Are we still in Africa?

An overdue update on our journey to Swakopmund - a town on the coast of Namibia. Kirin, my nephew, kept asking in the 4-hr drive to Swakop, "are we still in Africa"? After about the 5th time, I had to break it to him, that, at least for the next 2 years, all his travel will still be in Africa. Don't think that sunk in. Last night, we went for a walk in the 'hood, and at the top of a hill, you get a beautiful view of the city...and he was like..."wow..is that Waterloo?" (as in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada). sigh.

But back to Swakop. It's almost like walking into a movie set (Pleasantville?) - felt like I was in an old european town - quiant little houses in nice organized rows, painted soft colours of yellow, peach, sky blue..white trim, big clean streets (seriously, some of the neigbourhood streets were as wide as a 4 lane highway). There were old German couples walking hand in hand, strolling through the streets, an old German dude with an old german-y kind of hat on an old school bike...I found myself wondering if I had packed my pair of leederhosen (I had not). And then I asked my sister, "So, are we still in Africa"?

My bro-in-law found us a goregous 3-bedroom aparment with a view of the ocean - the place was decked out, in that european/south african kinda chic. The food here echos the german colonial architecture...plain and bland. Sorry..not a fan of schnitzel anything. On our first night in Swakop my sister ordered some rendition of cordon bleu...and we decided it looked like coagulated vomit. Overall, my experience with food here has been extaordinarily bland (I'm so craving some vietnamese food with my beloved sriracha).



Anyways, the highlight of Swakop was actually what was just 10min outside of the city - the sand dunes! The dunes just extend off the Atlantic ocean - its quite incredible to see Ocean, beach, then piles and piles of sand dunes. There's something quite calming having your feet sunk in cold sand, and turning your head every which way to see mounds of beige sand. We went to Dune 7 - just outside of Walvis Bay (a port city just south of Swakop). Dune 7 is supposed to be one of the biggest dunes in the Namib desert (and of the highest in the world) ~over 1200ft tall . And believe me..it is hard to climb these things...the boys had not problem at all, but man...every step you take, you sink in to past your ankle..so your calves (and lungs) get quite a work out. But the view from the top is incredible. Just walking along a peak is amazing..and you can easily get vertigo since the peak is so narrow, but if you fall...where you going to go? You'll just sink in the sand on either side.


Apparently you can go four-wheeling and sand-boarding, but we didn't get a chance to. I don't know about 4-wheeling, but I'd like to try out sand-boarding the next time I'm out there. There's a bit of eco-controversy with the 4-wheeling and heavy trafficking of cars..I didn't know, but all the tracks cause great ecological dammage - something to do with Lichens sensitivity to all the track pressure. Who would have thought? I always assumed, its a dune..the wind will cover up the tracks afterwards.



By the way - it was unbelievably cold there. The Atlantic currents brought in quite the cold and foggy weather. So it was weird to be in the desert, but with a light sweater on. Oh..and so far, every river I've seen in Namibia has been dry. Dry dry dry. The running joke here: 'What do you do when you fall into a river in Namibia?...Get up and dust yourself off'.


Anywho..the second day in the desert was spent hunting for desert animals - snakes, gekos, spiders, oh my! this was obviously a highlight for my nephews...but made me think...why on earth did I spend all day yesterday barefoot walking in the dunes..

Sand Diving Lizard on my ear...latest fashion trend ladies...

Anyways...I think that's all for now about Swakop..stay tuned for more on my work and cultural observations...

ciao ciao!