Swakopmund is drizzly and cold. Driving down from the Namib desert yesterday, we watched the temperature drop further and further as the sun faded behind the fog in front of us. By the time we reached the coast, it was a cool 14 degrees, just like we were back in the UK.
We had organised a day trip to Sandwich Harbour via Magic Dune Tours. As with everything on our trip we contacted multiple providers beforehand, even our guesthouse offered to hook us up with a driver. However Sarah was sold as soon as she visited the website – Hans looked like a ‘babe’ and the decision was made.
Hans runs his business with the help of his wife Mandy, both were super responsive over email and I can’t recommend them highly enough.
We were collected from our guesthouse at 7am by Hans and driven to Walvis Bay where we picked up our lunch (included) and an Australian couple (not included) as our tour buddies for the day.
First stop was viewing flamingoes at the promenade as Hans deflated the tyres on the vehicle. From here we could see across the bay to Pelican Point lighthouse, and the fairly industrial looking docks area of Walvis Bay.
Looking out over the docks, Hans regaled us with stories of unwanted Chinese influence in the area. Their shameful colonialist conduct, bankrupting developing economies, should be heavily condemned. Like much of the rest of Africa, Namibia looks like it has a fight on it’s hands to retain economic control over their key assets, infrastructure, and natural resources.
From here there was 15 minutes of salt road remaining before we were on the sand for the rest of the day. We started heading southwards along the beach towards Sandwich harbour, the dunes far away to the left, crept gradually closer, closing the gap to the sea with each passing Kilometre.
On the right hand side, the sea is wild and cold, the weather is closing in this afternoon and the southerly wind is already strengthening. Seals are dotted around, basking in the weak sunshine and covered in salt spray. Seagulls menacingly lurk beside the lone seal pups, waiting to take out their eyes if they dare fall asleep. Black-backed jackals trot up and down looking for an easy snack. It’s not a great place to be a seal.
After entering the protected area, the dunes close in on the sea. We drive along the narrow strip of sand at the top of the beach, speeding up and slowing down to avoid the waves as they undercut the base of the dunes.
Sandwich is not really a harbour, there is a small silted up area home to flocks of flamingoes and pelicans, but the only evidence of human activity is the remains of the ranger hut. Once a long way from the shore, it was swept away recently.
South African mining activity in the south of Namibia is the reason given for the desolation of the area. Huge amounts of poor quality sand are swept up the coast on the Benguela current and deposited anywhere that once could have been a conceivable harbour. At the same time the dunes of the Namib desert march westward into the Atlantic, leaving no time for vegetation to get a foothold and stabilise things.
Zooming up and down the dunes is great fun, we tried to take a few pointers on how to drive in sand as it might come in useful later in our trip, but in the end we gave up and enjoyed the ride. We were dropped off on top of a dune to take pictures, while Hans drove down to prepare our lunch by the seafront.
Running down the face of the dune today was less fun. The cold, wet, windswept surface was hard to break through, and hurt a bit to run on.
After lunch we went up and down some dunes, including some hair-raisingly steep descents. A bit of a game drive followed, spotting Springbok, Oryx, and Ostriches. There isn’t much wildlife out here, but it’s surprising there’s anything at all!
Back in Swakopmund we had some time for souvenir shopping and a brief look around town. We visited the aquarium because why not.
Peter’s antiques is a peculiar place, quite unbelievably selling all manner of African artefacts. Some of the objects appear almost museum standard, personally I would steer well clear of buying anything antique from here, but they do have plenty of mass-produced tourist tat for a more conscious clear purchase.
After a beautiful sunset off the end of the jetty we had dinner at the tug restaurant. Far too cold this time of year to sit outside, the quirky inside was built around an old tugboat, with the bar located in the old control room. Food was excellent, some great local seafood and the best vegetarian options in town – a much better choice than our previous night.
Small Holiday Big Dream 
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