Swakopmund – by Nina

Today we hired a car to drive to Swakopmund.

The English arrived at West Africa, later known as Namibia, a long time ago. They built a trading port but they didn’t do anything else.

Then the Germans arrived.  They decided that they would colonize West Africa.  They just needed to ask the English their permission, because they were there first.  The English agreed and the Germans built a whole lot of towns including Swakopmund.  Walvis Bay was the English port and Swakopmund was just near it.  Walvis Bay has really boring, dull architecture but Swakopmund has some lovely old buildings.

To get to Swakopmund we had to go past a large township.

Then we had to go through the desert.

Then we found a tourist shop were you could go on camel rides, Dad stopped to take some photos.

And I got to pat one!

At Swakopmund it was easy to find German architecture though not all of it was very decorative

There was a few nice churches.

There was a nice hotel in town and we went inside to look at it. It turned out that it used to be the old railway station.

There were some lovely street corners in Swakopmund. This building is modern.

Then we went to a place that tells you about all about stones found in Namibia.

They had some nice stones there.

We came across a lovely old building with Atlas straining to hold up the world on top of it

Then Zeke tried to hold up the world and Atlas.

Then we took a photo of a woman in traditional dress.

Then we went home, but on the way home we decided to stop and walk up a dune

Dad just loved the view from on top.

We found there was a slip-face on the other side

Then we had great fun running and jumping down the slip-face.

Then we went home through the sand.

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Our Dune Trip – by Zeke

Early this morning we set off on a high speed quad bike tour of the desert, and the guide forced a bit more cotton wool out of our heads.  If I was to wear a crash helmet on our quad bike tour of the desert, my unruly hair would cover my eyes – so I started my day with a hair-cut.  

Our guide Fanni picked us up at 8:30 and took us to the starting point of the tour.  At his office Fanni gave us a brief history of the past 2,000 years of the local area. He told us an oasis had existed due to the fact that a river ran down from the rocky plateau to the north of Walvis Bay.  This river supplying the water to the oasis created an incredible natural barrier holding the desert back. This oasis filled with animals of every kind ranging from lions and leopards to moles and rats and also a tribe called the Topnaars who lived off the sea.

Science can tell us that around a thousand years a go the water that came down from the highlands stopped, and also the wind that drove the desert north stopped.  As a consequence the oasis dried up leaving a desert of sand dunes.  Most of the animals left and a few humans remained to live off the dessert and the sea.

Now that we were up to date on the history of the area we went outside where Fanni explained the workings of the quad bikes before heading out on to the desert where the oasis had flourished two thousand years ago (guess what? no helmets).

Dad and Nina who can just be seen coming down a well worn slip face.

Dune beetles who collect there water from fog that comes in from the sea.

Fanni giving us pointers for the next bit where you drive down a rather steep bit then have to go fast up the a dune only a short way in front.

The view from the top of a dune. 

Semi-fossilized foot prints left by a Topnaars when the rain made the dirt turn into mud which then hardens. 

A fossil animal track made by an elephant.

Fossilised hyena foot prints.

Our steeds wait patiently inline.

This insect fertilizes one of the few dessert plants by carrying pollen between the male and female plants. This plant also makes an edible fruit that the Topnaars eat

A Topnaar midden.

A knife made from bone.

A Topnaar skull preserved by the mud.

This skull is not as normal as it seems, it does not have any seams where the bone has knitted after birth.

A clay pot which was used by the Topnaars for cooking.

An impala. 

Coming down a slip face. This face is called a slip face because it is so steep the sand just slides right down it after being blown up the far side.

Me having a good roaring along.

Me shifting my weight to one side to avoid rolling as I drive along the sand dunes

From closest to furthest. Mum, Me and Fanni

Moments later in the same order.

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The Desert – by Gary

Most of the land around Lüderitz is part of a very large area called the ‘Sperrgebeit’, the ‘forbidden area’ where because of its diamond mineralization entry is strictly regulated.  Tourists are warned that the boundaries are patrolled by some fairly ruthless characters and that jail terms or worse await those who disregard the regulations.  We hired a car and drove around the Lüderitz Peninsula, the one area close by that lies outside of the ‘Sperrgebeit’.

It’s ‘nothingness’ makes it difficult to photograph in the harsh midday light

We counted ourselves really lucky to spot this Black Backed Jackal quite close to us.

Some of the remarkable desert adapted plant life.

View to Halifax Island – we could see a large penguin rookery and the (presumed?) remains of an old guano mining industry.  African Fur Seals were swimming in the channel.

A really healthy saltmarsh with wading flamingos in the mid-ground.

Back in closer to town, lush pasture growing on the outfall from the sewage treatment plant attracts lots of game – here an Oryx.

Huge mobile dunes to the north of town.

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Kolmannskuppe – by Gary

Not far inland from Lüderitz is the ‘ghost town’ of Kolmannskuppe.  Diamond mining in Namibia followed a familiar trajectory: starting with individual prospectors staking out and working claims it quickly, with assistance from government, became highly corporatised and monopolized (hello Mr DeBeers).  Kolmannskuppe was a major company town and centre of mining activity, that is until the focus shifted further south towards the mouth of the Orange River.  The last residents left in 1956 and the abandoned town is now a premier tourist attraction.

Namib dunes sweep through the ‘executive housing’ belt.  This was the house of the company’s accountant 

An exceedingly elegant pad huh?.

The desert slowly encroaches the more down market school masters house.

Thousands of tonnes, a slow, inexorable ocean, engulfs the 200 bed hospital.

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