing but when Janet did a complete flip over & slid all the way down the dune on her backside, she wasn't so sure! The other problem of course......no lifts! You have to just carry your board all the way back up again! Needless to say, the lunch at the end was well enjoyed! See below.

The sand dunes may seem lifeless but actually support a complex ecosystem capable of extracting moisture from frequent fogs.. There are spiders, moles, lizards, geckos, adders, skinks (a snake that swims on sand) and tenebrionid beetles! They bury themselves at night in order to drink & can cinsume 40% of there body weight in water in a single morning! They are all over the dunes & leave intersting trails!

As well as regular sandboarding we also tried the lie-down version. You hold on tight, lifting your hands, head & feet off the board and try not to flip! You steer with your feet if your board starts to turn. It really is a buzz on the way down but then again...it's the long walk back up!

Rick really enjoyed stuffing his pie-hole after the long morning boarding. We ate 6 sanwiches between us & so definitely got our monies worth! The cold drinks were very welcomed too!