Walvis Bay, Namibia - day 1

We spent the biggest part of the last 2 days in Walvis Bay (Whale Bay), Namibia. We've enjoyed great weather and have had a really nice time. Yesterday we took an excursion and this time it was a modern bus with a guide who spoke very good English. In fact, EVERYTHING in Walvis Bay was a big improvement over any of the other African countries we’ve visited to date.

Walvis Bay is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. It covers 11 square miles. It's waters are rich in plankton and marine life which draw large numbers of whales. In addition to being a large bay, it has abundant bird life and large sand dunes which make it a popular tourist destination. 

It was discovered by the outside world in 1485, but not founded until the end of the 18^th century. There was no permanent settlement and little commercial development until the late 19^th century when the British claimed Walvis Bay.

 

notice the bright orange color under their wings when they fly

 

Our first stop yesterday was within sight of the pier where we saw tons of flamingos feeding in the bay. Oddly enough, they were all white! Today a friend from the ship and I hired a driver for the morning and he took us to a different beach where the flamingos were all pink! Of course I’ve seen flamingos in a zoo or other enclosed places but never in their natural habitat. There were literally thousands of them scattered over a few miles! Unfortunately I only had my cell phone with me so my photos weren't too great, and the ones in the background just looked like hundreds of tiny white dots.Today I took my better camera so my flamingo photos were better than yesterday's.

 

3 "layers" of flamingos - ones at horizon are barely visible in photo

I've uploaded a 14 second video that I'm hoping you can see. It's so funny to watch the "dance" they do with their legs when they're feeding. We were told that they are stirring up the mud on the bottom in order to move their food source from the bottom.

After leaving the beach, we were taken to Welwitschia, an area of the Namib Desert where we saw and learned about the Welwitschia plant (their “national” plant) which supposedly survives for up to 2,000 years. They have hard, leather-like leaves and admittedly, they aren't much to look at, but they play a very important role for the wildlife in the desert since it so seldom rains  here. We also visited Dune 5 and of course Ronnie had to climb up the dune. We've seen sand dunes before, but never this much sand in one place. The dunes in the Namib Desert stretch for 20 miles!

Ronnie on left - Dune 5 (navy shirt)

wind pattern on sand

Ronnie looks like a little ant up there!

 

Next we drove over an unpaved highway to get to an area they call Moon landscape - the Badlands of Namibia in the Namib Desert. It is a fascinating area of the desert that is very different from the dunes and is home to much wildlife - springbok, ostrich, klipspringer, different bird species, beetles, etc. The beetles carry the spores between the male and female welwitschia plants to pollinate them.

Moonscape (Badlands)

welwitschia plant

 

female welwitschia

male plant

close up of leaf - welwitschia plant

guide squeezes out water from its leaves

Lastly, we stopped at Namib Woestyn Desert Wuste Park for refreshments and to walk around for a bit. It was a very nice park with restaurant, gift shop, clean restrooms, etc. All in all it was a very enjoyable day.

Namib Park