3: Walvis Bay… And Away!

Walvis Bay is a port town, it's dusty and functional, no one could accuse it of being picturesque but it is a friendly and relaxed place and it has a major saving grace… its coastline.

For as long as she can remember, Janette has wanted to see Namibia's immense sand dunes cascading down to the wild Atlantic Ocean and Walvis Bay gives her the chance on a trip out to Sandwich Harbour.

We have to book onto an organised tour to visit the dunes as this is a permit only area, part of the Namib-Naukluft National Park and requires you to go with a guide who is expert at navigating the vast dunes in a 4x4.

We decide to combine the dunes trip with a boat trip around the lagoon and out to see the sizeable seal colony at Pelican Point. There are a number of tour operators offering these trips, we select one called Mola Mola because we like the sound of their trips and also because they’re very welcoming and friendly.

We pitch up at the Waterfront first thing and almost as soon as we board our boat and set off, a seal hops on the back - he's enormous and very keen to be fed some fish!

We sai out into the lagoon where a number of yachts are moored; one is in a pitiful state, it has sunk and is slowly breaking up. The captain of our boat tells us that a couple bought the boat intending to renovate it and sail round the world with their children.

The boat needed a lot of work - part of which involved regular baling out as it was so leaky. During Covid, the man died and because of travel restrictions the woman wasn't able to visit the boat which gradually filled with water and sank. Very sad to see a couple's dream lying in ruins.

There are apparently between 60,000 to 70,000 seals living at Pelican Point; it's a bit like a Mediterranean beach resort in high season, not a patch of sand visible and the sea full of bodies! Oh and the smell is quite something, it wafts across the water to greet us as we approach!

The seals frolic around the boat, they seem so joyful, it's uplifting just to watch them.

The captain announces that it’s time for ‘sea coffee’. This turns out to be a 17 percent proof sherry!

Delicious… and it certainly takes our minds off the smell of seal poo!

We had hoped to see dolphins and maybe even whales on this trip, but as so often seems to be the case for us and sea life, they don't put in an appearance today. We do however see an extraordinary sight, a huge floating mass of pink jelly fish. They’re apparently driven together by a combination of sea currents and wind.

We are served sparkling wine and oysters that have been grown in the bay as we cruise along - very civilised! It's great to be out on the water in the sunshine.

As we head back to shore a huge pelican lands on the boat frightening the life out of Janette who didn't see her coming!

Like the seal, she also wants some fish and the captain obliges.

This pelican is a real sweety and is happy to pose for photos and to be stroked. Like the seal, she is a wild animal and comes and goes as she pleases but has learned that there is fish on offer on the tourist boats. Unlike seagulls, the pelicans aren't a pest and they aren't aggressive.

After she's been fed, the pelican comes along with us for quite a while, sitting on the roof of the boat - we are the envy of the other tourist boats!

We disembark and after a short break, we board our 4x4 vehicle for the next phase of the trip.

The dunes are about 40 km from the Waterfront but there's lots of interest along the way. We stop at the 5000 hectare solar sea salt plant which we drove past the other evening by ourselves. Our driver explains that it’s the largest plant in sub-Saharan Africa and it takes 18 - 24 months and numerous evaporation processes to produce the 99.8% pure salt crystals.

The drive takes us along the beach. The tide is coming in and waves lap up onto the narrow channel of sand that is our roadway.

We stop to look at some unusual pink sand. It turns out that the pink colour is caused by some of the tiny grains of sand being precious stones, among them rubies and garnets.

There are also streaks of black sand, this is made up of hematite, magnetite and iron ore.

Our guide produces a magnet and gets Janette to take a handful of sand from which he extracts the iron ore using the magnet.

We were hoping to be able to drive right round to the fresh water lagoon at Sandwich Harbour but the tide is in too far and so we retreat into the dunes. This is a truly spectacular place.

Towering golden dunes for as far as the eye can see, some are in excess of 100 metres (330 feet) high. We climb on foot to the top of a particularly high dune which edges the sea; we can see for miles and what a spectacular view - magnificent dunes cascading into the blue sea below, Janette feels as if she can die happy now.

This isn't a trip for the faint-hearted! The pictures don’t really show it, but we drive to the edge of several dues and see an almost sheer drop below us. We then drive - or rather slide down these dunes. How our guide keeps control of the vehicle on such steep descents is a miracle.

As we head for home and out of the high dunes, our guide points out the wide area of land between the desert and the beach which has scrubby plants growing in it.

It is one of the arms of the mighty Kuiseb River delta. This part of the river has been dry on the surface since 1921 but it still flows below ground where there is a huge aquifer. The plants that grow here are capable of putting their roots down 50 metres if necessary to find water although here the water can be found only a few metres below ground.

