Today my friend Lynn and I hired a driver to take us to the town of - can you say Swakopmund? (me neither) It was founded by the Germans and there is still a heavy German influence everywhere. Although English is the official language here, there are many tribal languages spoken as well. Our driver was very polite and spoke English although with a heavy accent, which made some of what he said a little difficult to understand.
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He took us to a different area where the flamingos were pink vs white as I had seen the day before. And they were pink - not coral except for underneath their wings. After that we had him take us to Swakopmund. We both loved the town and could have easily spent more time there. It was extremely clean and modern. Much of the architecture, as well as the names of streets and businesses, reflected its German influence. We were back to the ship by 1 p.m. but it was a very nice outing. Lynn and her husband will be getting off the ship in just a few days. We hate to see them go.
I'll just post some photos from the day, as it's late and we need to get up early tomorrow morning. We've had several time changes this past week and we're now 7 hours ahead of our clocks at home.
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| Marine Denkmal |
You can read about it here. https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/namibia-genocide-monuments-reparations-germany
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street vendors offering crafts
sculptures inside shopping area
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| a really cool peacock made from coffee lids and spoons |
We saw other animals made from the same recycled materials. The shops were as nice as any in the U.S.
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| Dune 7 (those are people, not ants!) |
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| camels grazing here and there | |
I apologize for the quality of the photo above but I took it out the car window while whizzing down the highway. Can you see the camels? I would have liked to had time to stop but we were trying to get back to the ship in time for a late lunch.
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| tonight's sunset off our balcony |
Now your blog has me marveling over sand dunes! My apologies for these naive questions > What is it like to climb a dune? Is it exhausting to slog through the sand? Do feet and legs sink into the sand? Is footing firmer at the bottom of dunes but ”softer” at the top? Do dune heights regularly change based on wind storms? How does the height of Dune 5 compare to a multi-story building? Honestly, it almost looked like Ronnie was scaling a mountain!
ReplyDeleteWow! NOT naive questions at all! Let me first say that it's not easy to climb a dune. And much harder for me than for Ronnie, mainly because he's more fit and his legs are stronger. I didn't walk very far up at all (you can see from the photos that he walked much further!) It's definitely easier if you can walk where others have not walked - it's firmer and more packed than sand that has been disturbed and loose. Legs don't sink into the sand but your shoes will. I can't find the height of Dune 5 (the one we were on) but supposedly Dune 7 is the highest sand dune in the world?? And yes, the wind definitely effects the height of the dunes. Here's a few more facts on the Namibia dunes. https://www.onthegotours.com/blog/2018/07/10-interesting-facts-about-the-namib-sand-dunes/ Thanks for following along!
ReplyDeleteBharberts: what a thrilling place. The Germans take their building along where ever they go. Brazil has a totally German town. How hot was the sand in the dunes? I notice you have jackets...it is getting to be autumn there, yes? I wonder that you can keep up with all the time changes etc. Do you see the Southern Cross at night? Is it confusing to see the sky looking so different? Our sermon was on Psalm 8 ... "the moon and stars suspended in space". We miss you and glad you are having fun. Praying for another couple friend for you guys!
ReplyDeleteI love the German towns! So orderly and clean (nothing like we've seen coming down the western coast of Africa)! Re: dunes - We’ve visited large sand dunes in both NM and CO in Summer and Fall and you have to go out very early and be down by 10 a.m. or your feet will blister on the hot sand. Here it was cool in the a.m. (thus the jackets) but surprisingly the sand was not hot. It's getting cooler as we continue sailing south toward Cape Town. You're right - Namibia’s Fall only lasts 2 months – April & May. I have to confess we haven’t looked for the Southern Cross (Ronnie had googled how to find it) but we need to start looking. The sky and sea are so vast – I don’t think we realize how much so when on land! Thank you for your prayers. PS We've had so many time changes even in this past week - it's hard to keep up!
ReplyDeleteWe have sand dune in West Texas. Monahans State Park, Monahans, Texas maintained by Texas Parks and Wildlife near Midland, Odessa. I have been there and it huge.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that! I think I have only been through there one time so had no idea.
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