Desert Bites & Brews
WORDS AND PICTURES RON SWILLING
As the saying goes ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade’. Although many would protest that the desert holds unbounded riches rather than lemons, the folk in Swakop (as the town is fondly known) have embraced this ideology as they make use of the desert’s gifts. The results are relished by travellers like me, who only feel they have experienced a place fully after tasting the local food and drink.
Thankfully, Swakopmund isn’t a leap into the unknown as far as its cuisine goes, although the town itself certainly is an out-of-the-ordinary destination. Positioned in the unlikely place between the Atlantic Ocean and the Namib Desert, Swakop not only has become a hub for excursions and activities as diverse as living desert tours, sandboarding and dolphin trips, but it inspires products that resonate with its distinctive character.
Take Gerald Kolb, owner of Charly’s Desert Tours, who honed in on some of the artisanal products that encapsulate the essence of this desert town. And who o-ers a West Coast Bites and Brews tour that is an entertaining circumnavigation
