Walvis Bay, Namibia

A later then planned departure from Cape Town meant a late arrival into Walvis Bay, Namibia. Which was actually a good thing for me as it meant a 6:30 start, over the planned 4:30 start. An hour or so prior to arrival we were awoken to the sound of the ships horn. Every sixty seconds. We had driven into a bank of fog which is apparently typical for this part of the world. 

Where the Namib Desert meets the sea, there's a cycle of predictable weather whereby fog builds along the coastline until it burns off in the heat before creeping back in towards the end of the day.

Arrival saw another container port but with a slight difference. From the height of the ship you were able to look across the rooftops of the largely single storey town into the desert. Normally the view beyond a port is an urban sprawl but in this case just a yellow horizon of sand. The quayside was filthy, presumably there's usually piles of some mineral of a black variety. The ships carpets will tell you.

Guests had to attend immigration again, to show the visas they had all bought. As crew however we were off the hook and on this occasion were free to head ashore unimpeded by bureaucracy. Outside a gaggle of touts were gathering offering all manner of tours to various destinations.

We had already booked ourselves a tour so we were sorted so we thought and around 11am, headed ashore to meet our pick up. However, after about half an hour it became apparent a plan B was required as our bus couldn't enter the port. After a bit of haggling with the local touts we climbed into a competitors bus and away we went. Quad biking across the Namib Desert, here we come!!

The journey took us out of the town via some brutally bumpy roads and into the desert towards our destination. Dune 7!

By now the fog had burnt off as promised and the heat of the day was fastly approaching. After some negotiation, we got ourselves a guided quad bike tour of the dunes,.8 of us all entrusted with our own quad bike, kind of a crash course in brain surgery. Here's your helmet, this bit makes you go faster and this bit should stop you and don't use your feet to try to stop or you'll run yourself over. With this advice heeded, away we went!

The next hour was a scream! Starting out slowly and carefully we followed the guides hand signals, ascended a few bumps, gained confidence and before long were flying through the sand, up steep dunes and down steeper drops, gradually making our way up to the peak of the dunes.

The sand was like dust and it wasn't long before it found its way everywhere, eyes,. in-between teeth, ears and wherever else you choose to think of.

It was an amazing experience and towards the end of our time we began the descent back towards the base. Thankfully, they had one important thing! Fridges stacked with the perfect antidote to sand. Cold beer!

After a couple of those it was back in the van and back to find a method of payment. I can't help thinking that our guide hadn't planned his day too well when he got up. What followed was a whistle stop tour of places to try and enable us to pay the bill. Not the best business model. We eventually ended up at a stall who had a card machine where we parted with enough money to pay our dues.