Living Desert Tour!

We woke up to the beautiful multicolored sand dunes. The colors range from tan to orange to red to black, depending on how the wind has blown the different sized particles. These giant dunes which can be as high as 1500 ft (the highest is 2000!) can shift up to 20 ft depending on the wind, so every day there is a new vista.

Our first day we went on the Living Desert Tour, which sought to prove that there is in fact life in the desert. We are believers! Most animals get their water from the fogs which descend upon the desert regularly. In particular, one type of beetle collects water with its glossy wings and then many other creatures eat them. We saw geckos, chameleons, snakes, skinks (legless lizards), beetles, and amazing plants. Our guide, Tommy, was hysterically funny! One joke he told went like this: "A Nambian man went to study in the US and was asked what he would do if he felt into a river. He responded, 'I would stand up and dust myself off.'" This is funny to us because we have yet to see a riverbed which actually held water! This gecko is very strong and holds on once its teeth are clamped down.
Tommy chased Laura down until she would touch the skink, the legless lizard, which greatly resembeled a tiny snake. "I'm going to have nightmares!" she cried.
The dunes stretched on for miles with their beautiful curves.
This sign is quite comical because, duh, we can see the sand. It is meant to warn drivers that the sand can cover the highway overnight, but funny nonetheless.
This is our tent at Dirk's (didn't get posted with the last post). We awoke the first morning there and it was 20 degrees. FARENHEIT!! Whoever said Africa was hot? We put on all our clothes and Kristin and Laura did their best to start a fire, wasting half a box of matches. Little did they know, the secret is lighter fluid...

Stay tuned for more Swokopmund adventures!