Swakopmund and Walvis bay by Kev.

4.6.2025. We had a shit night, Andrew spewed a couple times, through temps and didn't fall asleep, proper, until after 1am. In the morning, Emma spewed. They're both sick as, but we still need to pack up and move on. We think maybe it was the water in Spitzkoppe, but who knows. We got to Swakopmund and found our next campsite, Tiger reef. We went for a walk, bought everyone except Andrew some new pants. Emma ripped a pair climbing the other day. We found a cafe to have lunch, neither kid ate anything, very crook. We walked back to our campsite and booked a tour, not for tomorrow but for the next day, hopefully the kids will be better by then. We just hung around camp the rest of the day. There's no place to have a fire and it's pretty cold, so hot water bottles were filled and beds occupied. The kids are buggered so there was no arguing about bed.
5.6.2025. Slow day today, we'll go see the crystal museum thing, then the actual museum. Kids aren't eating, bellies are not great still. On the way to the crystal place we stopped and bought Andrew a parker, it's cold and the jumper he has just doesn't cut it. The crystal museum was pretty good, lots of different things to look at, also the world's largest quartz cluster. It's bloody big, 14,100 kilos. There's 4 more too, the next largest weighing 13,000. We bought some stuff, Emma got a necklace and Mel some “gems of Africa”. We walked past a pharmacy and grabbed some medicine for the kids, see if we can speed up the healing. Hunger was setting in, for Mel and I at least. We stopped at a cafe, Andrew and Emma ordered, but that was about it. They both ate hardly anything. Mel and I ate two lunches pretty much. We then went to the museum. It was fairly impressive, with a lot more in it than we thought it would. Andrew can hardly stand and wants to sit whenever we stop. We walked back to the campsite and the kids rested in the tents, reading their kindles. It's warmer in there, and since we walked today and have a tour booked for tomorrow, we don't need to set them up for a couple days, yay. They are rooftop tents and pretty easy, but it still feels like winning. I made dinner, kids didn't eat much of it. Nice hot shower, bit of Netflix and bed.
6.6.2025. We have today all booked out, starting with a boat trip to see dolphins and whales and all sorts of things. Couldn't convince the kids to have any breakfast, hopefully they'll be ok all day. We got picked up at our campsite and driven to Walvis Bay. We then boarded a boat call Mojo, with a bloke named Len. About 2mins into our boat trip we had a seal called Mr Moustache in the boat. This is obviously something that happens all the time, the boat even has a little platform at the back for the seal to jump up onto. Anyway, some pictures were taken, a seal was fed and patted. Like patting a wet dog, less smelly tho. The seal hopped off and we got going again. Next it was a pelicans turn, same thing. Landed in the middle, fed and petted. Ok now we're off to see some stuff. Just before we got going tho, Len asks if anyone wants some coffee? It's 8:30 and it's freezing cold, ken oath I want a coffee, and my hand shoots up. He then proceeds to get out a brand new bottle of, what turned out to be a very nice sherry. Kinda looked coffee ish in the cup. I wish I could remember the name, it did warm us up kinda like a coffee would. We kept going while sipping our sherry. He showed us a bird platform, built years ago to to collect their guano. That's bird poop to the younger reader. Apparently it's going for around $600usd a ton, and they harvest over 600 tonnes a year. It's used for fertiliser and shipped to South Africa and Belgium, he tells us. It's privately owned, I guess you could say they make shit loads from it. Very near the platform we found dolphins, quite a few of them. They swam with us and another boat for a while and we watched them jump and muck around. We had a little break from the excitement, Len got out some refreshments. Soft drinks for the kids and a beer for Mel and I. Im starting to really like Len, he's a top bloke. After that we headed to another spot where we caught glimpses of a humpback whale. While looking for the whale, we saw a smaller species of dolphin. Len said this species was rarer to find, they're about ⅓ the size of the other ones. We caught several glimpses of the whale, then headed towards an area full of seals. Seals everywhere, on the land, in the water. I was sitting on the nose of the boat when we came in. Seals were jumping and swimming all over the place. I videoed them for a bit, when I decided to come back down and join the others I was greeted with a terrific sight. Len had set out some food platters! We tucked in, not the kids, they're still sick. The food was well received. Then Len popped a bottle of sparkling wine. Wey hey Len! We ate, we drank, then Len got out the oysters! Lovely fresh Namibian oysters. Another bottle was opened, and shared around. Just to let you know, there were 4 other people on the boat, it wasn't just Mel and I getting sloshed. Though we had our fair share. The others didn't go much on the oysters either, we made out well there too. After all the food was gone and drinks were done, we headed back. We thanked Len, he'd made it a fun morning with his humour, not just the drinks. We got back on the dock, the lady who picked us up this morning was waiting for us. She led us to our next activity, and 4x4 tour along the coast to Sandwich Harbour. Our first stop was a viewpoint in front of a hotel. The guy said we can use the bathroom in the hotel. It's like he's done this before. At the viewpoint we saw our first flamingos, there was only small amount so far, still early in the season. He told us the whole place fills up with them. We set off with one other car with New Zealanders in it, stopping just outside Walvis bay to have a look at the salt farm and its surrounds. We saw a pink lake, tasted a small runoff river. Pretty bloody salty. Then headed off again. We got amongst the dunes, and made another stop. This time the guys looked for a small native gecko, only found in Namibia. It has no skin pigmentation, so is basically see through. It hunts at night, and stays under the sand during the day. We stopped again a little later and saw at least 8 whales feeding near the shore. When I say near, I mean 150-200metres. We kept going, came across some ostrich and got pretty close before they took off. We made it to the end, Sandwich Harbour, did some dune cruising before stopping on top of a huge dune. The drivers left us there at the top to go set up for our picnic at the bottom. We had a look around, you can see for ages on top of the dunes. We walked/slid down to the cars where some tables were set up. What do ya know, there's glasses of sparkling wine waiting for us. Oh, alright then, if you insist. They had a selection of meats for us to try, I enjoyed the Oryx. The kids had a tiny little bit. We saw some black backed jackals over near a lake. We had a chat, ate and drank, packed up and headed back. I can't remember the guy's name, but he was informative and friendly. Emma fell asleep on the trip back to Walvis Bay. Once there, we got shuttled back to Swakopmund. It was a bloody ripper of a day, I was glad the kids had been ok all day. Even though they hadn't eaten bugger all for the day, it was fun enough to keep them happy all day. Once back to the campsite we rested, then had a hot shower. A little bit of dinner was had by the kids, then off to bed.
