Friday - April 6, 2018 and Saturday - April 7, 2018

Friday – April 6, 2018 and Saturday April 6, 2018

These were uneventful sea days on our way to Walvis Bay, Namibia.

Saturday – April 7, 2018

Our arrival in Walvis Bay was according to plan, but clearing immigration was another problem. The group method was employed again. We were in group 14. We did not touch land until 10;30.

Because we had no tour scheduled we went to board the shuttle. It was suppose to stop at the lagoon for the pink flamingos and at the new mall. Ha! There was a mob of people waiting, but there were no shuttles. We had been warned that the final ports in Africa might have primitive tourist infrastructure that would require our patience. This was to be our first test. Only one 44 passenger bus and six 12 passenger vans were available. Because there were so many of us waiting, it was decided that the lagoon stop would be eliminated until everybody was transported to the mall. All well and good except that there was no queue and people who had come after us just went to the front of the crowd. Oh Well. At 11:20 we squeezed into a van and headed to the mall.

Once outside the port we could view the dominant feature of the landscape, sand dunes. These varied in size and they surrounded the city. Welcome to the Namib Desert. This would be our only exposure to them because we had no tour here.

After 15 minutes we were dropped off at the mall. It was very new, just a year old. It was laid out like a very large strip mall, but it was enclosed. The heat mandates that. Although there was a good selection of shops, there was no salon. Another missed haircut for Alice. We spent 2 hours here as we visited many of the shops. Looking was fun, but our only purchase was some sugar-free candy in a super market. We have been looking for this since Sydney. Here the clerk led us to the health food aisle. The selection was quite large. We had been looking in the wrong place, the candy aisle.

Mall Playground

We stopped at the spotless toilets, and took the shuttle back to the port. 

We were dropped off outside the gate in order to shop at the vendors. They had their wares spread on cloths on the ground. Again, carvings seemed to dominate. We did find some tablecloths and runners at different stalls. The ladies were keen on making a sale, but negotiating was not going well for us. We could not reach an agreeable price for a tablecloth we liked. The lady agreed that we should think about it as we continued shopping.

Finally, we found a table runner we liked. This woman worked with us until we, and she, were happy. As we settled up, she took US$, we talked about where she lived. We learned that she did not live in Walvis Bay. She lived four hours away in Northeast Namibia. She came because the ship was here. They only get about 4 ships a year. Cruisers are good customers and that makes the trip worthwhile.

Back on Amsterdam Alice and I talked about the need to have tours in these last ports. We were very sorry that we had not taken one here. We could have gotten to the really big dunes nearby. Or we might have gone to a town up the coast with German roots. We were disappointed, but learned a lesson. We will take tours in places we have not visited before, if the tourism infrastructure has not evolved to support independent travel.

We were even more disappointed later when we learned that we could have walked to the waterfront near town. There, some flamingos were eating krill. This turns them pink. Maybe those pink flamingo lawn ornaments are authentic after all. A few restaurants were located on stilts in the water. The beer was cold we were told.

All of this was mitigated, when we attended an outstanding performance by children from a local school. They came aboard to thank us for the support we offered through a silent auction of handmade and donated goods onboard. The cruise director presented them with a check for $9,888 in support of their work. This will provide a lot of enrichment opportunities for these poor but committed children. This was truly a gratifying experience.