DAY 76 Friday, March 31. Walvis Bay, Namibia
Weather started out kind of chilly, then turned rather warm, but not at all hot. No rain at all.
Our first day in Namibia, in Walvis Bay, I went on a five-hour excursion and Mary went shopping. She came back with a great haul, including two peri-peri sauces, two bottles of liquor, and a variety of wooden bowls and utensils. There was a length of road just outside the port, lined with people selling local handicrafts. Her advice: Start at the opposite end from the bare-breasted ladies. They charge too much.
My tour was basically sightseeing. We drove through the towns of Walvis Bay and the more touristy Swakopmund. They are good example of early 20th Century German architecture, and looks, honest to gosh, brand spanking new. The Swiss lady in my group was highly impressed; that’s how clean and tidy these town centers were. Our guide described Namibia as very easy-going and safe. He said in Namibia car-jackings are unheard of, while in Union of South Africa they’re daily occurrences. I haven’t tried to research the accuracy of this statement, but this country does give me a safe feeling.
Speaking of safe, a very good and worthwhile Enrichment Talk series ended today, on keeping yourself and your valuables safe. It naturally concentrated on what you should do, or avoid doing, while traveling, but today’s was a wrap-up on avoiding identity theft. Bravo.
Back to the topic at hand. The outing covered all the highlights, plus a really nice light lunch at a desert resort, the Goanikotes Oasis (They’re really proud of the quality of their desert resorts here.) Included were
- The shallow bay full of flamingos, mostly white, but some pink.
- Moon Valley, through which ran the now-dry Swakopmund River. It looked like the Dakota Badlands. Not nearly as big, but what it lacked in size it made up for in ugliness.
- We saw some of the forms of lichen that grow in the desert, and learned how they manage it. Quite interesting. And how some rather larger animals, like springbok can survive on them.
- Speaking of ugly, though, we stopped off to get a look at what’s got to be the ugliest tree in the world, the Welwitschia mirabilis. It looks like a bunch of ratty strips of green leather stretching out from a central point, and the ends of the strips have been burnt to a crisp. At that nexus the female variety sprouts a collection of seed pods on little stalks, not unlike miniature Body Snatcher pods. And these things are called trees just because they are said to have a trunk. A fully grown one isn’t taller than an average cabbage, and I saw the “trunk” of a dead one. Looks like an artichoke bottom. I suspect it’s called “mirabilis” because it’s a miracle that this thing is alive in this most inhospitable terrain.
It was a big group of us, from a number of buses like ours that were all gawking at the welwitschia until some one of them cried out that he spotted a chameleon. All the tourists, from all the buses, rushed over to see, except me. We’ve got them in our yard. They’re cute, but not that interesting. Instead, I went over to talk to Diebold, our driver. I’d never met a person named Diebold before, and he was much more interesting. Showed me the dollar plant, a bush that could save a person from dying of thirst. I tasted one of the dime-size leaves. They’re full of a slightly salty, clear gel.
On the way back to the ship we stopped at a place where you could rent a quad-cycle and go riding on the dunes. Again, people rushed out to walk in the sand. I suppose walking up the side of one of these huge dunes would be a real experience, but we didn’t have time for that. But walking on sand? Folks, it’s just sand!
DAY 77 Saturday, April 1. Last day in Walvis Bay
Just plain chilly(!)
We went shopping together this morning. Stopped in a liquor store, because while Mary bought bourbon yesterday, she didn’t get the other makings of a Manhattan. But they didn’t have vermouth. Didn’t even know what I was talking about. And then the store closed at Noon, not to open again until some time on Monday. A Namibian law.
Also bought Mary a bouquet of flowers at the grocery store, 50 Namibian Dollars, about $2.75. Then we went shopping in that street market and got some more wooden serving utensils. Mary has so much fun haggling with the vendors!
We left in the afternoon, accompanied by a pod of dolphins, then by a flapping? splash? of seals.
The answer to that question in today’s Times crossword? The capitol of São Tomé is SAOTOME. (Thanks, Terry.)