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| Roadside stop |
From the dusty desert midlands of Namibia we headed west toward the coast. Our lunch stop was next to the sea in Walvis Bay. Would have been nice if they had loos there. After a morning on the bus we did need a biological break. First beach I have been to that didn't have amenities.
After lunch, our bus took us 30 kilometers north to Swakopmund. Here we had fixed accommodation. Read - a proper bed and our own showers. And no watching the ground to avoid stepping on thorns. These evil long thorns pierced straight through our flip flops and could be really painful.
We had an hour or two to drop off laundry and find an internet cafe before the close of day. The following day was Good Friday and we didn't expect much commercial activity. And we were right.
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| The sign says it all |
Swakopmund is such a cute, quaint place. It is geared for tourism and had a tourist information office as well as plenty tourist gift shops. They sold things like ostrich shell jewelry, batik type table linen and gorgeous crystals. There is a German book shop and plenty restaurants and cafes.
My long anticipated hot shower was not to be. Sigh! Others in our party had hot water but we got the dud room.
We walked to The Tug restaurant for our evening meal and while it is mostly a seafood spot I had a really good veggie stir fry. Am not going to lie, I slept well.
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| Long open road with flood water |
The next morning we had breakfast at a German bakery. The Germans all loved the familiar food. I had egg on dark toast. Then we were collected for our boat trip in Walvis Bay. We all boarded a catamaran which took us to see the local aquatic life.
We saw Benguela dolphin, Bottle Nose dolphin, one Hump Back whale, pelicans, gannets, millions of Cape Fur seal and one super friendly seal.
This seal hopped on our boat and hung about eating fish. He was quite happy to pose with us for photos, as long as he was being given fish. When the fish feeding stopped, he was on his way.
We went around and around the bay spotting new things all the time. Just before lunch we were given sparkling wine, oysters and canapes. Yuck! I don't ever want to eat oysters. They look like mucus but hey plenty people on the boat tucked into them. And then they told me that oysters taste like mucous. Awful!
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| A Herera lady - she has about 10 skirts on |
Our shuttle bus dropped a few of us at Cafe Anton. A German style coffee shop which the Germans said was typical of a coffee shop in Germany. It's not like there were many places to choose from as it was Good Friday and the town was pretty quiet. But it was a good choice. We had teas, coffees and pastries. I had a "kanchen" or pot of hot chocolate and cheese cake.
We did a mini shop up for provisions at the local supermarket and collected our laundry. Our truck was washed and re-stocked and we helped pack the truck.
The rest went off for another meal out. I had succumbed to the lurgy that infected us and decided on a night in. Would have been really nice to have had a hot shower, but like I said, we had the dud room so after a cold shower I got around to reading the books I had brought on Namibia.
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| Boat trip Walvis Bay |
We had a delayed start the following day. Some of us needed to arrange forex and have a last chance to do whatever one does in a town before we headed back into the middle of nowhere.
We tried a new breakfast spot and this one was even better than the last. I had a red cappuccino which was heavenly.
Click here to go to Part 5.
Go to - My Holidays and Trips - at the top of this page to read about other places we have visited. Or just click on - this link.
Labels: Africa, blog, blogsherpa, Botswana, Cape Town, information, Lonely Planet, Namibia, news, South Africa, Zimbabwe
