Dan's Adventure

Rain is the last thing that you would expect in the desert, but waking up in Swakopmund, Namibia, that is exactly what we thought we had.The ground was wet, the sky cloudy and a feeling of drizzle. This was enough for the majority of our group to cancel a trip out to the dunes for a spot of sandboarding, but myself and 4 others remained optimistic and headed out there to make the most of it.

As we arrived at the dunes my last words to the others rang true, “I bet we’ll arrive and the sun will come out” is what I said, and as we started the climb up the dunes the clouds parted and the sun started beating down making me start to boil inside my cheap waterproofs. Our instructors for the day informed us that it wasn’t actually rain, it was mist blown in from the sea and happened every morning, usually clearing after a couple of hours. So feeling pretty smug the 5 of us climbed up the dunes with our boards ready for some fun.

With sandboarding we had to choices, either standup with a regular snowboard, boots and bindings or to lie down on a thin sheet of waxed wood and go down head first. The standup option is pretty much the same as snowboarding on fresh powder and it doesn’t hurt at all when you fall. I kept digging in my edges too much, so like snowboarding, I fell when trying to link turns together. Due to falling being pain free, I even attempted the ramp on my final run, unfortunately I caught an edge as I was leaving the jump and I tumbled off!

Those of us that went for the standup option got to have a go at the lying down style too, but rather than warming us up with easy runs, we were thrown in at the deep end with the fastest run. The basic idea is that you lie on the board with your chest against it, feet together and raised at the knee, and you pull the board up at the front with your elbows pointing out. Once in position you get a push and off you go, hurtling down the dune. One of the instructors was standing at the bottom of the dune with a speed gun to capture our speeds, I was clocked at 71km/h!

Sandboarding is definitely recommended if you visit Swakopmund. In addition to the adrenaline rush from the boarding, you also get fantastic views from the top of the dunes. You can see the dunes running out for miles around with Swakopmund in the distance and the ocean nearby. The only downside is that you’ll be finding sand in your clothes for weeks to come.