Our first sight of Huacachina came soon after we arrived in Ica, we turned up a back road that wound up the sand dunes, then we came over the hill in the coach and there it was, the most stunning and unbelievable view of a beautiful oasis surrounded by the sand dunes the size of real mountains, it was like an image of heaven in a desolate, hell like landscape.
We made our way to our hotel, which was like any seaside hotel on the Med, so a swim was in order. As we got over our trip, we started to notice lines of ants crawling along the ridges of the distant and dunes, more investigation led to the discovery that these were some form of monster trucks.
This part of our South of Lima adventure was called something vague like “Fun in the sand dunes”, as we watched the little dots moving around the full potential of the fun started to take shape.
We met up with our fellow adventures and walked up the dunes to find our truck. Our new companions were Dawn and Reg from Scotland, a couple of doctors on a 6 month world tour with lots of great stories to share along with Bettina, an amazing young lady who worked for the United Nations refugee council.
As we walked up the path we started to hear the roar of the trucks in the boarding zone. We also watched the convoys of trucks coming back down the sand dunes over gravity defying drops and almost vertical climbs back up the dunes.
The afternoon promised a lot of fun, as we also had sand boarding included in the itinerary, hardly ideal for a bloke with a trapped nerve in his back!
Monster dune trucks
The first sight of the truck was amazing, in truth it wasn’t a truck, it was a giant V8 engine attached to a tube framework with seats. It was an incredibly powerful beast and the absence of any real exhaust system meant the noise was more akin to that of an aircraft.
Once we were all aboard, the engine fired up and off we went with engine roaring and sand being sprayed off the wheels as we followed a convoy of similar mechanical beasts up the dunes.
For the next hour we were on a roller coaster through the dunes, as we headed for the peaks. The climbs got steeper, the drops got bigger and the screaming in the truck got louder as our madman driver launched us off the tops of ridges.
The best way to describe the experience is that it was like being live in a Mad Max movie. It was one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done, my adrenalin was in overdrive willing the truck to go faster and fly higher!
Hope you enjoy the video of the sand buggy rides and it brings it to life for you.
Sand boarding for beginners
Eventually we pulled up to stretch our legs, and then discovered this wasn’t a break, it was the start of the sand boarding as we were stood on the top of a ridge. Boards were unloaded from the truck and we stood there looking at the drop, this meant decision time.
My trapped nerve was still an issue, but was definitely on the mend, but the Inca Trail trek was only a week away, so a wise person would have chosen not to go headfirst down a sand mountain, like Dawn and Reg. Not being a wise person, I grabbed the board, carefully knelt down gently, laid on the board and flew down the hill and gingerly stood up at the bottom, no damage done.
Back into the truck and off we went to our next stop with lots more roaring engines, flying off ridges and to avoid trucks coming from other angles. Eventually it took us to the high point of the tour, with an outstanding vista from one of the high points of the region. It was then that we realised there was another reason for reaching this high point of the region, it was the next sandboard opportunity.
Sand boarding for the deranged
After a climb along a ridge, we were faced with a downhill run that was at least 2 km long. There was no reason in the world for a sensible person with a trapped nerve in their back to go headfirst down this hill. However, the constant excitement of the racing trucks had my adrenaline pumping and the next thing I was looking down the mountain, in the company of my young companions. Before I knew it, I was having one of the most exciting runs of my life, going over 50mph headfirst down a sand mountain.
I hope you enjoy the video of our sand boarding and it brings it to life for you.
The truck collected us in the valley below and took us off to another remote part of the sand dunes to watch the incredible sunset over the dunes. At this remote location we all found places on the dunes to settle and just watch the vastness and desolated scene across the desert, providing a fabulous counterbalance to the adrenaline junkie events of the afternoon.
After we had climbed all over the trcucks for photos, and climbed up the sand dunes, we headed back to the truck park and the end of the adrenaline experience, but it wasn’t the end of the day.
We walked back down to the town for the evening BBQ and a few beers with our fellow adventurers but we had no idea how much mayhem was about to follow us as we headed for the bar to celebrate our adventures.
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