LUDERITZ and WALVIS BAY NAMIBIA …. RICH MINERALS

So we left Cape Town and began our trip north up the west side of Africa. We now have our security team back on board … the 4 guys that are suppose to defend us against Pirates. Soooo… not looking for any action but counting on them if we do. Stay tuned …

We are heading to South Africas’ northwest neighbor … Namibia … I thought it was NAMBIA … but after hearing the name and looking at the spelling more closely … it’s NA MIB IA. Again a country we know nothing about … let alone able to pronounce. Namib means “land of open spaces” … the people are referred to as Namibians. ( Easy to remember since it Rhymes with Amphibians )

Namibia is approximately 320,000 square miles. ( About the size of Texas and New Mexico combined …. with 2.5 million people … making it the lowest population density in Africa. ( About 8 people per square mile ). It is located in the southwest side of the continent and is the driest country in Sub Sahara Africa. ( Sub Sahara is any country south of Egypt… I didn’t even know Egypt was in Africa 😂 )

The low population is due to its’ vast coastal desert. The “Namib” … 80 million years old … the world’s most ancient desert.

Basically it comes right to the oceanfront … It is not too often we pull up in a ship and land on a desert. It definitely feels counterintuitive.

But onto its’ history … the “necessary evil” … needed at least for me to understand anything about a country. And it turns out their history is like a “bad soap opera.”

Discovered in 1486 …. by the same Portuguese Explorer ( Bartolomeu Dias ) that “discovered” Cape of Good Hope. He briefly touched on the coast of Namibia enroute to Cape Town. But like South Africa … nothing happened until the mid 1800’s … with the start of Colonization. The Brits … who had taken Cape Town ( Known then as the Cape of Good Hope ) … looked further North and decided it “DID NOT” want Namibia … but it “DID WANT” Walvis Bay … a port located right in the middle of the coastline.

So in 1878 the port was annexed to the Brits. The Brits weren’t stupid …. they just basically took whatever they wanted. Walvis Bay ( Whale Bay ) was appealing because of its’ natural harbor … a safe haven for sea vessels because of its’ deep water and abundant marine life … drawing a large number of whales. Today it is the largest coastal city in Namibia.

In 1886 the Germans picked up the leftovers … naming it “South West Africa.” But like all the other colonizations … it didn’t go to well … by 1904 local resistance started against the Germans.

In response … the Germans killed 75,000 people … latter acknowledged as genocide …. apologizing to Namibia in 2021. (Those Germans seem to be pretty good at killing people. ) The Germans were ousted from the country in 1915 but left a significant Germanic imprint on the country.

So next comes “South Africa” to the rescue … gaining approval by the League of Nations “to govern South West Africa.” It was suppose to be temporary … 40 years later … ( temporary???? ) … by the 1970’s the people of Namibia demanded their freedom and the UN pressured South Africa to terminate the mandate … finally giving them their independence.

In 1968 “South West Africa” was named “Namibia” but it took another 20 years before South Africa actually agreed to their independence. So March 21, 1990 is Namibias’ Independence Day. And after ALMOST 200 YEARS they finally got back Walvis Bay. ( GOOD GRIEF )

So with all that behind us … we made stops at the two ports of Namibia. First … the southern most port … Luderitz … followed by Walvis Bay. Luderitz was named for a German merchant who founded Germanys’ first colony … “South West Africa” in 1883. He must like to see his name in lights … he has a city in Germany also named after him … the two Luteritzs’… Germany and Namibia … are referred to as “twin cities.”

In 1908, long after Luteritz died … Diamonds were discovered while installing the railroad … bringing wealth and an influx of people to the area. The mine is still in operation today.

So I was not sure what to expect … but as we pulled into the port … it looked like a pile of rocks. ( Maybe the pile they sifted through for Diamonds ). Luderitz turns out to be the transition point to the Nambid Desert. The area looked neat and clean with lots of sand and rock and the bluest skies I’ve ever seen.

Given Namibia does not have a lot of people .. nor highly industrialized … I wondered if this was what a sky would look like before we humans came along and crapped up the air. This air smelled amazing …

The German influence … very apparent right away … interesting since they did not have the country for that long. Many of the houses look like European homes … with German names of streets, cafes and markets.

German is still recognized as a national language though as of 1990 English is the “official” language. With the colonial influence the religion is primarily Christian ( 80% ) … lots of churches.

The town was charming but very quiet … I was told everyone was working but there were the typical street vendors selling their wares …

… practical items …. not tourist stuff … definitely not a shopping destination.

So time to leave this quaint rocky costal village and head to the Namib Desert … our next port Walvis Bay …

… a beautiful landscape with incredible sand dunes.

Namibia … known for some of the richest uranium reserves … provides 10% of the world’s supply … having some of the largest Mines.

Our Tour Guide does not seem to be to happy about the Uranium mining … she thinks alot goes to China secretly in the middle of the night. Not sure what to make of that … but supposedly there are up to 40,000 Chinese Laborers in the area without work permits.🤷🏼‍♀️. I am not touching this subject with a 10’ pole … I want to make it to the end of the cruise alive.

The area is also also known for its’ salt mines … “Walvis Bay Salt Holdings”… the largest producers of solar salt. ( Finer Grain Salt )

Producing 1 million tons of salt a year … used mostly for industrial purpose. We didn’t hear anything concerning about the salt.😜

We did see salt trucks on the road …. but there were very few cars … only the occasional transport trucks and our Tour Bus.

Everyone got their selfie with the incredible sand dunes as a backdrop and then we headed to another “one of those” gem galleries …

I must say coming from this area they did have some incredible stones … thank god no-one was chasing us around the showroom trying to make a sale.

Then off to a museum to learn about the German History of the area … I’ve already covered more than anyone would ever want to know … But before going back to the ship we had to stop to see the flamingos … they like to flock around the lagoon near the ship where there is some pretty good food.

If this Jackal has it his way … they will be dinner.

And now … heading back to the ship for my dinner.

This is a part of the world I knew absolutely nothing about …. Walvis Bay is very impressive and very important to Namibias’ future. It is a key logistical port for Africa with an abundance of natural resources … including newly discovered oil in 2022. ( No wonder why Britain and South Africa held on to it for so long ). And they recognizes its potential … investing in the infrastructure to continue its’ growth … a new cargo port in 2020 and an expanded international airport in ‘24. They already have the best WI-FI ( line speed )… by far … of any country we have been. (Who would have thunk ??? )

Namibia looks like it has a bright future. It is the safest country on the west side of Africa .. an affluent country by African standards … the third wealthiest … just slightly behind South Africa. But like so many countries … the wealth is very divided … ( the “haves”and the “have nots” ) …. In this case the division is more harsh … “wealth” and “true poverty.” Hopefully with the investments they are making they will figure out how to “share the wealth” of their “rich minerals” in the not too distant future.

NEXT STOP … DAY 163 … SAO TOME