June 7 – Walvis Bay, Namibia

Weather – 17º on the coast with fog in the morning, 23º in the desert

Steps – 9,204

Humidity – low

welwitschia plant - male version

We were on an actual coach bus for today’s 4-hour tour. It’s not the world’s best bus, but it’s roomy and the guide’s mic works. It’s amazing what you appreciate after experiencing the alternative. I’m not sure about the AC because today we didn’t need it. One thing I never need to be reminded to appreciate is cool weather – today was lovely.

welwitschia plant - female version

We always go right to the back of the bus and hope there are enough open seats to sit apart – more room and both get a window view…not today. The bus was almost at capacity. We had the pleasure of sitting right in front of one guy who COULD NOT STOP TALKING! He talked NON-STOP for the entire first hour to a couple of strangers across the aisle from him, who did nothing but encourage him. He talked about ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, going through this phone and showing photos and describing them to his newly found friends. He had no apparent interest in what the guide was saying because he didn’t even seem to notice she was talking. Good thing her mic was working, so we could still hear. He eventually piped down a bit, but then picked right up a while later.

kudu in the distance

Anyway…today we were visiting Namibia’s Namib Desert which is at least tied for the oldest and driest desert in the world – I would have thought all deserts were dry, but I guess there is a ranking. There are 4 deserts in Namibia, including The Kalahari Desert, but it’s more to the east of where we are.

moon landscape

The Namib Dessert is home to the welwitschia plant, which resembles wilted lettuce and produces only two leaves in its up to 500-year lifetime! it looks like it has multiples leaves, but it's only 2 leaves shredded by weather over time. The seeds of the welwitschia take 50 years to germinate – WOW! It took about an hour to get to the spot in the desert where we could see this plant – Namibia is big.

Along the highway to the welwitschia viewing spot, we drove along Namibia’s sand dunes. Like yesterday where we looked at iron in the sand, these dunes are a bit reddish-brown due to the rusted iron in the sand.

could have spent more time here

his fav kind of shopping

Close to the plant viewing spot, we left the main highway for a gravel road. WOW, this road was very bumpy. Apparently much of Namibia’s road system is unpaved due to cost - $1 million to pave 1Km. We stopped when the guide spotted some kudu in the distance. We opened our window (yes, this bus has windows that open) to get a photo, but the animals were too far away.

We finally made it to the main attraction of today’s tour – Namibia’s moon landscape. This is a huge, eroded valley that looks like the moon’s surface. I’m not sure it should have been billed as the main attraction. It was interesting, but basically a photo stop.

beer garden chickens

Another interesting thing the guide showed us was a lichen covered rock that when she poured water over the lichen it turned from grey to green. Apparently, the fog that rolls in 80Km from the coast is enough to sustain this ecosystem.

Our last stop was at an “oasis” in the dessert. This oasis (despite being

oasis in the desert

fabricated) was a lovely spot, with trees providing shade, bathroom facilities, shopping, food for purchase, and a beer garden. We of course found ourselves each a Hansa draught, Namibia’s
national beer (now owned by Heineken, but still Namibian) – this was one of the most delicious beers I have every tasted, not because of the actual flavour of the beer (which was a basic lager), but because of how cold it was, how icy the mug was, and the absolutely lovely spot we drank it in (including the chickens and Guinea foul wandering around our feet.) And…BTW…the washroom facilities were delightful, complete with décor and hand lotion!

until next time Namibia

In the evening, we ate dinner with Kelly, the ship’s Australian cocktail pianist. I

think I mentioned earlier that we were thrilled when we saw she was on with us – not only is she a great player and singer, who selects a fair amount of music to our taste, but we also became friendly with her on our cruise in Iceland. We’ve chatted with her throughout this cruise and decided to have dinner together. It was nice to have longer than between her sets to chat.

second place!!

Guinea foul

It was Guess That Tune again – theme 60s and 70s. We didn’t expect Kelly’s 15 songs to be EXACTLY THE SAME as the last time we played the 60s and 70s theme. This half of our cruise is technically a different cruise, so there are many different passengers. You’d think we would clean up after learning from our mistakes last time…nope. Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here stymied us…
AGAIN! We teamed up with 84 year old Melvis and his wife Jelly who helped us win second place! We didn’t remember anything different from last time, so I
didn’t feel we were at any advantage AT ALL – we should have done better, but we didn’t.

Despite loving Guess That Tune, it doesn’t end until 11:30! That is just too late for this ol’ lady. Good thing we gained an hour tonight! It might be the only time for the rest of the cruise that we gain.