115/137 Days; 22 days remaining
Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
Reaching Walvis Bay, Namibia around noon
It is a relaxing morning. Even I slept until it has gone past 06:00. We don’t get to Walvis Bay until noon. Although from the map we must enter the bay sometime before hand. It looks like a fairly deep (long?) inlet. It is still cool in the morning, so much so that sweaters are going to be required going to breakfast.
Walvis Bay, which literally translates to whales bay, is roughly in the north-south middle of Namibia, obviously on the coast. The second largest city in Namibia is Walvis Bay. As far as cities go it isn’t very big, it covers only about 29 square kilometers (11 square miles) and all of that is right along the coast.
Walvis Bay is a natural deep-water harbor. On the Atlantic side there is a large San spit called Pelican Point which protects the harbor. It is also the only natural harbor in Namibia. It was discovered in 1485. It was a good stopping point for sail vessels to stop on their way around the Cape of Good Hope. It also lies just north of the Tropic of Capicorn. Accordingly it has suffered through a number of different colonial rulers and didn’t get it’s full independence until 1992 when it broke with South Africa at the end of apartheid.
From the vantage point on the deck it looks like the city is about a mile wide and then bleeds off into the desert. Fishing and shipping are two important activities here. This is also an important center for tourism in Namibia. We shall see.
This is obviously a working port. There isn’t a cruise ship terminal here so we are among cargo ships of several types. The water looks very brownish. There are what looks like a whole lot of jellyfish in the water. It even smells a bit, you know like fish. Ugh!
Our excursion, moon landscape and welwitschia, isn’t until 13:50; but we don’t actually reach our berth until noon. We are headed up to La Veranda for lunch before going on our excursion. It is 12:15 when the announce that there is a face-to-face immigration inspection in the Constellation Theater. There is also an item on page to of the Passages which states we are in a High-Risk Area in West Africa from May 1st. until May 11th. This is why some passengers chose to disembark in Cape Town.
So for the next eleven days we have to keep our balcony drapes closed, including the room darkening shades. We can’t turn on out balcony lights between 19:00 and 06:00. Sounds so ominous but the risk is probably fairly small. Besides it would be a better epitaph to say killed during a world cruise than dying in blend surrounded by family. So button down the hatches and pass the ammunition! John Paul Jones get out of my head.
We are heading down to the face-to-face inspection. It has been very nicely setup in the theater. They “lend” us our passports for the inspection. They have been very nice and completed all the information on the embarkation form, all we have to do is sign it. Then we wait in line. It goes fairly quickly, and we get out tour ticket and take a seat and wait for out tour to be called.
Sunscreen applied, hat in place and loose light clothing we head to our vehicle. It is a large twelve passenger enclosed and raised, four-wheel drive, and extra long Toyota Land Cruiser. It is a monster of a vehicle with five stairs folding out to provide access to the cabin and four stairs inside. The view from up here is nice.
We take off out of the dock area and are almost immediately in “town”. Five or six blocks later we are in the dessert. We have air conditioning! Thank you. It is currently 32 degrees (90F) and the guide quickly informs us it will be 42 shortly (110F). It seems incredible that it can change that much, but we very quickly go from town to dessert and nothing.
Our first stop is at Dune 7, the highest dune in Namibia. The dune has been measured at over 1,256 feet (383 meters) and is named Dune 7 because it is the seventh dune one encounters after crossing the river Tsauchab. Interesting facts but it is really just a very impressive sand pile. Apparently when it does rain the sand washes into the sea, and the sea dutifully gives it up the the wind which sends it to the dunes along the coast.
Back to the vehicle and off to see the Welwitschia. For those of you who follow rugby we are not going to see the Namibia National Rugby Union Team – the Welwitschias. We are on our way to see a plant. Yes, you heard me right, a plant.
There are two unique things about this plant. First, it lives in the Numib dessert. No water, or at least not a lot, and scorching sun – every day. Second, it is apparently very difficult to determine the age of the plants, as they don’t produce rings like tree. It is believed many of the plants are over 1,000 years one, and some individual plants maybe 2,000 years old. The only accurate way to determine the age is ab radiocarbon dating, but that kinds kills the plants. The one the guide shows us he believes to be about 300 or 400 years old. The largest known one has a “trunk”, a brown thing about 2 inches off the surface of the dessert floor, is 2.77 meters (9 ft 1 in) in diameter and about 8.7 meters in circumference. Given that it grows less than a centimeter a year, it has to mean it is very old.
Cool looking but we can’t get too close. The roots are fairly shallow and like the redwood tree if you trample them you will hurt them. There is also apparently something about scorpions hiding in the shade of it leaves – jump back. It is 42 degrees now and we get to thankfully return to the vehicle.
The vehicle starts up and the cool air flows. We are all hoping it is an hours drive to the moon scape. The guide starts out by telling us we are going to Tsoa-Xaub or the Swakop River. Wait a minute we are supposed to go to the moonscape. They are one in the same he says. The Swakop River is a major river in western Namibia. It crosses the Namib desert and reaches the Atlantic Ocean at Swakopmund (German for mouth if the Swakop).
The Swakop River is an ephemeral river. Sounds nasty doesn’t it. But it just means that it only flows when there is precipitation – so like never! So, it is a temporary river. However, what it has done is make the desert landscape and its dry river bed, look like the surface of the moon. It is kind-of hard to believe but it really does. Conspiracy theorists believe this is where they actually did the moon landing.
The name, Tsoa-xaub, is a Koekhoe phrase. Literally is means ‘anus’ ‘excrement’. These people named things quite literally. When it does rain, and the river does flow, flow, filled with sand, looks a lot like a brownish sludge. We don’t get to see that part today, as there is no rain. It is probably 45 degrees now (113F), there isn’t a cloud in the sky, and the sweat isn’t pour off because it evaporates as soon as it leaves your pours.
The guide holds up a small rock which has a piece of lichen attached to it. Lichens are a composite organism consisting of fungi and algae living in symbiotic relationship. They are well adapted to survive in harsh conditions of the desert. Fog in the coastal parts of the Namib desert provides the necessary moisture for the organisms' survival. They grow on shrubs, rocks and pebbles of the gravel plains. They can densely cover large areas, forming lichen fields. Neat, can we get back in the van?
The Namib desert hosts 120 different lichen. Al lot of them are rare and a significant number of them occur only here. He has us touch the lichen. It is brittle and basically fall apart at the touch. He then pours live giving water onto the rock. The lichen comes alive. It is no longer brittle but soft like a leaf. He says this is how they survive. The store the water for as long as they can, and then go dormant until the next drink arrives. Like a number of bar flies. Now can we get back in the vehicle?
Load it up! He really didn’t have to say that we were already on our way. The next stop he says is an oasis called the Moonvalley River Camp or Farm Hidenlop 58. Apparently, this is an historical oasis on the original caravan route though the Namib Desert. Being a place with some water it was turned into a farm and then eventually into to this tourist destination.
We got out and walked around a bit. They offered us a box of juice. It wasn’t here as it had been on the upper flat surface of the desert. The place is located in one of the valleys shaded a little bit by the mountains. Beautiful? Yes, in a very rustic sort of way. It is hard to believe people used to travel across the desert, but with little oasis like this it was possible. We loaded back up into the vehicle and headed back to the port.
The distance isn’t all that great, the road was well maintained and it was a quick ride back to the air conditioning of the Mariner. We are quite done for the day.
Buonanotte e Ciao, Enrico e Maria
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