One of the plants that grows here is the Naras, the stems and fruit of which are a source of water and hence various animals live in this stretch of land including brown hyenas, black-backed jackal, ostrich and various antelope.

This trip wasn't cheap but it was well worth the money. We saw some fabulous sights and really felt that our hosts took good care of us. If you ever find yourself in Walvis Bay, this is a must-do!

Today we're finally off!

First, a quick supermarket shop, a visit to a car wash to wash the salt and dust off Rocky and the purchase of a cheap ground pop-up tent for some of the early morning quick getaways that we have ahead.

Well… it pops up easily enough, but packing it down apparently requires a degree in physics. Several views of a Youtube tutorial… and plenty of practice later - and we’ve cracked it!

Then we're on the road headed for Namibgrens Guest Farm - a two night stop off for us on the way to meet our friends, Claire and Jonathan, in Sesriem.

The drive out of Walvis Bay is flat, arid, sparse scrubland as far as the eye can see- which whilst interesting for about the first 15 minutes, becomes a bit monotonous after an hour or so! We’re pleased when we see mountains looming in the distance.

This drive has some wonders in store for us; the first is the Kuiseb Canyon.

We stop fairly early on into the canyon to admire the view, it's hot by now, very hot, 34 degrees in fact! It's not the sort of place you'd want to be stranded. Imagine then our horror when we get back into the car and it doesn't start, the engine doesn't turn over, there's nothing not even a flicker. Great, we've hardly started our adventure and the car has packed up!

As we've said before, we have done a lot of preparation for this trip and Nick is pretty knowledgeable when it comes to engines. For the journey over to Namibia, Rocky's battery had to be disconnected; it was reconnected by the people who took it out of the shipping container and it seems that they didn't tighten up the connection; that was fine on the roads around town but these bumpy roads have caused the connection to come off entirely.

Not to worry, Nick has the tools for the job and we're soon underway again - phew!

As we progress through the canyon, the views become more and more spectacular. The sheer forces at play in nature that have sculpted and twisted this landscape over millennia are truly awe inspiring.

The Kuiseb River is dry here too as it was at the coast but it must once have been a formidable thing to behold given the depth and magnitude of the canyon.

We decide to take the long way round to enable us to drive through the Valley of a Thousand Hills and the beautiful Gamsberg Pass… the longest and highest pass in Namibia.

It's on this quiet back road that we see our first house in 80 miles! The have a business selling plants - who on earth are their customers?

We see hardly any cars on this road and the pass itself is lovely, we stop at the top for a much needed break and just stand drinking in the view; our adventure has really begun and we feel great.

The road on the last leg of our journey becomes horrible, corrugated and really bumpy. We do however start to see some animals, a warthog, some monkeys and baboons, and a herd of Oryx.

We cross the Tropic of Capricorn and take the opportunity to leave a Great Escape sticker on the sign to join those left by others.

Namibia is a very sparsely populated country and that is evident as we drive about, we see relatively few cars - most that we do see are tourist rental cars - and on this journey of 200 miles we see only one pedestrian and that's after we have been travelling for 140 miles!

The Namibgrens Guest Farm is a gem. There are villas and campsites but all are cleverly positioned so that you feel quite alone in nature.

There’s a swimming pool cut into the rocks - and each camp site has its own toilet and shower, both open air and we doubt that the view we have while showering could be bettered anywhere.

Our hosts are Kalf and Sandra. They couldn't be more welcoming. As we have arrived quite late, we decide to set up camp and then have dinner in the farmhouse as we're pretty bushed. It's about a mile's walk from our camp site to the farmhouse and the sun sets and darkness falls as we stroll down in the warm evening.

Rocky is left under the watchful gaze of a troop of monkeys who are positioned in the rocks behind our camp site - we hope everything will be in one piece when we return!

Kalf and Sandra have consciously gone for a simple approach which works perfectly in this setting. Dinner is at 7, there's no menu or wine list just the dish of the day and wine that has been expertly chosen by Kalf. Dinner is served in the old farmhouse and the family dogs wander about, it's just what we like. Kalf very kindly drives us home after dinner and we climb gratefully into our tent and fall asleep almost immediately.

We decide to do nothing much today and it's not a difficult choice. We are surrounded on all sides by lovely views, the sun is shining and we have our hammocks with us although getting out of them isn't as easy as getting in as Nick discovers!

The day ends with a turn in the weather. We see the rain in the distance. Eventually it's with us, but we're rewarded with a double rainbow!