WALVIS BAY, NAMIBIA

WALVIS BAY, NAMIBIA

APRIL 4, 2014

 

Walvis Bay means “Whale Bay” in Afrikaans and this deep-water harbor was long known as a stopover for whaling vessels along the Southern Atlantic coast between Cape Town to the south and Windhoek to the north.  The town became part of the English Cape Colony (a portion of what’s now South Africa) after World War I and when Namibia gained its independence, remained in limbo until it was ‘given’ back to Namibia by South Africa in 1990.  Today, Walvis Bay continues to grow based on its shipping, fishing and salt processing industries, which draw on the Walvis Bay salt fields producing 400,000 tons of salt a year.

 

Further down the coast the dramatic dunes of the Namib Desert meet the sea. The largest dune, called Dune 7 because it is seven kilometers from Walvis Bay, is 156 meters high.  It is a place of recreation for the locals.  They climb up the sand and then run back down.  The sand is so hot from the sun.

 

To the north the German colonial town of Swakopmund gives insight into the region’s past.

 

Next we head out to sea for three days to a small island in the Atlantic called Saint Helena.

Dune 7-Where people come to climb the hill

Rent-a-Camel instead of a car!

Flamingos

Namib Desert