Today was once again a travel day, across some amazing landscape of the Namib Desert, across the Tropic of Capricorn, through the Kuiseb Canyon and out once again to the Atlantic Ocean at Walris Bay.
Early on in the day, 3 giraffe were spotted in the desert! It wasn’t expected that we’d see them in this area. It was actually hilarious since everyone was trying to scramble to get out cameras, get windows on the truck down, and give advice to Sandile as to where to stop the truck. And the giraffe weren’t in a hurry to go anywhere. In fact they moved in to a crossed neck position, a very common giraffe pose, for us.
Sandile pulled over for us at one point to have a closer look at this huge “growth” in one of the Acacia Trees. This is one of the largest Social Weaver’s nest we’ve seen. These little Sparrow-like birds build their nests collectively from grasses and it builds and builds. This one is likely 15 – 20 years old. Underneath you see the individual entrances.
Part of the way from Sesriem to our destination was a remote little town, appropriately called Solitare. A fellow, Mr. McGregor, now deceased, recognized there was an opportunity because there weren’t any services between these two spots. We stopped for gas, toilet break and to try our second version of Apple Cake. The consensus was that this one had a better filling, but the crumble wasn’t as good as the original and the overall winner was the first. We also discussed how weird it was that we were actually in Namibia comparing apple cakes! 
Somewhat further along we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn which was not at all exciting for the Australians but was for those of us from the northern hemisphere. Out in front of the group picture is our guide Innocent. One of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Kind, gentle but firm. “Happy Days” is his favourite expression.
We travelled through the Gamsberg Pass, and stopped at the top for this lookout into the Kuiseb Canyon which was not very visually pretty but really interesting from a geological perspective. The Kuiseb River is nothing more than a dry, sandy river bed most of the time, but it does get filled up for a couple of weeks during the rainy season and flows from the capital city of Windhoek out to the ocean at Walris Bay.
It was so great to get back to the Atlantic, but a bit of a shock to the system since the temperatures were quite a lot lower and it was foggy and overcast. Just outside the industrial city of Walris Bay, we passed by the site of what will be the largest uranium mine in the world when it’s completed. In Walris Bay we did some shopping and stopped at a park by the ocean for our picnic lunch of barbecue chicken and salad. There were flamingos in the bay, but they were different than the ones I’d seen in Florida and other places. They weren’t as pink except under their wings.
Then it was on to the beach and activity capital of Namibia, Swakopmund. We stopped in at an activity centre that offered various things to do from desert tours to skydiving. Most of the group decided to go ATVing in the sand dunes. Meron did the desert tour and Nanci and I opted to do nothing, I should mention at this point that at least half of the people on the bus have succumbed to a cold. And one has had stomach flu. Nanci got the cold before me but I followed shortly thereafter. It started in my head, but has progressed to my lungs. Seems everyone’s progression is a little bit different. I’m not suffering as much as many are and I was healthy for the part of the tour requiring a lot exertion. I have slept as well as I usually do, which always helps. So hope by tomorrow I’m back to normal.
Lois' Adventures 