In a recent Weg, Getaway or Country Life magazine a short article appeared about The Dunes, just outside of Lamberts Bay. Through some freaky geological or geographical occurance, there is about 250ha of sand dunes about 10km inland. And the lucky/unlucky farmer is trying to make the best of it. For R150 a vehicle, you can go on a guided tour through the dunes. The venue is very popular, and bookings are essential. However, since we are only one vehicle I could phone on Friday and still reserve a spot for the next day. We were joining someone else's party.
A group of male friends from Cape Town and surrounds rocked up for the day of their lives. They come and do this once a year, and no matter how the farmer try to prevent them from coming again, they always manage to sneak back in. They have been declared
persona non grata but book on a different name everytime. By the time we arrive they were quite strong already, and every one must have been on their third of fourth beer of the morning. But they were quite a fun bunch, and once they have reaslised we will not rain on their parade, they were more than willing to assist letting the air out of our tyres.
I am not sure how the dunes compare to what we will encounter in Namibia. I should think they are much smaller, but I do believe offered some good practice rounds. Not that we scaled that many dunes, as the rest of the group was more there for the party than the driving. There were about 30 of them in I think 6 cars. They managed to get stuck a lot. Quite a lot. So we spent most of the morning recovering vehicles.
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| The Prado made it... |
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| The Hyundai got stuck... |
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| and the Fortuner went flying |
They also brought along a brand new, home manufactured sand ski plank for testing behind one of the bakkies. It looked like a lot of fun, but by that time most of them's balance have been slightly impaired by alcohol, resulting of very short ski runs. And of course there was "barefoot"skiing. Or should I call it bare belly skiing. That is when the driver forgets to look behind him, and the skiier has lost the ski, but is still holding on to the rope...
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| Preparing for disaster... |
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| disaster |
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how not to do it
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| the professionals in action |
After much fun we called it a day and declared ourselves fit for Namibia. We ventured into Lamberts Bay again, as we were quite hungry. Lucky for us Isabella's was open, and we gorged ourselves on fish and chips. Quite a successful day in my view.
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| Extreme dune riding. doing it in reverse. only performed when excessively intoxicated. |
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| Preparing to launch |
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Landrover - kniediep in die ...sand?
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