Day 19: Spitzkoppe to Swakopmund

Our perfect campsite turned into a nightmare as the monkeys barely slept. It felt like the whole of Namibia’s wind blew right onto our roof top tent. The Brudis who slept on the ground behind a rock slept like babies.

We got up quite tired, but managed to pack up and leave by 09:00. We returned to the B2 and arrived in Swakopmund at 11:00. We went to the Skeleton Beach Backpackers to ‘book’ a ‘camping spot’ (basically just the paving in front of the rooms).

In Swakopmund we stopped at the lighthouse and walked around the waterfront, before eating Apple Crumble at Cafe Anton. The verdict is that Helmeringhausen still wins. We did some more shopping and bought Dune Boards and Cobra Floor wax. As the sun was at its highest we decided to first go to Walvis Bay. Walvis Bay was not built to handle storm water, so most streets turned into rivers from all the rain (which we somehow managed to avoid).

We bought Snoek and then went to Dune 7. The picnic spot was beyond filthy and we couldn’t even figure out which peak is Dune 7 (obviously the highest, but it wasn’t that obvious to spot). Dune 7 adventures informed us that we need a permit to sandboard in the dunes (the permit is probably rather for driving into the dunes). The permit is however free. We decided to just take our chances and sandboard near Langstrand, but then Hugo drove to the permit office in any way. 5 Minutes later we had the permit (basically an A4 sheet with rules that you just sign).

Opposite Dolphin Beach we turned off the road and deflated the tyres. The Brudis encourage Hugo to go up a Dune, while Caro was screaming No! No! No! Hugo almost made it to the top, but then had to reverse down again. On a second attempt with a different angle we made it to the shoulder between two dunes. The Dune boards were prepared with the Cobra Wax and holes were made with a screwdriver.

Sam was the first one to slide down the steep side of the dune. The Brudis and the Monkeys continued to make turns to slide down. After about 4 slides the Monkeys called it quits, while the Brudis continued to try different angles going faster and falling harder each time. They then went on to stand on the board while sliding down. Mario once made it down a very steep dune without falling, apparently snowboard training helps.

On our way back to Swakopmund, we were stopped at a police checkpoint. The officer asked Hugo to step out. Hugo took his foot of the clutch and the MonkeyMobile jumped forward and hit the officer – the MonkeyMobile was still in gear… Oops. Thankfully the officer didn’t make a big fuss about it besides limping away. Another officer however almost gave Hugo a R1000 fine for having an illegal spotlight fitted (The LED bar in the middle below the bumper).

We arrived at the backpackers very hungry and tired. While Hugo had to catch up on some work on the very very slow internet (0.08Mbps), Caro and Mario made pasta with leftover pork chops.

At 23:00 we were already in bed.