Walvis Bay, Namibia
November 27, 2022
Today we scheduled a tour to Sandwich Harbor. About 30 km from the port but no roads exist past the town limit.
Michael from MC Tours picked us up at 9 am. He spoke Afrikaans and English. He was born in South Africa and moved to Namibia later in life.
The town was neat and clean. There is still a large German population here.
Shortly after picking us up, he pulled over to let some air out of tires. This would allow better traction on the sand dunes we were heading towards.
We passed a major business in the city, the salt plant. Salt was harvested from the sea. It was also the source for chlorine which was added to make the water they draw from the ground, potable.
We traveled on the beach. The tide was out and there was plenty of room to drive. About 30 mins in, Michael took the vehicle up a very large sand dune. He circled around and went up even higher. The pictures you see of the water and sands, are from the top of the dunes.
We had a quick lunch from this viewpoint. In the vehicle was another couple from the ship. As proof that people digress as they age, we saw 80 year olds making sand angels in the dunes.
After lunch we went back in the vehicle and we looked for some wildlife. Ostriches and jackals made their homes here. We also saw lots of flamingos in the shallow water near the salt plant. The water here was pink from bacteria and algae that exist in these waters. This is how the flamingos get their color.
Michael felt we had time so he took us to Pelican point. Here we saw what was estimated to be 80,000 seals. They were up on the beach about 100 ft deep. It was mating season and you can see many babies in the sand. Sea gulls would walk up and down the ranks of the seals and they would eat the eyes out of the babies. Once this happened, the babies would have no way to continue living and their mothers left them on the beach.
Michael dropped us off at the port about 4 pm.
The evening entertainment was something titled The Rhythm of Africa. Terri wasn’t interested but I thought it could be African drummers. We arrived about 15 minutes early and were careful to pick good “escape” seats. It wasn’t African Drummers. We gave it a solid minute and left.
