Navy Seals
A slightly more sensible wake up time this morning, and a leisurely breakfast. Since it gets dark by 6pm each night, we are in bed early anyway, so early starts are not really a problem. There's a lovely full moon at the moment, which means not many stars are visible, but looking over the plains and distant mountains by moonlight is peaceful and serene.
A very good, loaded breakfast (well, loaded for me, sensible portions for Emma) and we headed down the very slow and bumpy 7.5km driveway to the faster but still bumpy gravel road, and the 350km drive to the coastal town of Swakopmund - another place we had trouble pronouncing until after we had left.
This journey had many varied landscapes - plains, mountains, canyons, some green areas but plenty of arid ones. The roads were actually pretty good, though did need concentration as there was no guessing when a rut or a large stone would appear in the gravel, and the shadows of the gravel road made it hard to spot obstacles from a distance.
Our first petrol stop and it was a pleasant one - we are not used to serviced petrol stations, since they have been self service in the UK for at least 40 years! But the attendant happily filled up the tank, washed the windscreen and, since we asked him to, directed us round to another area where he checked all the tyre pressures and all for just a few N$ 'tip' (about 50p).The petrol station was in a 'town' called Solitude - well named as there was nothing around for many 10s of km, and the 'town' consisted of the garage and a bakery, which sold average cakes, but lovely apple pie. It seemed well visited, primarily, but not exclusively, by tourists, who seem to consist primarily of Dutch and Germans, with a few South African too, though it seems quite a few South Africans run the lodges and tours down here, so they may not have been tourists.
Arriving at Swakopmund in late afternoon, the guest house was easy to find, surrounded by a large wall, as are most properties in the towns, pretty and spacious. The owners very friendly and helpful. Swakopmund has a large German and German-descent population and is a very colonial town, with architecture more reminiscent of Munich than Africa. Being right on the coast, it is also a lot cooler than we are used to - especially in the evenings!
A very nice meal at the Jetty restaurant, which is unsurprisingly at the end of a jetty, and is full of (white) tourists and (black) waiters and chefs. Expensive for the area, but we had a lovely meal, which more than one vegetarian option (surprising!) and very big portions. The waves were crashing around us, though as it was dark you couldn't see them, but the whole pier (and therefore restaurant) moved every time a large wave came in,
The following day started early again, as we had an excursion booked in nearby (45 minutes drive away) Walvis Bay. Swakopmund and Walvis Bay are known for their 'extreme sports' tourists as they offer surfing, sandboarding, parachuting etc, etc, and are well located for such things, having the Atlantic Ocean on one side, and a desert on the other. We opted for a more tame kayaking trip.
The owner of the kayaking company, Jeanne, drove us out to a sandy peninsula, past large salt 'farming' (do you farm salt?) factory, as she explained how the salt is produced from the sea water, and how the factory has helped, and in some cases hindered, the local economy and landscape. All very interesting. We got to our kayaking spot which was in the middle of a number of Cape Fur Seal colonies, as we were to be kayaking amongst the seals.This excursion was great fun. Easy going, and more about interacting with the very friendly and playful seals than with the kayaking. The seals came right up to the kayaks, and were very curious and wanting to interact. We also saw a few dolphins nearby too. We could have stayed in the water for longer, but the winds start to pick up around midday, making kayaking a bit difficult, so after an hour or so of playing with the seals we returned to land.
Back to Swakopmund and in the afternoon we visited the Living Desert Snake Park - a small but well-stocked 'zoo' of snakes and other reptiles primarily local to Namibia and Africa in general. The entrance fee was steep (N$100) but cheaper for locals, and a sign on the door (and on their facebook page) explained why they had to charge so much. It also described the ethos of the place, which was to educate and explain the benefits of such creatures, rather than just a 'zoo'. They also only keep animals that seem to settle in captivity, and release others, and take in animals that have been confiscated, rather than capture from the wild. It all seemed good, and online the owner, Stuart, seemed to be responsive to comments and criticisms, though on the day we went Stuart seemed a bit preoccupied with a group of photographers that were visiting and didn't come across as very approachable, so I didn't approach him.
There were a number of snakes and lizards in the place, including a large monitor lizard that was just wandering freely around the building. I was surprised that pretty much all the snakes were moving around a lot in their vivariums, which is not something you see very often at zoos in the UK. It was here I discovered that my previous encounter with a snake a couple of days before was not actually a horned viper, but a peringues viper - they had both in the park. Stuart even got a many-horned viper out of its vivarium and put it in a sand pit on the lawn so that the photography group could take pictures of it. The snake was not very happy at being moved into position numerous times - I cant say I blamed it - and since many-horned vipers are pretty dangerous, I didn't hang around too long.
A wander along the coast, and a meal in a micro-brewery (not such a nice meal and not such good service as the previous night) rounded off the day nicely. Another long drive tomorrow.
Place Stayed: Cornerstone Guesthouse, Swakopmund
Places Visited: Eco Marine Kayak Tours, Walvis Bay; Living Desert Snake Park, Swakopmund
Comments
Post a Comment