After the safari in Kruger and a few days hanging around Pretoria I treated myself and flew over to Windhoek, Namibia. Windhoek isn't all that exciting of a place so I soon went to Swakopmund, on the coast of Namibia. The weather there is surprisingly similar to San Diego. Right on the coast you could easily think you are in San Diego, but away from the coast the German colonial architecture and the sand dunes make you remember that you are not in California. The sand dunes are wonderful and one of the first things I did in Namibia was go on a living desert tour which was wonderful.

The desert tour I went on left town around eight in the morning and drove straight into the desert. The first thing we did was learn a little bit about the sand dunes and the food chain in the desert. At the top of the food chain and the hawks and jackals which eat snakes and lizards. The snakes eat lizards and the lizards eat the beetles which eat detritus. As for the dunes themselves we learned that the windward side is at an angle of 15 to 25 degrees and the lee side (where most of the critters live) is at an angle of 34 degrees.

All very interesting of course, but what I was really excited to see wer all the animals. The first animal we saw was the Fitzsimmon's burrowing skink, a legless lizard. Our guide, Chris, saw its wavelike track on the side of a dune, hopped out of the land rover and dug it up with his hands. It was about three inches long, had a blue tail, a narrow tapered head, and a flat belly. They were shiny and smooth which was caused by the waxy exterior that most of the desert animals there have to keep moisture in. When Chris put the skink down it burrowed right back into the sand.

The next animal that Chris dug out of the side of a dune for us to see is unquestionabley the coolest lizard, and maybe even the coolest animal, that I ever seen: a palmato gecko. In addition to just being cute like all geckos are, it was also transparent. I could see the blood vessels in its legs. It had a yellow stripe on its sides, big black, orange, and white eyes, and webbed feet, the back ones of which were shaped like Africa. Completely adorable. Understandably though, it was not overly pleased about being pulled out of its burrow. I don't remember if Chris put it down on the dune or if it managed to escape, but in trying to get away it ran over to me and onto my leg. I then had it in my hand briefly (it was very soft) before it ran un my are and tried to burrow itself into my fleece. (I think it liked me.)

It stayed on me with its head sort of burrowed until Chris pulled it off so that everyone could get a good look at it. When Chris put the gecko back down into the sand it started digging itself a new burrow using its webbed feet. One front leg and then the other, eventually bringing its hind legs into the action. It also swept its tail back and forth to smooth out the sand behind it. Alas, it eventually burrowed too deep for us to see it anymore and it was time for us to move on.

(We had also seen some of the beetles by this point. But compared to transparent geckos and legless lizards, they really aren't that interesting. But the lizards do have to eat something, so its good that they are there.)

After seeing the gecko the fog over the duned started to lift as the sun came out and the sky turned blue with big fluffy white clouds. We drove further out into the desert for a little while before stopping again. Chris got out and started searching for other animals on the gravel plain (flat and gravelly, what the sand dunes are built on top of) while the rest of us got out and wandered over the dunes. The dunes are a lot of fun to burrow your feet into, walk up and then go rushing down. It is also amazing to look out at all of the beautiful dunescapes.

We began to see lots of beetles scurrying along the lee side of the dunes, running up and down and burying themselves in the sand. I also saw two lizards. They both ran fast and quickly burrowed into the sand. The first one was too quick for me to get a good look at, but the second one I was able to get a bit closer to and saw where he had buried himself in the sand. And, I figured that if Chris could dig lizards out of the sand with his hands and catch them, then I could too. And I did. I caught the poor little guy twice, though he escaped quickly both times. Still, I got a good enough look at him to see that he was wide, light'colored, and had a very pointy snout.

When Chris returned to us from the gravel plain he said that he had indeed found something: a snake. It was a bit of a ways away though, so we got back into the Land Rover to drive out to it. It was on the way to the snake, I believe, that Chris caught one of the lizards that I had seen earlier. Turns out they were all thermal dancing lizards (also known as sand-diving lizards), the only lizards that can stay out on the dune face during the mid-day sun. Being much more experienced at lizard catching than I, Chris was actually able to hold onto the lizard so that we were all able to get a good look at him. He was kind of cute in his own way and he like to bite and hang onto things such as fingers and ears. When he was tired Chris put him down on the gravel plain and, perhaps not having the energy to run back to the dune, he he just stood there, up on his forelegs trying (but failing) to look fierce. Back on the sand thoguh, he did indeed dive directly back into it.

Once the lizard was back home in the sand it was time to move on to see the snake. The snake we saw was the Perinquey's adder, more commonly known as the sidewinder. Before we actually saw the snake though we got to see and touch the still moist skin which it had recently shed, probably earlier that morning. The snake itself was lying curved in an s-shape under a small shrub and was sand-colored. Twice we got to see it burrow into the sand, black tipped tail (looks like a beetle when moving -- lizard bait) first, all the way to its head. Although I didn't see it, sidewinders tend to keep just their eyes out of the sand, looking for lizards to eat. After the snake had buried itself a couple times we left it and headed back toward the land rover.

Before we got there however, Chris had found us another sidewinder under another shrub for us to look at. This snake was a young one who was not buried in the sand and was not doing very well. Chris thought that it was dying because it had not shed its birth skin. Apparently sindewinders are born with very moist skin and if they don't shed it fairly quickly it ends up strangling and killing then. (FYI -- In case anyone is wondering sidewinders are indeed quite poisonous. Because they are so small however - the adult was only about a foot long - they are not deadly.)

Leaving the snakes behind, we next went looking for chameleons. Chris told us to look in the bushes we passed as we drove by, but it was right in the middle of the road that Chris spotted the first one. Skill, not luck, he said... The chameleon was white, the same color as the sand in the gravel plain it was on. As we got out of the car to get a better look at it it started walking slowly toward a nearby bush. When it got to the bush we were able to get a bit closer to it and watch it change to black. Chris picked it up and it was not pleased. It hissed, opening its mouth wide, trying to make itself bigger. It calmed down fairly quickly, although it remailed wary. Cool chameleon fact: they can move their eyes to see behind them. In fact, they can have one eye looking forward and the other looking behind. It was a young chameleon and we didn't stay with it too long becuse it was nervous. Chris said that it had probably never seen humans before.

So, we all walked off into the gravel plain looking for more chameleons. Unsurprisingly, Chris spotted the other chameleon we saw. It was not as nervous around us as the juvenile had been. It was in a bush and black in color. Chris had earlier collected sme beetles and started feeding the chameleon. He would hold a beetle about six inches away from and the chameleon who would snatch it with its long tounge which was about the same length as his body from nose to tail tip. After feeding him a few beetles Chris used another beetle to lure him away from the bush. The chameleon turned white. Chris picked him up and then handed him over to me. I noticed the sharp nails on his toes and the small lines of red on the ridges of his back and face. Then, Chris handed me a beetle. I held it by its leg and got to feed the chameleon. He definitely got a very good grip on the beetle with his tounge. I had a great view of him crunching away, thin black legs hanging out of his mouth. One he had finished his meal, I put his back on the ground. He crawled back over to his shrub and changed color again, back to black.