[imagesource: TimesLIVE]

Doesn’t a skinny dip sound so good right about now?

What with all these limits and constraints lately, the idea of taking it all off, dipping into some salty water or getting Vitamin D in places where the sun supposedly doesn’t shine, almost seems necessary.

Just in time for these rising urges, UK swimwear brand Pour Moi has created a new map revealing the 39 countries that permit topless and nude sunbathing, and 38 countries where it’s too risky.

Pour Moi went all out with their research to give us this map, knowing that “some of you love to ditch your cozzie and show some more skin in order to soak up as much vitamin D as possible.”

According to CNN, the swimwear brand also revealed what people were Googling most during those long months in lockdown:

It reports that there were over 10,7 million searches made globally in the last 12 months for “nude beaches,” “nude resorts” and “sunbathe nude”…

The resulting map categorises countries into four colours: green (acceptable and legal), red (absolutely no-go), amber (privately, preferably), and grey (not enough info).

Europe is the continent that most embraces stripping off, with the green-lit lands of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark and Germany being some of the many countries where you can easily find beaches that welcome birthday suits…

…Countries colored red are ones where public nudity of any kind is completely unacceptable or illegal. Think twice before throwing your scanties to the wind in Morocco, Grenada, Bahrain or Belarus.

Image: Pour Moi

If the image is too small, click here to see it in full size.

South Africa is amber, as per Pour Moi, which points out that Sandy Bay, in Cape Town, is an option.

However, the only ‘official’ and legally recognised nudist beach in South Africa is Mpenjati Beach in Kwazulu-Natal (featured in the image above), which was awarded this status back in 2014, and features on the CNN list.

However, nudists wanting to enjoy Mpenjati have faced various legal battles over the years, so make sure you’re clued on the latest before baring it all.

Sandy Bay is an unofficial nudist beach, alongside Secrets beach in Port Elizabeth, Light House beach in between Port Alfred and East London, and then Umhlanga Lagoon in Durban.

Anyway, at least there’s the option to swim starkers and tan topless right on our doorstep because a local holiday might be the only option on the table for quite some time.

[sources:cnn&pourmoi]