Fishing and Kayaking in Swakopmund

Went fishing again while here in Swakopmund with Terrence Clark our favorite guide. Caught a number of sharks from three different species: Bronzee, Spotted Gully Shark, a muscle Shark. Caught so many cob that we’ve been eating it for the past three days. Delicious stuff. Forgot to put sun screen on our feet—this is surf fishing so of course one is on the beach with his toes exposed----and even though it was overcast most of the day, the top of Reid’s feet got so burnt they’re blistering. Annie had a blast chasing waves again and examining each catch with the eye of a scientist. I even gave it a go for a while, but didn’t have the stamina to stay with the 2.24 m, 75 kg Bronzee that was on the other end of the line.

Today we did the Kayak Tour of Walvis Bay. It was a bit disappointing because we didn’t get to see any dolphins nor whales. We did see loads of flamingos and those stinky cape fur seals again. It was a bit chilly and we had an early start of it so the girls complained about being cold. Augustus manned his kayak alone and did manage to get the hang of it by the end. Annie and I were paired and we just kind of took it slow. We did have fun paddling about in the bay and saw tons and tons of jelly fish—apparently a by-product of global warming and over fishing.

Our guide was a young fellow named François duToit. The duToit family name can be found throughout South Africa and Namibia. The first duToit to arrive back in the mid-1600’s were fleeing religious persecution as they were Huguenots (Protestants) seeking a better life outside of war ravaged Catholic France. It was a bit strange chatting with him since there are virtually no vestiges of French culture left among the family who’ve been so totally assimilated into the lifestyle of Southern Africa. We in Louisiana are rather proud of our French heritage and work hard at trying to preserve it………

Tommy's Living Desert Tours

Went out into the Namib with Tommy Collard of Tommy’s Living Desert Tours. It was truly like being on NatGeo Wild or Animal Planet. Tommy drove this souped up LandRover through the dunes that end at the edge of the city of Swakopmund. He reads the “Bushman Newspaper” i.e. the faint tracks in the sand to locate all of these fascinating creatures that inhabit the seemingly desolate Namib Desert, the world’s oldest. When he spots something, he jumps out of the Rover and starts digging like a rabid dog and pulls up such interesting beasties as a Fitzsimmons Burrowing Skink, or a sand-diving Lizard or the Palmato Gecko. The Namaqua Chameleon was the most appealing of the bunch and sat in everyone’s hands very obediently. He even ate mealie worms right out of Tommy’s lips. I did get a bit frightened when Tommy fished a Peringuey’s Adder (sidewinder, yes exceedingly venemous) out of one of the desert bushes and started handling it very close to the girls. The girls were un-fazed and of course Emma volunteered to hold everything—not in the least bit squeamish. Tommy said she was one tough little girl. She sure enjoyed the “adulation.” We had a terrific time, learned loads about the Namib and flat out enjoyed going over the dunes. It’s definitely an excursion everyone who visits Swakopmund should undertake.

Cape Cross

We are spending our last weeks in Namibia in Swakopmund. We thought that would be an appropriate Grand Finale to our Namibian Adventure. We arrived on Saturday to stay in our favorite beach house in Vineta. Vineta is a nice neighborhood located at the northern part of the city. On our way, Karin, the woman who keeps an eye on the place texted us to tell us, “the geyser has given up the ghost!” The geyser, by the way is the hot water tank, so when we arrived, the repair people were on their way to install a new tank, I mean geyser. I’m always tickled when I hear such expressions. Not to worry, they didn’t bother us as we made our way to the supermarket and most importantly, THE BEACH. Love being able to say we’re spending a week at the beach in the middle of December.
Swakopmund, although situated at the edge of the Namib desert is usually always cool. This is why people vacate Windhoek in droves to come here during the summer stickiness. The Benguela current is responsible for the cool westerly breeze that characterizes the area and the chilly, chilly water. The Benguela rises up from Antarctica. Frequently, the rising cool air off of the ocean colliding with the desert warmth will produce a heavy fog that shrouds everything in greyness and it was indeed one of those grey days when we arrived. Sunday also presented itself in the same manner, so we headed up the coast to Cape Cross to see the seal colony. By afternoon though, the fog had burned off and it turned out to be quite marvelous.
Cape Cross is noted as being one of the first places that Europeans ever set foot in Southern Africa. Diogo Cao, a famous Portuguese seaman, erected a cross here in honor of John I of Portugal. The cross was later “appropriated” by the Germans who recognized its historical value and now it sits in some German museum back in Europe. The cross that currently resides there is a replica. We took pictures of it anyway since we’ll probably never make it to Germany to see the real thing.
What makes Cape Cross interesting , though, is that it is home to the largest population of Cape Fur Seals in the world: 80,000-100,000 at any given time. Cape Fur Seals are actually a type of sea lion according to scientists. The way they can tell is that they have visible ears, whereas true seals do not. The females give birth in late November and early December, so we got to see the pups: thousands upon thousands of seal pups. The stench emitted by all of these clustered mammals is indescribable. The combination of ammonia smell from the excrement along with rotting carcasses of pups which have perished due to abandonment, sickness or trampling cannot be conveyed by mere words. This combined with the awful bellowing of mothers who have misplaced their pups or pups who’ve misplaced their mothers or big bulls trying to make themselves seen and heard is truly something that can only be appreciated if experienced firsthand. We managed to withstand it for about a half hour.
There is a picnic area within the reserve, but we were too grossed out to try and partake of any lunch. Additionally, we’d made the mistake of leaving our windows slightly open and Ole Bess was filled with flies—the big green, bottle flies that usually alight on feces. We drove many kilometers with the windows down to blow them out and headed for Henties Bay and the Fishy Corner, family owned restaurant which had been recommended by the Powells. We weren’t disappointed. The food was quite good. It took a bit of time though and we didn’t make it back to Swakop until mid afternoon. By this time, the fog had burned off and we had a nice walk on the beach. Tomorrow, Tommy’s Living Desert Tours!

Emma has a summer birthday!

Emma got to celebrate her birthday early this year since school lets out the first week of December for the holidays and most people at WIS return to their home country for the month long holiday. Emma wanted to be able to share her birthday with her friends before they went off on holiday and we repatriated to the States. She was especially delighted that it’s summer here and she could plan a summer activity for her party. She chose a slip n’ slide kind of thingy that the kids really enjoyed. She also had a shark theme for the décor which matched perfectly with the warm weather. There was a great turn out of her friends and everyone seemed to have a good time. We, her parents, were especially thrilled that no one broke anything given that her good friend Sofia had just recently broken her cheek on a similar apparatus!
It’s off to the coast on Saturday for us where we’ll conclude the grand finale of our Namibian Adventure. We scheduled to head home on Dec. 17th!