Walvis Bay, Namibia

Wow, what a way to leave Africa. We left the more modern town of Walvis Bay for a little resort town of Swakopmund to the north not really knowing what to expect except that it was supposed to be nice and Angelina Jolie had one of her babies here or something like that so we though it was worth a check out. What a surprise. Tucked into the desert on the coast was this cool little resort town with good shopping, dining, hotels and B&B's and a great beach. Outside of town are some of the biggest sand dunes you have ever seen and then later we went into the desert for one of the Silver Seas "Events" called "Dinner in the Desert". It was magical.
We drove way out in the desert (seeing a real oasis along the way) until we got to a little canyon with a beautiful view where we had a great dinner with entertainment by the Namibian Youth Choir and some fire dancers/slingers. The night started with a most unusual rainbow just above the canyon walls from a rare rain cloud in this desert during the dry season. I took advantage of the camels that had been brought up from the oasis and took a short camel ride and then the darkness fell and the true majesty of desert fell on all of us as the lights went out and the singers started and the stars could be seen over the canyon walls. It was easily the best night of the trip and left us all with a great impression of Namibia. The raw beauty of the desert is not something we have ever experienced and we look forward to exploring it some more.
Namibia has only been a country a little over 20 years or so but feels to be well on their way to putting over 25 years of civil war and apartheid behind it. We look forward to coming back on our next trip to the south of Africa.Read more