Namibia

My three short, but incredible days in Namibia

We arrived in Walvis Bay (pronounced Wall fish) on Saturday morning and the US Embassy boarded our ship to give us a diplomatic briefing. Namibia is roughly the size of Texas, but with a population of 2 million. The vast majority of it is miles of sand dunes making up the Namib Desert. One of the really cool things is that the dunes literally come right up to the water. Namibia was long a German colony and continues to have a strong German presence. There are 12 official languages but the main 3 are: English, German and Africant (which is a mix of Dutch, German and a native tribal language). The original inhabitants of Namibia are the Ovahimba people who live in the Kalahari Desert to the east. While I did not have the opportunity to travel to their tribal lands (you have to take a plane), there were a number of women and children in traditional garb at a few of the places we went. Their traditional clothing is similar to that one might wear to a topless beach. They cover their skin and parts of their scalp with red clay to serve as protection from the sun. Because they do this so frequently, even when washed off, their dark skin still has a red tint.

I traveled with my fellow Livelong Learner, Hayley, the Communications Coordinator, Mark and one of the Resident Directors, Bradford. We began our adventure by going on the SAS run City Orientation of Swakopmund (a town about 30 miles north of Walvis Bay). Walvis Bay is a more industrial town- it’s port serves both all of Namibia and Angola. Swakopmund on the other hand is more of a tourist destination, but also a popular place to live for Namibians. We first went to a crystal museum where the largest Quartz crystal in the world is housed. Namibia’s main exports are uranium, salt and crystals. We then went to a rug making factory that was quite impressive. They start with the raw wool, wash it, dye it, spin it and then proceed to make incredible rugs in various sizes. You can even send in a picture and they can make an identical rug of it.

We wandered around Swakopmund that afternoon. It has a nice beach and because it was a Saturday all of the local children were out in the water. We went to a fantastic museum about Swakopmund and Namibian history- very well done. That evening we ended up at the Lighthouse Pub that overlooked the same beach. Ironically we had pizza and burgers. I have to say for being neighbors with South Africa, a famous wine country, all of the wine I tried in Namibia was terrible! Then again, most people go to Namibia for the German beer. We really lucked out with a great hotel that night with a balcony that overlooked the ocean where we got to watch the sun set.

The next day we woke early and had a traditional European breakfast at the hotel- it reminded me of Ireland. A van picked us up and we made our way back to Walvis Bay for a catamaran. We had an incredible three hour trip on the catamaran- it could hold probably about 45, but there were only 25 of us so we were able to move around quite a bit. We were the only Americans- mostly German tourists. A seal even came up on our boat and we got to pet it! We toured around the bay seeing islands full of seals, a fifty year old ship wreck and incredible views of the dunes from the water. We dined on oysters- one of the foods for which Namibia is famous. That afternoon we headed back to Swakopmund and hung out a terrific beach bar/shack while Mark had an interview with a local reporter.

The second night we stayed at Rossmund Golf Lodge about 5 km north of Swakopmund. After checking in, we hit some balls at the driving range and then went for a swim. At the clubhouse we met an SAS kid from San Francisco who actually plays golf for Willamette- small world! We went back into town for dinner that night and ran into a bunch of SASers who had great stories of their trips so far- Namibia is a huge Adventure Sports place with skydiving, parasailing, dune surfing, sand dune buggies, etc. We tried Ostrich for dinner- very good actually, and again some terrible wine, haha. Our bungalows that night at the lodge were great except for the lack of air conditioning- it was quite warm!

We awoke early the next day for our 8 o’clock tee time. Hayley’s dad and brother are big time golfers (her brother almost went pro) however she has never played. Nonetheless she made a great golf cart driver and helped me with some of my putting. The boys are both decent golfers, but not very serious. Fortunately, it was cloudy for the first nine- keeping it slightly cooler before the sun really came out for the second nine. The clubhouse is closed on Mondays so we were literally some of the only people out on the course. When looking at it, it really looks like an oasis of green with desert on all four sides. We joked that we felt like we were on safari because the course was covered with herds of Onyx (like a small antelope) and various types of birds. I didn’t keep score, but nonetheless it was fun to golf in Namibia!

After our long game it was time to head back to the ship. Today is our only day on the ship before we get to South Africa where we will spend five days. More to come soon!! Love always, Rose.