Walvis Bay, Namibia 11-29-23

What to do in Walvis Bay you ask.  Port calls give enough time to get an overview and today eight of us organized a taxi tour.  Four hours and $300 gave us a trip to Dune 7, Swakopmund, Flamingo Bay and we saw the salt production.  Note a ship excursion would be around $300 per person and you share your time and place with 40 others on a large bus. 

Dune 7 is notable as the seventh highest dune in the world or the seventh dune encountered after the Tsauchab River and is a recreation area.  You might climb to the top, 1300 feet, and slide down or picnic there.  One giant sand box.

Swakopmun, 35 miles north of the port, is the tourism pull for not only cruise ships but across Africa. Met a family from Zimbabwe.

Walked the promenade along the Atlantic. 

It is a seaside town with German influence in the architecture.  We found the area charming. Friendly people and a European feel with sidewalk cafes. 

Flamboyance of Flamingo 

if you want the answer to a trivia question

      Love the form and the skinny legs and pink bodies.  

Makes me smile

Salt production

Bernhard Nordkamp Centre Children

 

Lüderitz, Namibia 11-28-23

When a port does not have a dock the ship pulls down the life boats and all passengers are taken to the shore via a tender.  Today, even in the cove, it was unsafe to tender due to high winds of 40 MPH.  Immigration from Namibia did come aboard in their speed boat so we did complete the immigration process. Tomorrow we can go ashore from a dock and set foot in this country.  Luderitz was a German outpost until 1915 when West Africa took control, deporting many Germans. The pictures of this port show the German influence in the buildings with German styling.  We had a private excursion to Kolmanskop, the abandoned mining town, that we had to cancel. So today is a sea day.  Water color classes and Mahjong for me and lectures and reading for Don as the day flows.

Luderitz is over there.

A bit about provisioning. It is typically done in the larger ports.  Food, wine, everything you would need to run this massive hotel. They promise to never run out of toilet paper. Hope they break out the fresh blueberries they received in Cape Town. 

 When a ship is commissioned there is a ceremony and plaques are created to commemorate.  The first time a ship goes into a port another ceremony and another plaque.  This ship continues around the world and will add more plaques no doubt.

The Zuiderdam decided to get in the Christmas spirit just before Thanksgiving.  Staff served spiced punch and ginger cookies, played carols and ran the train.

An alligator in the Lido Pool!  The mass of towel animals made me smile during morning stretch.  Hundreds surrounded us.

 

Cape Town, South Africa 11-25 & 26-23

This sprawling metropolis netted two days in port.  As we sailed into port the iconic Table Mountain glowed. We used the HOHO bus to visit the Cape of Good Hope where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet and was sailed by Vasco da Gama opening the spice trade to India.  The next stop was Simon’s Town.  The documentary from Netflix “Penguin Town” had excited me to see these African Penguins, about two feet tall and weighing about 11 pounds.  In the documentary they swarmed the streets and nested in gardens.  A bit disappointed to see the colony of 900 all grouped on the shore. Today we did two walking tours, one in the Bo Kaap and then the history of Cape Town.  The history of the Bo-Kaap reflects the political processes in South Africa during the Apartheid years. The area was declared an exclusively residential area for Cape Muslims under the Group Areas Act of 1950 and people of other religions and ethnicity were forced to leave.  The choice of color is said to be attributed to the fact that while on lease, all the houses had to be white. When this rule was eventually lifted, and the slaves were allowed to buy the properties, all the houses were painted bright colors by their owners as an expression of their freedom. We strolled the gardens from Queen Victorian times and found the Jewish complex and visited the Holocaust Museum.

Table Mountain

Where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean 

Notice the two colors of water

Been there

The colony of the African Penguins

Come look at me sweet thing

Civic Center. 

Nelson Mandela his first speech after release from prison

Bo Kaap

at Jewish Holocaust Museum. Never Forget

 

Durban, South Africa 11-22-23

Durban, the largest port in South, Africa, a city of millions, was the only port close to a one day game reserve.  The economy is diverse with import-export, in the largest port in Africa, sustaining the city.  I booked a private excursion with Durban Safaris forever ago.  John, assigned Paul as our driver and guide and he was superior.  He arranged a stop at a Zulu village on the way to Tala Reserve.  Interesting, this community still asks for 11 cows to arrange the marriage of a daughter. While Zulu men may have more than one wife he needs the cattle and the home and he also gets more mother-in-law’s. They showed their huts, and explained the customs and followed with a rousing dance and booming percussion on their drums. Tala did not disappoint.  With no time for a full safari I chose this reserve for our private excursion. Tala has more than 380 bird species, as well as big game like Rhino, Kudu, Hippo, Giraffe, Wildebeeast, Zebra and the many antelope including the rare Sable antelope.  First surprise, Zebras have brown stripes. Who knew?

Zulu drummer

Dancers

Brown Zebras!

Ya lookin at me?

Yep another Zebra

See you next time

Over here

Hi ya

I can see you

Rhino

Hippo

Ostrich

Kudu

Steenbok

Impala

Bontebok

Wildebeest

 

Maputo, Mozambique 11-21-23

We were alerted at the port talk to be very careful in this capital city of more than a million people.  Just on year ago the city was full of rioters but now seemed calm and hospitable. We found the residents friendly and helpful as we walked to the Maputo Central Railway Station, said to be the most beautiful in Africa.  It was impressive.  We saw local men playing macula on the street.  With the heat at 96 degrees Fahrenheit we decided to take the free shuttle to the Craft and Artisans market. This gave us a glimpse of the city which seemed modern and well kept. We browsed the market and decided enough heat and returned to the ship.  As we walked the dock back toward the ship we saw the INS Sumedha an Indian Navy ship. It is deployed as part of the Indian Navy’s mission of building Bridges of Friendship as well as to address maritime concerns across the globe. The current visit seeks to accentuate India’s solidarity with friendly countries.

The Port of Maputo 

Railway station

street game off Macula

Batik at the craft market

entrance to the craft market

I

Ins Sumedha with a port of call to Maputo

 

Hell-Ville on Nosy Be, Madagascar 11-18-23

Nosy Be is a tiny island off the coast at the North West tip of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The French colonized the island and named it after Admiral Hell-Ville. The HAL tour today took us to Lemur Land a commercialized version of Disney Land for Lemurs with the same number of people waiting to get in. The lemurs had had all they could eat with the hundreds of people visiting, before our small group and they were rather sedate. The paths wound around crocodiles, and Don spotted the dragon fly. We also saw the Ylang-Ylang distillery, the famous fragrance. Next stop a Malagase village of 500.  The Malagasy women danced.  The custom of face painting was unique and is actually made from a special type of wood, specifically the bark of a tree that is ground into powder and then mixed into a paste. These elaborate patterns aren’t merely decorative but also are applied to protect the skin from the damage of the sun as well as ward off insects such as mosquitoes.  Apparently the kids were not in school enjoying the tourists visiting their village. 

Helllo people.  I am a Lemur

dragon fly

Same lemur never moved

Crocodile

sweet child

Bougainville 

Magalense women prepare to dance

Joyful farce

School's out