Tommy's Living Desert Tour, another kind of safari...

Tommy's living desert tour or how to encounter the small animals living in the sand dunes in Swakopmund! This was truly a unique experience, another kind of safari where you discover chameleons, lezards and snakes. Quite a change from the giraffes and elephants!

Travel Guide Namibia - Tommy Living Desert Safari

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INFO & REVIEW - Tommy's living desert tour

As my last day in Namibia arrived, I reached the coastal town of Swakopmund. It offers many activities and it was hard to reduce my selection. At the end I went with a 2 hour flight over Namibia and this other kind of safari in the desert nearby.

REVIEW FOR TRAVEL PLANNING ADDICTS - Tommy's Living Desert Tour

First of all, I have selected myself and paid fully for that tour. This review is based on my own experience in November 2012.

Tour: Tommy's Living Desert Tour
Organisation: no hiccups, it all went smoothly
Guide: this is the awesome part, he is really amazing and knowledgeable and experienced. I was very impressed with his capacity to find the tiny animals.
Ambiance: people looking at white sand trying to spot a 1m white snake, crazy fun ambiance!
Vehicle: in good conditions. We were more than normal size and he hired a 4WD driver and his car to take us on top of the bus
Food: morning break was OK
General evaluation: I do recommend strongly to do this tour
Don't forget those are wild animals and sightings are not guaranteed...

The search for animals in the sand

The safari with giraffes, elephants, lions and all are thrilling but watching Tommy’s barefoot in this sand dunes and desert findings us very small animal was a delight.

This is the search area scenery and Tommy searching barefoot. You just wonder on Earth he can find those tiny spots in the sand… well 20 years of experience can help.

Tommy searching for tiny animals in the sand

The chameleon

From the distance, what they pointed to us looked like a big rock and I still did not believe it was an animal until I was standing 2 meters away. Meet the Chameleon:

Tommy living desert: chameleon in grass, Namibia

The Snake

My favorite was the snake we found. It moves very fast and is almost the color of the sand. Sometimes it leaves small traces, so Tommy was following them for a long time and for almost a kilometer I think until we spotted it. It moves quite fast so once Tommy places it back on the sand we saw it moving sideways and disappear in the sand.

Tommy living desert: trace from snake, Namibia

The Geckos

We found several geckos and were able to look at them up-close. Some has fun getting some new hearings as they bit wuite hard. When we left it in the sand, we discovered how he makes its way through the sand. Fascinating to watch.