Walvis Bay, Namibia (Day 2 of 2)

No excursion for us today because we wanted a laid back day strolling around the quaint city of Swakopmund which we remember fondly from our 2018 trip here. We hired a driver to take us there and meet us later to bring us back to the port. He was a lovely Namibian guy named Andreas.

As we were driving along the highway, sand dunes on either side, Andreas asked whether we knew why some of the dunes looked dirty. We told him we didn’t and he said he’d explain it to us. A few kilometres later, when a dirty dune was near the side of the road he pulled over and took a baggie with a small black thing in it and jumped out of the van, telling us to follow him. When we reached the dirty dune, he explained that the black thing was a magnet and wiped it over the sand. The baggie-covered magnet was now encrusted with black things: magnetite. It’s an iron that never rusts. So interesting!

We then carried on to Swakopmund and we wandered around until he picked us up in the afternoon. It’s a charming city with lovely shops and cafes. The weather is cooler here, around 19 degrees, so really pleasant.Read more