March 18, 2023
After a St Patrick’s Day party last night and a nights cruising we arrived in our second stop in Namibia in a City called Walvis Bay. Walvis Bay is a port city of 80,000 people. Main industries
are fishing, tourism. It also has a large container port, besides importing and exporting for domestic use, it also handles goods from neighboring countries.Today’s program includes a trip to the neighbouring German town of Swapopmund. Our first stop was at the lagoon in Walvis Bay to see the pink flamingos. The lagoon was surrounded by beautiful
homes, definitely no sign of poverty in this area of the City. Our next stop was at the sand dunes, these sand dunes line pretty well the whole coast line. On our ride up there we past through the lower income area of town with predominantly tiny two bedroom
houses. Our stop at the sand dunes was unfortunately too short to go on any 4×4 quad rides in the dunes. Our next stop was the City of Swapopmund a City of 40,000 people. The German heritage is still seen all over the City. Our first stop was a crystal gallery.
( Not my cup of tea) After this stop we drove over to the museum. By this time we so hungry and thirsty, we decided to have something to eat before we headed to the museum. We walked across the street from our bus stop where there looked like there was a small
bistro. On the patio they were busy setting up a music venue. We decided to sit inside and ordered a draught beer with a charcuterie board for lunch. Meanwhile the music had started playing in the form of an older gentleman playing the accordion and belting
out German Schlager songs, much like the October Fest in Munich. The waiters where busy supplying the customers with beers, many of them green, bearing the colors of the Irish.After having spend too much time at the bistro, there wasn’t enough time left for the museum visit. Many people in this town still speak German. Swapopmund is also a beach and holiday resort,
my guess is that a lot of German tourists come here. Things are very cheap here, a pint of drought in the restaurant was about 1,50 US. Namibia and South Africa have so far been the most affordable countries on our trip. After checking out a few street vendors, it was time to board the bus back to Walvis Bay. Throughout the
week the management on the ship have been organizing a fundraiser for the Bernhard Nordkamp Centre. This centre is an after school care for students. The money raised is being used for school supplies, sport equipment, uniforms and food. For this event the
students traveled for over 4 hours to come to the ship to do a concert for us on the mainstage. After the concert they received a standing ovation from the crowd. But the most important thing for the school was they received a check for $9,650 plus 41 bags
of school and other supplies from the Captain.(well done cruisers). For tonight our friends Rocky and Joan had made a reservation in the Italian restaurant
on board. That pretty well sums up the events for another good day in a great country.
Cheers
buysprojects.travel.blog 