Days 3 & 4 Namibia--Swakopmund

After a breakfast with really good fresh whole milk (not the sterilized boxed stuff we drink in Luanda) and cereal/omelets, we headed south towards Walvis Bay and a foggy morning of quad biking in the dunes.  We arrived at Daredevil Adventures, checked in, picked out helmets, and mounted up – Dad and Rhea, mom and Savvy, and Thomas by himself, with our guide Jacob (at least that’s what we think he said – still not sure).Jacob and Thomas led us up into the dunes behind the coastal freeway, and we explored them and zoomed around for a couple of hours.  Bri and I mostly let Rhea and Savvy drive and control speed (although we had to watch an absolutely fearless Rhea to keep her from killing us).We again enjoyed being on the dunes with their fantastic beauty and mystery.  While riding we saw one of the Namibia running lizards – it’s hard to say how fast he was moving (running on his back legs), but it looked very fast and I thought it was a bird at first as it skimmed along the surface.  We stopped, and while we took a bathroom break, Jacob pulled out a magnet and skimmed what turned out to be fine iron off the top of the dunes.

Jacob then used the filings to write in the sand.  Angolans and Namibians have beautiful penmanship, even in sand!

We were amazed, especially Briant who tried the same thing and realized how hard it was! 

At another resting point, we saw a car that looked exactly like the kind we had been in with Ben the day before, but it was totaled.  Jacob explained that a man had been driving alone and had turned too suddenly and rolled down the large hill.  Everyone wanted a closer look at the damage of course, being a "police/accident activity" kind of family.  :)  We were grateful we had been safe the previous day!

After a couple of hours riding on the dunes, Jacob took us to a hilltop near the coastal route, pulled out sandboards, and set us up for sandboarding.  We all tried it and had a blast!  Savannah the fearless went first!  The telefoto camera lens helped to capture the flying dirt and spills at the bottom.  All of the kids lost their boards at the bottom and rolled.  Looking back at the pictures, I recognize how amazing it is that none of them got hurt!

Bri and I got some dirt in our face but did not have the same spills as the kids because we held the front of our boards up better and dug our feet in the sand to help control things like Jacob told us to.  We were luckier, which is good because I don't think we could have handled it as well as the kids!  I may have screamed though on my way down!

The hikes back up were exhausting so we got in only a couple of runs each before deciding we’d had enough. 

Jacob led us back to the check-in, where we had arranged to have Thomas, Rhea, and Savvy get 15 minutes on the kiddie track by themselves on some smaller quads.

The kids had a blast and Rhea only crashed twice and Savvy only ran off the track once.  : )  We had a blast at Daredevil!  After our quadbiking, we headed back to town and ate at a little German place called Beryls for lunch.  Bri had the schnitzel, I had a greek salad (can’t get enough of the salad here because it doesn’t make me sick and they taste like home!), and the kids ate grilled cheese sandwiches and ice cream.

 We went back to our BnB, took some showers, and went back into town to change some money and hit the craft fair.  Down on the waterfront (and next to a German memorial to the German dead in the two world wars), there is an African craft fair and the Swakopmund municipal museum (which was amazing).  I stayed with the kids at a playground and talked with a couple from Germany that live in Northern Namibia, while Bri investigated the crafts and then headed into the museum for a few minutes before it closed.

 After a much-needed hour of playground playing, we took the kids to The Tug, a well-known restaurant on the pier in Swakopmund, where we hooked up with another American family that’s living in Angola (he works for Chevron).  We were waiting to use a public restroom the day before, when the wife, Evan, walked up to me to ask me the time.  They were unaware of the time change in Namibia, so I explained to them why the time was different than what they thought it should be.  Come to find out, the kids knew each other from school because they live in Angola too.  We talked for a while and decided to hook up for dinner the next night.  The kids had a blast playing with some other kids (and their technology) during dinner while we got to know the M couple.  I had the waldorf salad (more salad!) and Bri had the surf and turf (oryx steak and squid and prawns – our first game meat).  The sunset off of the pier was spectacular and we enjoyed our time with these new friends.  Back home we spent some more time with Anne Shirley before calling it a day. 

 

 Next morning, we finished off our left-over groceries for breakfast, straightened the place up, and met up with Hayley, our AirBnB host.  This is the first time we have used AirBnB, and we loved coming home to our own space and the relaxed atmosphere.  After settling up with Hayley, we headed into town for some last-minute shopping and site-seeing.  We stopped at the craft fair for another round, this time all together, and bartered for our African art and keepsakes and bought some fun stuff.  Afterwards, we changed some more money, hit a couple of actual stores to look, and headed to the Village Café for lunch.  We had a great meal at this mellow, bohemian place, and reminisced about our time in Swakopmund. 

We loved Swakopmund and will always remember our time in this sleepy, quaint city!

 After lunch, we headed North and drove about 325 miles through the desert – beautiful landscapes and crystal clear blue skies and big clouds, we couldn’t get enough of the sky!

There were a ton of birds' nests in trees and termite hills along the road.

Just after sunset, we arrived at Toshari Lodge, checked in and situated ourselves in House 2 (Soussevlei), and headed down to dinner.  This was a pick-your meat grill adventure, and we ate Zebra, Oryx sausage, Eland shishkebobs, Springbok, Warthog, and Chicken. 

Surprisingly, the consensus favorite was the zebra followed by springbok– dad and Thomas had theirs stir-fried with onions, garlic, and soy.  I was surprised at how adventurous the kids were in trying these meats considering we often can’t get them to try other more “normal” dishes like a vegetable soup or a certain type of pasta.  Not only did they try them, but they ate the whole plate and had seconds!  Bri and I were glad that we all shared this common experience and now, memory!

 After dinner, we got ready for bed and turned in.  Our accomodations were one big room with a queen bed and three singles surrounded by mosquito nets, which we found to be a blessing.  We had to use a lot of mosquito spray around the lodge at night for dinner time.  The room started out quite warm until the little AC swamp cooler could cool things down a bit.

That night and over the next couple of nights, Bri and I got to know the nocturnal sleep habits of our kids very well – snoring and wheezing, teeth grinding, frequent bathroom trips, and each of them talking in their sleep/getting up and being disoriented.  It was fun to live communally for a couple of days but I don’t think we adults slept particularly well. J