Antarctica to Zimbabwe – Day 72 – Sossusvlei to Swakopmund can be found here.
Another relaxed start to the day, with a 7 am breakfast at Organic Stay Guesthouse:
It’s a continental breakfast with a few hot options, which works well for us – we’re able to get in and out quickly. We particularly enjoyed their fresh-baked bread, croissant and pretzels. They also have a proper espresso maker, which is always appreciated.
The bus from Ocean Adventures arrives ten minutes in advance of our 8 am departure. A few of the other families from the guesthouse are also being picked up and arrive a few minutes late, but we’re still on the road soon after 8 am. We stop at another nearby hotel to shuffle everyone around depending on who is on which boat.
Off to Walvis Bay – about a 30 minute drive, after which we wait around a bit longer while we wait for the credit card terminal to arrive. It gives us time to admire the harbour and the wildlife – including the cormorants:
We board the catamaran soon after 9 am. Here is a rushed photo which we took while dashing to get a good seat:
This arriving / paying / waiting process was perhaps the least organized part of the tour. The guide kept telling people to wait while payment processing was underway, while people started edging toward the boat so they could get the seats they wanted.
I was initially concerned that there wouldn’t be enough room, but we have no trouble getting a spot right up front.
We set sail, and are soon joined by Charlie:
Normally we’re against any kind of undue human interaction with wild animals, but Charlie is one of the rescued Cape fur seals that live in the area. Ocean Adventures works with a local rehabilitation centre to help ensure that the rescued animals in the area are being treated appropriately.
There are four seals who have been released who have feeding difficulties and so there are a few boats that are allowed to supplement their diet with extra fish.
And our kids get to fulfill one of their dreams – to hug a fur seal.
We’re also visited by another rescued animal – a pelican dubbed Justin Bieber.
He’s quite entertaining to watch, but he’s also very persistent (and messy), so we’re not disappointed when it’s time for him to depart.
We continue out into the bay, passing a shipwreck as we go:
Rather than removing these derelict vessels, they are left both to provide a type of tourist attraction and to act as a habitat for birds and other creatures.
Next we make a brief stop to visit some of the oyster farms in the area.
The water is too cold for oysters to breed naturally, so they initially develop in warmer water tanks before being moved to the bay. Our guide claims they are some of the finest oysters in the world, and the meatiest. I’m not enough of an oyster expert to say how they rank, but they are nice and meaty.
The seals seem to like them too:
Beyond the oysters, the staff also serves beer, soft drinks, water, and some small snacks including samosas and small sandwiches. All very tasty.
We then head off to visit one of the bay’s seal colonies.
There are apparently a hundred thousand seals in the area. Some pick this moment to put on a show:
While the colony itself is abuzz with life:
Not sure I’d want to kayak through seal soup, but to each their own:
We then near the end of the bay in the hopes of spotting some dolphins. There are plenty of seals:
Including some that are tossing a fish and smacking it against the water to break it into bite-size pieces:
It’s amazing to watch. One of our fellow passengers is a Namibian guide, and says it’s the first time he’s seen that in thirty years of guiding.
Then we luck out – we spot Benguela dolphins!
They swim around and under the boat for a while, but I only manage the one photograph.
Though we spot some jellyfish, too:
Sparkling wine and oysters are handed about, then we begin the slow cruise back to the harbour.
We pass some interesting sights as we go:
Including another derelict vessel:
And some cormorant chicks:
We return to the harbour at 12:30 pm, a little more than three hours after we initially set out. Back into the shuttle and another brief shuffle as some of the travellers depart on their combo tours, then we return to Swakopmund.
The entire excursion runs about five and a half hours in total – long enough that we get plenty of time with the seals, but not too long for the kids. We’d recommend it to anyone visiting Swakopmund or Walvis Bay.
We have lunch back at our family suite – there’s a full kitchen, which makes it easy to reheat our leftover pizza from Gabriel’s.
I take a brief nap and there’s a little bit of time for blogging and homework, then we head down to the seaside.
We start by getting the kids some soft serve:
Four cones for USD$3. I could get used to this.
Then we wander down the boardwalk, enjoying the town and the sight of the pounding waves.
No swimming here, as one might imagine.
But you can find a fine German cake:
We head down to the end of the pier, which offers a stunning view of town:
And of the nearby dunes:
Then we head back to have dinner at the Tug Restaurant. There are no tables available on their website, but our Namibia Experience guide Ewald was thankfully able to get us a 5 pm reservation with the understanding that we would be done by 6:45 pm:
My son has a hamburger:
My wife has tuna and rice:
And I have the seafood platter:
It’s way too much food, but very tasty.
We sit down with Ewald to go over the next few days worth of activities. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, as we drive to the Cape Cross seal colony, and then on to the Twyfelfontein cave paintings and then the Damaraland museum. We’ll stop at Malanrus Tented Camp for one night before carrying on to Etosha.
It’s here that we realize an issue – apparently Namibia Experience has us doing game drives with our guide Ewald as opposed to the local safari lodges.
This may pose a problem for a few reasons – first, a closed-in safari vehicle isn’t really suitable for game drives. You can’t see as much, and it’s much more difficult to take photos. Second, Ewald’s Land Cruiser has really struggled to keep up with the heat, and none of us want to be stuck inside a hot safari vehicle when there’s an open-air option.
Ewald agreed to contact the lodges to book us game drives, but we need to decide whether we’re going to raise this with the higher-ups at Namibia Experience. Is it a game drive if it’s done in a closed-in vehicle? Is it reasonable to expect us to go on game drives in a vehicle with marginal air conditioning?
The cost of the additional game drives will likely be an extra USD$1,000 to $1,500 total. Not cheap, but we’re also getting extra value from the change.
But the big question will be whether the game drives will be available at all, as we are travelling during the Easter long weekend and the UK, South Africa and Namibia school breaks– so if there’s ever a time when they’ll be booked up, it’s now.
They joys of extended travel. There’s no question it’s been a fantastic trip, but some days are more challenging than others.
In any case, time to return to the Organic Stay Guesthouse and pack our bags – we’re out on the road bright and early tomorrow at 7:30 am.
Continue reading Antarctica to Zimbabwe – Day 74 – Swakopmund to Damaraland.