The ship’s fog horn sounded regularly throughout the night until we finally made port this morning. Visibility was a “0” when we went to breakfast and although our table was next to a window, it didn’t matter because we couldn’t see a thing looking out. However, soon after we docked around 10 a.m. the sun came out and it was a gorgeous day! The weather was a chilly 53 degrees with an expected high of 61 degrees.
Namibia required a face to face passport inspection. That's fine, but their website was down so no one could turn in the necessary paperwork. Then (not enough) passport people came on board the ship. Everyone who was going to get off the ship waited in a very long line in order to get their paperwork approved so that they could disembark. Through no fault of Oceania, the whole thing turned into a huge mess. We ended up standing in line over an hour, making us almost an hour late in getting off the ship.
Our tour today involved first driving about 30 minutes to Swakopmund, a charming coastal town known for its German colonial architecture. We made a quick stop at the Swakopmund Hotel, which originally had been the train station.
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| Swakopmund Hotel |
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| back view of Swakopmund Hotel |
The swimming pool behind the hotel is where the train tracks and open platform area for the historic 1902 German Railway Station were once located.
Next we were off to the Mondesa Township Market. We stopped at a food sellers table and our guide took the time to explain what everything was. In addition to the vegetables that we all recognized, he showed us dried catfish, seal oil, different kinds of seeds and bambara nuts (raw and cooked), millet, dried wild spinach, tiny red peppers (hot!) and caterpillars. Yes, you read that right.
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| our guide (dried fish) |
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| seal oil in recycled bottles |
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| bambara nuts, catepillars |
From there we drove to visit Mama Erika’s house for what was called a “cultural learning conversation”. There are 2 main tribes in Swakopmund, and she is of the Ovahereo tribe. Before arriving, our guide taught us the "hello" and "goodbye" handshakes. After our greetings, he acted as our interpreter and let each of us ask her a question. She is 77 years old and lives in the small house her mother lived in with some of her children and grandchildren – 3 generations living under one roof.
When Mama Erika was through answering our questions, someone asked if she had any questions for us. She wanted to know about us, so basically we just went around the circle and told her a little bit about ourselves. After that, anyone who wanted to could have their picture taken with her. By the way, she is compensated by the cruise line for hosting us.
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| Mama Erika explains traditional headwear that is worn beginning at puberty |
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| photo op with Mama Erika |
After visiting Mama Erika, we drove to the DRC settlement to visit Maro Wilma’s house of the Nama Tribe to learn about his calling as a traditional medicine man. He is basically someone in the community who uses things found in nature to help alleviate certain physical ailments.
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| medicine man |
According to our guide, these traditional medicine people are “called” at birth and learn the trade as they are growing up from an older relative. Their spirituality is often tied to ancestors and they believe this gift runs in families. They claim to have visions and be able to see into the future. He is currently training his niece who he believes has "the calling".
He
showed us probably a dozen or so different wild plants that he had
found and dried, and told us what each is used for. I don't
remember all of
them but they ran the gamut from dried aloe vera to dried hyena dung. Yes,
that’s
what I said. He passed the various bottles and jars around for us to see
and smell (?) as he talked about
each of them.
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| desert "medicines" including dried hyena dung (R) |
After showing us his herbs and such, he gave us a Click language lesson. I confess it was very distracting as he kept inserting these loud “clicks” throughout his sentences as he spoke. Apparently there are 4 different “click” sounds that they make and each has its own meaning.
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| giving us our "click" lesson |
From there we drove past many ramshackle villages (built with whatever materials one might find and piece together) which he referred to as "the settlement". Then we were taken to new housing developments that have been built by their government. The original plan was to build over 3,000 houses but Covid brought construction to a dead halt; therefore hundreds of houses are empty shells waiting to be completed.
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| hundreds of houses stand unfinished |
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| inside one of hundreds of unfinished houses |
One, two and three bedroom houses are being built. Family size is not a consideration; rather they are available based on income (the more money you have, the better the chance of a 3 bedroom and the less you have, you will get a 1 bedroom). We went inside one of many that had been sitting unfinished for several years.
Our last stop was Tandikes Kitchen for a traditional food tasting. It was probably 2:30 by that time and no one had eaten lunch. That is the only explanation I can think of why some in our group gobbled down everything that was served. We were offered beer, cold wild spinach, cold millet porridge, cold mashed beans and yes, cold caterpillars. There were napkins but no flatware. It was all to be eaten with the hands. L to R: mashed beans, porridge, wild spinach, caterpillar
Call us sissies but we did not taste the caterpillars; however the older couple from Poland who sat across from us gobbled them down like we would chips and salsa!
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| not even with tomatoes & onions |
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| surprise entertainment as we ate |
I videoed the guys who came in and sang several songs to us. They were really good, and I regret that this blog site won't allow me to share one of their tunes.
After "eating" we drove past miles and miles of desert. The vast Namib Desert is the oldest desert in the world. Though we were running late and stopping on the dunes was not planned, our guide insisted we take a quick walk up the dunes before heading back to the ship. That sums up our day in Namibia, but I will post some random photos at the bottom.
A few other photos from the day....
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| Medicine Man's powder puff compact |
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| cell tower rises high above government houses awaiting completion |
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| my footprints |
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| local children |
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| came ride, anyone? |
And my favorite of the day....
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| Mama Erika's granddaughter |
