Swakopmund has some of the most interesting geography and architecture I have ever seen. It's situated right on the ocean and the Dunes of the Namib desert. Needless to say there were some pretty nice views.
Activities ranged from eating some of the best calamari in the world (allegedly), going to the beach, having my first Heifeweizen in months, putting my feet in the ocean, drinking das Boot, getting my haircut, and undoubtedly the most exciting part: SAND SKIING.
When I was still deciding if I wanted to come to Namibia back in November, I did a little research on the country. Among other things I found was a website about a German guy who takes tourists out into the steepest dunes to ski down them. Needless to say I was sold.
So on Saturday I donned my Fire on the Mountain t-shirt, grabbed some water and met Henrik outside. He drove me to his flat to get fitted for boots, we picked up his friend Wolfgang who was very interested to see people ski on sand and off we went.
Henrik is one of the most amazing individuals I've ever met. He grew up in Eastern Germany training to be an Olympic skier. Ten years after the wall went down he emigrated to Namibia with his family. A few years later he started dune skiing and since 2009 has been doing it exclusively. He also holds the world record for fastest sand skiing speed and was the one who taught Matt Lauer how to do it.
We ended up at a dune named Matterhorn. We set up a few chairs, fitted ourselves up and hiked up the dune. Six or seven runs later, I could barely move I was so tired. I won't try to describe the feeling that a ski fanatic experiences when he skis on sand for the first time. Insurmountable joy maybe. After a round of sausages and Amarula, we headed back to Swakopmund where the other volunteers and I had a delicious braii (bbq). It was a great day.
The following day we went to Dune 7, one of the highest dunes in...Africa? I don't know, but it's pretty high. Most of the volunteers went quad-biking on 4x4s while Bret and I ended up hiking up and down the dune and then having chilah time with some South Africans.
The only disheartening part of the trip was coming back to the north, which took a little bit longer than expected. Hopefully I'll be seeing Swakopmund again soon though. If you have a chance, check out Henrik's homepage http://ski-namibia.com/. Enjoy the photos!
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| Henrik in his garage |
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| Matt Lauer used these! |
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| No brakes |
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| FOTM in Namibia! |
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| Tele-skiing pretty much in the dark and after I was out of energy. I was pretty happy to be out of the bindings |
