travelasorousAs you will have seen in my things to do in Swakop blog, one of my favourite activities was sandboarding.
My first sandboarding trip was with my G Adventures overland group when I was in Swakop for a weekend. Beth runs 2 companies, the sandboarding company and a activity booking company. Beth does a welcome meeting and talk for the G groups and books all the activities. I really wanted to board but explained to Beth that I was quite scared as I don’t like heights and had been scared when I climbed Dune 45. Beth assured me that the dune was smaller and there was a baby slope that I could practice on, and if I really hated it she would just charge me a few to watch and not participate.
The day for sandboarding came, there was a lot of us in our group and it was predominantly us in the group. We were picked up at 9.30 and taken to the dunes. The morning starts with a safety talk and getting fitted with boots and a board.
I won’t lie the walk up the dune is hard, but it wasn’t scary like Dune 45!
Once your up you get shown how to wax your board and a tutorial on how to board.
As I was a bit scared one of the guides offered to take me on a baby slope to practise, this then became my default slope when ever I boarded to get my bearings.
After a few runs I was ready to go on the proper slope. I loved it! I had such an amazing time I mostly did stand up boarding but tried the lie down run as well. I was really quick on the lie down run and was faster then some of the boys which made me really happy.
Included in the sandboarding package you get a light lunch and a free video which I think is pretty cool.
The video is shown at 6 on the night of your boarding (this can sometimes be changed, but time is needed to edit the video).
When we watched the video, everyone was laughing at me as I wasn’t able to recognise myself because I was wearing my contacts both at that time and for boarding. I hardly ever wear contacts so was super confused! There is also the option to buy photos that have been taken.
Because I was staying in a hostel I was able to go boarding again when I took guests.
I went from being petrified of boarding to loving it and wanting to go as often as possible.
Beth and her team are lovely, they are all very kind and good instructors. They are patient and encouraging which was what I needed.
I went from being petrified and nearly didn’t go to loving it and wishing I could take it up as a sport more regularly.
So if you are in Swakop this is a must do activity.