7.6.2025. We're off again today, but not very far. We're leaving Swakopmund and heading to Walvis Bay, about 40klms or something like that. No rush this morning, made a small breakfast as the kids are still sick. We got to Walvis Bay and hit the supermarket to stock up a bit, also the ATM. We then found our next stay, a small apartment. Nice and cosy, with a small kitchenette, that'll do. We had a lazy afternoon, kids are skipping their blog for a few days, as they're just not up to it for the moment. Nice hot shower, dinner and bed.
8.6.2025. Breakfast was had, then we headed to the Esplanade. We walked for ages, as it's pretty long. We saw fish and seals, then a small pod of dolphins, which came pretty close to land. We studied jellyfish and small crabs that had washed up on the shore. Starting to get hungry, we headed back towards the car. We then drove to the dock area where all the boat tours kick off and found a restaurant for lunch. Kids had sushi, I had the biggest burger I've seen in a while and Mel had local fish and chips. I definitely know the kids are still crook, they didn't finish their sushi. Mel and I did, was bloody good. After lunch we headed back to the big mall and looked for some gloves. Early start tomorrow to do some quad biking. It's gonna be cold, so we're getting a little more prepared. After that it was time for some schoolwork, games, dinner and bed.
9.6.2025. It's hard to get out of bed when it's cold, but somehow I managed. I dressed in layers today, singlet, 3 shirts, hoodie, 2 pants and my new gloves. Oh yeah, 2 pairs of socks too. We headed off to meet the guy doing the quad bike tour. There was only us and him, 3 quads all up as Emma rode with me and Andrew with Mel. It was a fun, educational trip into the dunes. We saw and learned about some beetles, can't remember their name. We saw 2000 year old footprints, both human and animal, in “fossilized” mud. We learned that scientists have been here and studied them all very thoroughly. He tells us that the dunes are travelling slowly north, the bigger they are the slower they move. As they move they cover things up, they also uncover things. We were shown shallow graves, lots of them. The people that lived here thousands of years ago would bury their dead right where they lived. Often with the ornaments they wore and food in a pot for the journey after. They get exposed as the dunes move, then the winds and sand erode the mud covering them. Eventually, everything will be gone. Sand blasted to nothing. We had fun zooming around the dunes, Emma cackling like an old witch sitting in front of me. Saying “no, no, no” as we dropped off, over the top of a dune, then giggling as we slid down it. I would hit the throttle as we got close to the bottom and hear “weeee”! It was a fun day, we had hoped to see more wildlife, but it was not meant to be. You get what you get with this sort of thing. Nothing in nature is guaranteed. We hopped back in the car and went back to the jetty area for lunch. Tried a new restaurant, and this time I picked something from the sea. A seafood platter. The fish was good, the calamari was bloody brilliant. Washed down with a big glass of Hansa, a local beer, originally brewed in Swakopmund but now in Windhoek. Back to the apartment, coffee and rest. Kids read their kindles before I let them play a bit on their computers. We got Mel into a game the kids like (monster legends), it was nice to see them all interact as they played the same game. Shower, dinner and bed.
10.6.2025. We were not sure what to do today, so we booked another boat tour, this time a bigger catamaran, to see more ocean stuff. Shortly after setting off, we had the obligatory cup of brandy that seems to go with this sort of thing(not complaining). I got 2 cups. We stopped and saw lots of fur seals at Pelican point, should be renamed seal point maybe. We saw lots of the smaller dolphins, dusky dolphins I think, swimming along with the catamaran. We had food, more oysters, yay! Unfortunately, we didn't see any whales. We'd been hoping, being in a bigger boat, we'd see them better. Can't see them if they're not there tho. I had good chat with a group of 4 from the Netherlands. They'd been in Capetown for 5 months studying and were having some fun before heading home. We got back to the dock, drove to the post office to send some postcards, and are now blogging and doing schoolwork in the apartment. Off to a new place tomorrow. Stay tuned!
KevRead more