The Little Five

Emily asked me to take on the task of writing about today. Please lower your expectations. Emily has been doing such a phenomenal job with the posts that I have been hesitant to get involved. 
Today Emily and the boys signed us up for a Little 5 safari. The Big Five is a famous term for safari sightings which include the cape buffalo, elephant, lion, leopard and rhino. The little five includes the gecko, palmeto lizard, sidewinder adder poisonous snake, chameleon and the dancing lady spider. 
We left our hotel and my comfort zone at 9am and headed about 15 minutes from Swakopmund into the sand dunes. Johnny was our guide and he told us that nature is unpredictable and he can't guarantee any animal sightings. Within 5 minutes he stopped and told us to wait in the safari vehicle. He returned a few minutes later and told us to get out vehicle. He walked us across the sand a hundred feet or so and showed us various tracks in the sand. "This is a skink track...this is a sidewinder... this is a ... whatever ...". Suddenly Johnny dipped his hands into the sand and pulled up a shinny small snake looking creature. He explained its a no eyed skink. The boys and Emily had done their research and were ready to hold the non threatening creature. I was ready to document it. Next up was the gecko, the deadly sidewinder adder (which is quite small and far less scary than we expected), the chameleon and the lizard. We never saw the spider because the guides are no longer permitted to dig them up. The government wants to protect the spider eggs which are disturbed when guides dig them up.  The boys also found a lot of beetles and magnetic (iron) sand. Our luggage will now have 4 extra pounds of the finest Namibian desert iron sand. 
The kids loved the adventure, Emily loved the adventure. I surprisingly enjoyed the adventure. Afterwards a woman named Petra from the hotel front desk had promised the boys that she would take them on an adventure. Petra took the boys on a date to the ice cream/ hot dog shop that is part of the hotel. Emily and I went on a date to seafood restaurant at the hotel. We knew the boys were safe because our restaurant was 100 feet away from the boys and we could hear (but not see) the boys talking Petra's ears off.
The rest of the day we spent packing up, playing legos and exploring the promenade along the beautiful coast of Swakopmund.  We are finishing the evening at Brewer @ Butcher's restaurant (also at the hotel). It is an amazing steak house combined with German brewery. The highlight of the evening is a local men's acapela group who serenaded the restaurant.