WALVIS BAY, Namibia
Walvis Bay is the only deep water
port in Namibia and handles all the commercial shipping for the country. The town is larger than Luderitz and the residents are mostly employed on the docks or in the fishing industry. They also have uranium, salt, zinc and still some diamond mines, some of which are off shore under the sea.
We spent our day here investigating and enjoying the amazing
sand dunes! One of 
them is called Dune 7 where they rent dune buggies. They didn’t have enough for everyone in our group, so Stela and I stayed behind -- Dick raced away in a cloud of dust and had a fabulous time! We watched people in the distance at the oasis at the base of the dune, climbing up it and then running and sliding down, like snow boarders. The sand was very fine and is constantly shifting in the wind. It looked just like the movies of the Sahara Desert, in living color, and goes on as far as the eye can see!!
We then visited the small German town of Swakopmund. The indigenous people in Namibia are the Herero tribe who were Bantu-speaking cattle herders. We saw two of these ladies who had come to town in their native dress -- their bodies and braide
d hair covered in mud which had been dyed with red ochre, and wrapped in a blanket. Note the cell phone the girl on the right is holding!
After lunch we went through a few shops and bargained with street vendors for their handicrafts before returning to the ship.
And so ends our visit to the sub Saharan African countries … we are now “Out of Africa” and sailing off to the mid-Atlantic island of St. Helena!
Walvis Bay is the only deep water
port in Namibia and handles all the commercial shipping for the country. The town is larger than Luderitz and the residents are mostly employed on the docks or in the fishing industry. They also have uranium, salt, zinc and still some diamond mines, some of which are off shore under the sea.We spent our day here investigating and enjoying the amazing
sand dunes! One of 
them is called Dune 7 where they rent dune buggies. They didn’t have enough for everyone in our group, so Stela and I stayed behind -- Dick raced away in a cloud of dust and had a fabulous time! We watched people in the distance at the oasis at the base of the dune, climbing up it and then running and sliding down, like snow boarders. The sand was very fine and is constantly shifting in the wind. It looked just like the movies of the Sahara Desert, in living color, and goes on as far as the eye can see!!
We then visited the small German town of Swakopmund. The indigenous people in Namibia are the Herero tribe who were Bantu-speaking cattle herders. We saw two of these ladies who had come to town in their native dress -- their bodies and braide
d hair covered in mud which had been dyed with red ochre, and wrapped in a blanket. Note the cell phone the girl on the right is holding!After lunch we went through a few shops and bargained with street vendors for their handicrafts before returning to the ship.
And so ends our visit to the sub Saharan African countries … we are now “Out of Africa” and sailing off to the mid-Atlantic island of St. Helena!
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