Roxanne Reid - Africa Addict
  • Home
  • Book author
    • Travels in the Kalahari >
      • Photo gallery: Travels in the Kalahari
      • Book reviews: Travels in the Kalahari
    • A Walk in the Park >
      • Photo gallery: A Walk in the Park
      • Book reviews: A Walk in the Park
    • The Essential Guide to Self-Editing >
      • Book reviews: Essential Guide to Self-Editing
    • Betrayed
    • Book reviews online
  • Editing & proofreading
  • In the media
    • Travel features
    • Health features
    • Online media
  • Blog
  • Testimonials
  • Links
  • Contact

15 facts about Swakopmund’s dunes and desert creatures

3/8/2017

2 Comments

 
Swakopmund’s dunes and desert creatures
By Roxanne Reid
Think the sand dunes outside Swakopmund in Namibia are barren? Join Tommy Collard on a Living Desert Tour and he’ll prove that every patch of sand is a gold mine of fascinating creatures for those who know how to look. Read about our adventure with Tommy or discover 15 facts about Swakopmund’s dunes and desert creatures.

​1. The highest dune between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund is 115m and dunes can move up to 2m a year. 
Swakopmund’s dunes and desert creatures
2. The toes of the shovel-snouted lizard are serrated and males will bite another’s toes off in a fight. Although they re-grow, that male won’t be interested in chasing any females, so competition to breed is eliminated. They’re also feisty creatures that will latch on and dangle from your ears like earrings.
Swakopmund’s dunes and desert creatures
Shovel-snouted lizard
3. The shovel-snouted lizard does a ‘thermal dance’ on the hot sand to stop its feet from burning on the hot sand, lifting one front leg and the opposite back leg in rotation.
4. Peringuey’s adder has eyes on top of its head so it can hide in the sand and still watch for something to catch and eat. It’s also called a sidewinder because of the way it moves, with only half of its body touching the hot sand at any time.
5. A sidewider’s mouth opens to 180 degrees and it has a heart with three chambers. It reproduces by live birth and the babies are just as dangerous as a full-grown adult. 
Sidewinder, Namibia
Peringuey's adder, or sidewinder
6. Birds like trac trac chats and Gray’s larks don’t eat dune ants because they contain formic acid.
7. The endemic golden mole is blind but it can ‘swim’ through the sand, covering some 4-6km a night.
8
. The Palmato gecko can’t blink so it wipes sand from its eyes with its tongue.
Palmato gecko, Namibia
Palmato gecko
9. Fitzsimmons burrowing skink is a legless lizard that smells with its tongue. Its scales are super-smooth, enabling it to ‘swim’ below the surface of loose sand on the dunes with ease.
​10. A Namaqua chameleon is the fastest chameleon in the world, moving at speeds of up to 3km/h.
11. If a Namaqua chameleon’s tongue was a car it could accelerate from 0 to 100km/h in 1/100th of a second, according to a study at Brown University.
Swakopmund’s dunes and desert creatures
Namaqua chameleon
 12. Scorpions in the Namib can be up to 18cm long. One of the species is active only during the day and there’s no anti-venom for it. 
13. Scorpions ​are among very few creatures of the Namib dunes that provide care to their offspring; they carry their babies on their backs.​​
Swakopmund’s dunes and desert creatures
Scorpion - don't handle them unless you know really what you're doing
14. There are thousands of beetle species in the Namib. Some of them stand on the dunes in fog, bums in the air. Moisture condenses on their bodies and runs down into their mouths, and they can drink 40% of their body weight in a single morning.
Picture
Beetle dune-basking in the fog
15. Black layers of magnetite occur in the dunes. It’s magnetic so you can get it to stick to a magnet you pass over the sand; it’s surprisingly soft and furry to the touch.
Swakopmund’s dunes and desert creatures
Swakopmund’s dunes and desert creatures
Magnetite
Did you enjoy the article? Pin this image!
15 facts about the dunes & desert creatures of Swakopmund, Namibia, Southern Africa
15 facts about the dunes & desert creatures of Swakopmund, Namibia, Southern Africa
More about Namibia

Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za. I do not hold copyright of the video.
2 Comments
Phillip
12/8/2017 11:22:46 pm

I always thought a desert was virtually sterile. Amazing the amount of life there is. Thank you for an interesting article.

Reply
Roxanne
13/8/2017 02:23:26 pm

I think that's a common misconception about desert areas, Phillip. And it's certainly not true of the desert around Swakopmund, that's for sure.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Get email links to the latest posts

    Buy my books
    Travels in the Kalahari, amazon.com e-book
    E-book 2012​

    A Walk in the Park, amazon.com e-book
    2nd ed e-book 2015
    The Essential Guide to Self-Editing, amazon.com e-book
    E-book 2017

    About 

    I'm an independent travel writer and book editor with a passion for Africa - anything from African travel, people, safari and wildlife to adventure, heritage, road-tripping and slow travel.
    My travel buddy and husband Keith is the primary photographer for this blog.
    We're happiest in the middle of nowhere, meeting the locals, trying something new, or simply watching the grass grow.
    Use this website to discover new places to go, revisit places you've loved, or take a virtual tour of destinations you only dream about.

    Categories

    All
    Baviaanskloof
    Books
    Botswana
    Camping
    Cape Town
    Chobe
    Conservation
    Drc
    Eastern Cape
    Etosha Namibia
    Food
    Free State
    Garden Route
    Gauteng
    Issues
    Kalahari
    Karoo
    Kenya
    Kruger National Park
    Kwazulu Natal
    Lesotho
    Limpopo
    Linyanti
    Madagascar
    Malawi
    Mozambique
    Mpumalanga
    Namaqualand
    Namibia
    Nature Parks
    Northern Cape
    Okavango
    Overberg
    People
    Photography
    Richtersveld
    Tanzania
    West Coast
    Western Cape
    Wild Creatures
    Zambia
    Zimbabwe

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    January 2010
    November 2009


Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without written permission from roxannereid.co.za

Privacy Policy, GDPR and POPIA compliance
​* We promise that we take data safety seriously and use your private data only to offer a personalised experience
* If you subscribed to our newsletter, you will receive our newsletters. You can always unsubscribe by following the link in email or by emailing us
* If you gave us your name, it will only be used to personalise the newsletters
* We have never sold, we are not selling, and we will not sell any of your personal data provided to us
* The blog uses cookies to track activity. It is anonymous except for telling us your location and what you did on our blog
​
Photos from berniedup, Lucy_Hill