Having made it back to Swakopmund, we enjoyed being back in manageable temperatures by the coast, being able to get a cappuccino (it's the little things) and wandering the streets of this lovely town. We can see why people end up staying here.
We only had a couple of days back in Swakop before we were heading back to the city, so we wanted to make the most of our time here and we were still hungry for adventure, so we hooked up with Michael Dias from M.A.D Tours again, to do some 4x4 driving across the expansive sand dunes down the coast and visit Sandwich Harbour. Michael is very professional, super attentive and safe, but also super chilled and makes every trip out so much fun, we can't recommend him enough. If you're planning a trip to Namibia, specifically the West coast, then you should speak to Michael (details at the bottom of this blog), we did several excursions with him in our time there.
Michael picked us up at 8am and we headed down the coast stopping on the sea front in Walvis bay to pick up a coffee and see flocks of flamingos in Flamingo Lagoon, while Michael sorted out our lunch for later and deflated the tyres for sand driving.
We drove out along the coast, in and around the colourful commercial salt lakes where 1.3 Million tonnes of sea salt is harvested every year (Namibia is the largest solar producer of sea salt in sub-Saharan Africa. Weirdly, in every café or restaurant we went in they were offering Himalayan Pink salt rather than their own (which is actually supposed to be excellent).
We drove on to the narrow beach and headed down the coast within metres of the tide. The last time i'd driven on the beach using it as a road to get from one point to another was on Moreton Island off the East coast of Australia 15 years ago, so this brought back great memories. Not only was Michael carefully avoiding the tide, but he also had to dodge a few seals here and there. I thought they were sleeping, but they were sadly dead; it was the end of the mating season which apparently always leaves behind some casualties. It wasn't all doom and gloom though, as we did get to see a few seals scooting down the beach to the safety of the ocean as we approached.
Before long the sandy dunes got larger and larger and soon there was just a wall of sand on our left as the dunes soared up to 100ft on one side just a few meters away from the waves lapping on the shore. There are only a small number of places in the
world where the desert meets the sea like this, so it's fairly unique and very beautiful to see. As soon as we stopped for a photo, Gaz was out of the car and scampering up this massive wall of sand. he got up there so fast and within a few moments was gone from view. At tis point Michael looked up and said "where's Gaz?" and was a little concerned when I just pointed up. So we waited a few minutes and still Gaz didn't appear and I think Michael was probably considering heading up the sand mountain as well just to go and get him, but just then Gaz's head popped up and all was well. When we were safely back in the car, Michael took us up and over a lower dune and it was only then that I understood why he had looked a little uncomfortable at Gaz going off on his own; in front of us was an endless sea of giant pale sand dunes. We had been through dunes in the Sahara, and we've walked through the Namibia Sand Sea in Sossusvlei, and like those places, this desert was simply endless. If you've ever been to a sandy desert (for those not aware, most deserts are not actually made of the classic sand dunes you see in films) you will know how magnificent but also humbling it is to see sand dunes with no end, and to feel that ominous sense of how easy it would be to get completely and utterly lost. In this desert landscape you couldn't even use the ocean as a guide because within moments it was gone from view and rarely popped up again. These dunes are mammoth and apparently always changing, so getting lost here is a real possibility. I was very grateful to have Michael guiding us as we ventured into this strange place.
Michael expertly took us on a drive up and down the dunes which was really good fun. I was a bit of a girl and kept squealing when the dunes were higher or steeper (or both) than I was ready for. I'm sure I wasn't such a wuss when I was younger!! We made our way to a few key vantage points for photos down the coastline and the views were incredible. At around lunchime, after travelling across the sand for 60km, we pulled up to one such view over Sandwich Harbour, the destination for this trip.
Sandwich Harbour was once a commercial fishing and trading port before Walvis Bay became the primary port along this coastline. The settlement here was overtaken by the giant sand dunes which have now enveloped it entirely leaving no trace that anyone ever lived here. The bay shelters a very important coastal wetlands area where eight endangered wading bird species live in the shadow of the looming desert dunes at their edge.
We had a lunch here with Michael learning about the history of the place and looking out at the view. It was a fairly extraordinary place to have a bite to eat. Before leaving, Gaz and I went exploring and I managed to fail spectacularly at simply standing up in the dunes. There are many photos of me ending up on my bum or knee deep in the stuff. It took me days of washing to get it all out of my hair! Funny though.
We headed back across the dunes on our return journey across a different section of the national park, which delivered us to an area which had a fair amount of vegetation in amongst smaller sand dunes, and there feasting on it, in the middle of this arid place was a herd of Springbok. Michael explained that they are fairly common in the dunes and they know where the food is! One of the plants, I forget the name, produces a fruit that is harvested by local villagers who walk for miles and miles across the dunes to get to the plants. Michael says he never sees anyone out in the sand, but the plants can be stripped of their fruit from one day to the next. A few kilometres further on and the dunes gave way to a flat landscape with small hillock sand and shrub bumps and in amongst this alien looking landscape, we saw a jackal; one of only two in this area apparently, so we were very fortunate to see it.
In Swakopmund we took the next day to explore the north of the town, heading up to the beach and walking the boardwalk beyond. We found a great little vending van selling seafood, so happily spent a little while munching on fish and chips and calamari, while we noted how young children in need were given some food and water from the back door of the van. It is good to see people looking after those more vulnerable around them. Swakop is a good place. It's a town that Gaz and I both felt comfortable in, probably because it had a fusion of European and African influence, but the people seem like good people and the town feels safe to walk around day or night.
Soon enough our time in Swakopmund had come to an end. We took a tourist shuttle back to the capital Windhoek and spent a few days chilling in a guesthouse in a residential area south of the city. We took the opportunity to decompress and plan the next leg of our journey on an entirely different continent. Yep we were leaving Africa and heading to Central America, first stop Guatemala.
We had a fairly complicated journey ahead of us - 4 connecting flights that would take us from Windhoek, Namibia to Frankfurt, Germany, then to Dallas, Texas in the US, then a short flight to Houston, Texas and then a final flight to Guatemala city, Guatemala. We weren't looking forward to it, but with booking flights you inevitably have to choose what is most important = money or time, and we are definitely rich on time! So on our departure day, early evening we booked a taxi (using the safe and much recommended LEFA app) and headed off to the Hosea Kutako airport, which turned out to be about a 45 minute drive from the city. Why do some countries put their primary international airports so far away from civilisation with no public transport links? This will always baffle me.
Our first flight to Frankfurt went well but our connection to Dallas was almost 2hrs late leaving, which caused us to unfortunately miss our connection to Houston. So, after being rebooked by United Airlines on to a flight to Washington (yes Washington) from where we would connect to Guatemala City, we set off again and eventually arrived after an additional 12 hours, meaning it took us a total of 42 hours to get from from Namibia to Guatemala. We were understandably exhausted and both slept for nearly an entire day when we checked into our hostel. It will be a while before either of us want to fly anywhere, so for the next 6 months we're going to be using buses, boats and maybe trains and even pedal power if need be, to get us around Central America, and across the US and we can't wait!
Absolutely amazing. Fantastic sand dunes and sea views.
You sure it was that much salt????
Poor seals but maybe they died with a smile on their faces.....)