Naturally, I managed to do all three.
Our first run down the slopes I lowered the front as I was near the end, and had a
*spectacular* wipeout: Chris said that there was a wave of sand that reached all the way
back to my feet! Between the sunblock and the bug spray I was wearing, every single
grain stuck to my body: so by the time the sandboarding was over, I was completely orange!!!
I managed to let go of my board and break it simultaneously on another run: there's a
tandem run that you do with another partner: one guy holds up the front while the other
guy steers in back. I was paired with an enormous Swede named Victor (the two of us
on a tiny sandboard looked ridiculous). As we were going down the slope, we hit a
bump and the next thing I knew I had nothing in my hands! The front of our board had
snapped and we were careening down the dune, spinning out of control! Luckily, the
only thing we did was spin out: a few others went tumbling in a shower of sand.
There was another group that actually used snowboards to ski the dunes: I got the
impression that the feel was very different than snowboarding, because several switched to
the simple sandboards later on.
One more thing about the sandboarding: it was HARD WORK climbing up the dunes to the
next slope! The sand keeps shifting under your feet and if you are fairly heavy
(like me) it's tough going. Chris, who probably weighs 100 pounds soaking wet, was
practically running up the slopes: the weasel. :-) Poor Joanne had a hard time, too:
she skipped a couple of the runs (but did do the 50-mph run!!)
After sandboarding was over, there were sandwiches and other snacks. I spent
about five minutes trying to get as much sand off of me as possible before we went off on
the next bit!
Biking!
After we'd eaten, we shipped back to town and were immediately picked up for the Quad biking. Quad bikes are simply ATVs, and after
a few practice runs we were off into the dunes.
We went all around the dunes: rushing up one side and down the other. We stopped
briefly at one point for drinks and a rest break
before continuing on. There were only a couple wipeouts, fortunately. One guy
actually went head-first over his handlebars when he got a bit to enthusiastic and hit a
depression in the sand! Fortunately he only got the wind knocked out of him.
We drove by the beach at one point, and had a spectacular
view of the ocean over the dunes: fantastic!
Another feature of the dunes I asked our guide about: many of the dunes had dark sand
that seemed to have settled on the tops of the dunes: according to our guide, this was
actually fine grains of titanium! There are several titanium mines in Namibia, and
the locals were trying to prevent the miners from coming in the local area, since the
process amounts to basically sifting the dunes for the titanium and discarding the rest,
destroying the local topography.
I wondered if the sandboarding & quad biking would do the same thing, but our
guides told us that wasn't a problem: a good evening's wind and you can't even tell anyone
was on the dunes!
One final observation: the ATVs were a blast, but mine kept stalling out when we
stopped and waited for the slower people to catch up!
Flying!
Whew! After all that, I was getting pretty tired, but I had to run to meet up with
Geraldine, Jan, Antonio and Christina for the overflight! As it turned out, I made
it just in time to catch the bus to the airport. I also promised the plane owner
that I would try not to get too much sand in her plane.
Our flight was in a small 5-passenger aircraft: I had the front seat next to the pilot,
and therefore an excellent view. As we took off, I saw some storm clouds on the
horizon: I hoped they wouldn't interfere with our flight! As it turned out, they did
not (for the most part!)
The flight was fantastic! We circled over the Namib desert, flying south towards
Sossusvlei and taking pictures of the dry riverbeds
and the fantastic dunes. There were lots of different shapes and types: some seemed
to have grass growing in them, some looked like ripples in the ocean. In a few areas the sand had
blown away clear down to the underlying soil.
For a more scientific description (for all you detail freaks out there) I defer
to the words written at NASA's Johnson's Space Center,
where it is written:
Sand dunes in the Namib Desert reflect the
local wind direction and topography. The Namib Desert extends for 1900 km (1200 miles)
along the Atlantic coast and reaches inland 128 km to 160 km (80 to 100 miles). Sand is
transported from southern and western coastal areas towards central, northern, and eastern
parts of the desert. Dunes along the coast tend to be cresentic
or dune types that form in areas where the winds come from one predominant direction. Linear dunes are the common dune type found toward the
interior of the Namib. Linear dunes are long, straight, and form in areas where winds come
from one predominant direction or two. Star dunes can
be detected clustered around the Sossus Vlei (vlei is a salt pan or mud flat) River. The
Sossus Vlei does not actually reach the Atlantic Ocean. Star dunes have radial arms and
reflect chaotic wind direction. Star dunes near the Sossus Vlei attain heights of 300 to
350 m (1000 to 1167 ft).
(submitted by Kim Willis)
Keen!
As we circled back up towards the coast, we saw a few 
old shacks marking the locations of old diamond mines,
now abandoned. Our pilot also pointed out a few old
shipwrecks (they don't call it the Skeleton Coast for nothing!), one of which was
hundreds of yards inland. This is due to the constantly shifting dunes which push
the coastline farther out to sea.
It was starting to get fairly overcast, but we still managed to get a decent view of The Wall, a point where the Namib desert reaches the edge
of the Atlantic Ocean. We also saw several flocks of
flamingos, on their way to wherever it is that flamingos go.
Aside from the shipwrecks and the diamond mines, there were a few more active evidences
of human habitation. Every once in a while, in the middle of a coastline where
nothing moves, a little resort would appear. In a few places there were large shallow
pools where salt was separated out from seawater.
It was getting fairly cloudy and hard to see: fortunately, our trip was almost over.
After a quick flyby of Swakopmund, we landed safely back at the airport. We
thanked our pilot for a great trip and got a group shot before being bussed back
into town.
Whew! Me for a shower and a nap!
GameBoy
Geraldine had found this restaurant nearby that sounded great: they served a lot of
local game dishes. But first, we had to view a certain tape.
Y'see, our guides had taped our antics on the sandboards and the ATVs and were to show
the results at Fagin's Pub that evening: so before dinner, we went over to the pub to
watch. While we waited, we had a few drinks (shocking!) and chatted a bit with only
one minor mishap: Katja managed to knock over my drink and shatter the glass! She
was nice enough to buy me a new one, though (a new drink, not a new glass...)
They finally brought in the video and everyone had a good laugh. They showed
stills you could get on floppy (which you can see in my photo album right now). I
bought a copy of the video too: unfortunately they only offered it in PAL format (we use
NTSC here in the States) so I'll have to get it converted before I can put it on these
pages!
After the fun we headed to the restaurant and got a table. The place was *very*
nice: I felt a little underdressed. There was hardly anyone there besides us: I
wasn't sure if that was due to the late hour or not, but several couples came in after us,
so perhaps it's just that people tend to eat late.
Dinner was GREAT: I had a great springbok dish that just melted in my mouth!
Everyone seemed to be having a good time. As we were almost finished, our cook
Bentsen came in and sat down with us. It was immediately obvious that he was quite
drunk! Susanna was going to kill him, I was sure.
Man, was I beat! My best day in Africa so far was over, and it still was too
soon. I tried to enjoy my bed while it lasted: we had a couple more days of camping
before Windhoek!
Today was a very busy day!