Extreme sports are recreational activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion, and highly specialized gear.
Namibia is no stranger to the world of extreme sports, and if that’s what you crave, look no further.
You can find some form of extreme sports or activities throughout the whole country. Let’s start with the dune belt, the area of land between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay. This dune belt lies within the Namib Desert, one of the oldest and largest deserts in the world. Here, you can take part in sandboarding, quad biking, skydiving, paragliding, mountain biking, and more.
As you can imagine, sandboarding is a board sport similar to snowboarding. It takes place on dunes rather than snow. Take a look at this video here to get an idea what it’s like to sandboard the dunes of Namibia! You can also sand-ski instead of sandboarding, and with special permits it’s possible to ski in Sossusvlei, which features the world’s highest dunes. Henrik May, a German living in Namibia, currently holds the Guinness World Record in speed sand-skiing at 92.12km/h.
Quad biking is another popular activity in the dune belt. This is one of the best ways to access parts of the Swakopmund sand dunes. The bikes can get to certain places that even your 4×4 can’t. Most companies offer different options when it comes to booking your bike. You can choose different lengths, different bikes, and even create a combo with a different activity like sandboarding, or go-karting.
Something a little more leisurely is motorbikes. Here you can sign up for a tour through Namibia and one of its neighboring countries. If you don’t like what’s provided – contact them to create your own tour!
If you’re looking for regular bikes, you can try a bike tour. This bike tour travels around Namibia for 18 days, making sure you see the best the country has to offer while challenging yourself at the same time. If the time frame is too long, you can try something different and still enjoy a little sweat from a shorter tour. Mountain biking has proven again and again to provide many health benefits such as improved heart health, less stress on the joints, decreased risk of diseases, reduced stress, improved mood, improved balance and coordination, and more. Just make sure that you visit Namibia in the cooler months, as our summer months are extremely hot.
Another popular sport to participate in is rock climbing. Rock climbing is a physically and mentally demanding sport, one that often tests a climber’s strength, endurance, agility and balance, and mental control.
The most popular areas for rock climbing in Namibia are The Spitzkoppe, The Erongo Mountains, The Brandberg, and Aussenkehr. Spitzkoppe is one of Namibia’s most recognizable landmarks. Nicknamed the Matterhorn of Africa, it was first climbed in 1946 and is popular with both local and foreign rock climbers.
Spitzkoppe is German for ‘pointed dome’ and is one of three granite beaks, or inselbergs, in southern Africa. It was formed by subterranean volcanic activity years ago and was slowly exposed as the surrounding ground eroded away. It is an ‘island mountain,’ meaning you have to drive kilometers to get to it. The granite faces offer some of the best climbing on the subcontinent.
Heading northeast towards Kupferquelle and Tsumeb, the most famous form of extreme sport is cave diving. Two of the most popular are Otjikoto Lake, and Dragon’s Breath Cave. Namibia is generally known as an arid country, with soft desert sand and harsh waterless landscapes stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to each border.
Those who don’t know about Dragon’s Breath – it was discovered in 1986 by the South African Speleological Association. It has been named the largest underground non sub-glacial lake in the world. The cave is so deep; divers have yet to reach its floor. In addition to it’s great size, because there is no sunlight, stable temperatures, and little wave action, the cave is home to some of the world’s rarest species.
Namibia can keep you busy for hours. Go out, have some fun, sweat a little, and come back to Kupferquelle for a relaxing evening.