Spot the Little Five in Namibia.
Together with a guide, I set off on a quad or Jeep through the dunes that lie between
Swakopmund and Walvis Bay. I'm crammed into the back seat of a Jeep as we drive up and down the steep dunes. The sand moves quickly beneath our tyres, and I can feel the car slip every now and then. As I watch the high dunes pass by, I can hardly imagine that there are still various little creatures living here and that it’s not just sand particles.
The guide heads to the same spot as this morning, where he has already spotted several of the Little Five, exactly what we want to see now! While he slips a small box full of worms into his coat pocket to lure the chameleon, we get out of the jeep. We sometimes sit on our hands and knees in the sand while the guide slowly sweeps away layer by layer of sand in the hope of finding something. And we’re in luck! In the end, we manage to spot four of the five creatures that these sand dunes are so famous for. Curious about who you can spot? Below, I’ll list all five of them!
1. The Cartwheeling Spider
The most remarkable feature of this spider is its response to danger, which is where its nickname, 'wheel spider', comes from. With its legs fully stretched and tense, it throws itself onto its side like a ninja star, then rolls down the sand dune at a speed of about one metre per second—a lightning-fast escape from predators. Like a seasoned dancer, it then sinks about 40 cm into the ground, where it calmly waits until evening before going out to hunt for food.
2. The Shovel-Snouted Lizard
Its large feet allow it to effortlessly run at high speeds across the sand of the Namibian dunes, leaving behind a funny trail in its wake. To avoid burning, it lifts one of its limbs every few seconds, giving the impression that it's dancing through life. This quirky movement helps it stay cool while navigating the hot desert terrain, adding to its charm as one of the desert’s most fascinating residents.
3. The Namaqua Chameleon
The fastest chameleon in the world lives in these dunes, and it certainly needs its speed to hunt the small beetles in its environment. Its colours are less bright and striking, mainly used to regulate its body temperature. In the cooler mornings, it will be much darker in an attempt to absorb as much warmth as possible, while it becomes lighter as the temperature rises.
4. The Palmato Gecko
His large eyes ensure that he has a constant panoramic view of the landscape he moves through, and with his big tongue, he regularly has to lick his eyes due to the lack of eyelids. The webbing between his feet also allows him to move quickly, and with his unique colour patterns, he is almost unrecognisable to predators.
5. The Fitzsimons Burrowing Skink
This small adder is primarily known for the unique horizontal pattern it leaves behind when moving above ground, which it only does when the weather is cool. For most of the time, it hides under a thin layer of sand, where it essentially "swims" through.
