The night was freezing — the first really cold night on the trip. I think it’s because the clouds had rolled in. The morning was damp, overcast and misty, making the air feel that much colder. I haven’t seen clouds since Cape Town, so it was welcome in a way, if a bit uncomfortable. But everyone was in good cheer this morning. I think it was the prospect of hot showers and real beds when we arrive in Swakopmund. Camping can be awesome, but after five nights of sleeping on the ground and being covered in dust, I think we were all ready to be back in civilization for a couple of days. We went through the usual morning routine of packing up and taking down the tents, and lingered over breakfast as the guides packed the truck.
I wandered over to say good morning to the South African couple I’d met yesterday, and we started another conversation about Canada versus South Africa. We chatted pleasantly until the conversation turned to politics. They’re a white Afrikaaner couple who, it became quickly apparent, hold less-than-flattering opinions about black people and about the post-Apartheid era in general. I know that there are probably many people like them, but most won’t express their opinions out loud to tourists. They talked about South Africa’s energy and infrastructure crisis, about the corruption of the ANC, and how then started in on how farms owned by white farmers like themselves were being repatriated to black people who had no desire or interest in farming. As soon as they started saying things like “blacks are lazy” or “there’s some things black people just cannot do”, I knew it was time to politely extract myself from the conversation and move on. Still, I’m glad to have met them, because such attitudes plainly persist, though most won’t admit to holding them. South Africa is still very divided along racial lines, even though it’s no longer politically correct to say so.
Our drive out to the coast was misty, with clouds hanging over the tops of the same mountains that were clear and blue-skied yesterday. We stopped off at one of the dozens of roadside stands of Herero women selling dolls. We’ve seen the Herero people all over Namibia — they’re hard to miss, in their large Victorian-style dresses and elaborate hats. The colourful and odd-looking clothing is actually a political statement; the Herero women wear them to commemorate the Herero-German war, the Herero genocide of 1904, and the fact that the survivors were forced to adopt such clothing as uniforms while working as servants. Many of the women sew the miniature dolls of Herero dress to sell as roadside trinkets. Of course we all got guilted into buying them; no biggie, they only cost a few dollars and they’re actually pretty interesting.
The landscape went from hilly to flat, and the trees changed to small shrubs and bushes until eventually there was nothing at all. Just miles and miles of sand as far as the eye could see. As we approached the coast, we started to see some salt mines — some operational, some seemingly abandoned. Finally, we reached the coast and saw ocean for the first time since arriving in Namibia.
Upon arriving at the coast, we headed north about an hour or so to Cape Cross. Not only is it the site of the first European landing in Namibia — by the Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão in 1485 — but it’s also home to the world’s largest fur seal colony. There are thousands of seals, and boy, do they smell! We walked along the boardwalk just watching them for a little while. Then, we headed a couple of kilometers up the road, thankfully away from the smell, to have a pleasant, if chilly, picnic lunch by the seaside.
A couple of hours later, we reached the outskirts of Swakopmund. A seaside town, Swako, as the locals refer to it, is a very German-looking city, with plenty of shops and restaurants and other tourist-friendly things to do. Mostly for us, it’s a vacation-from-the-vacation — a chance to take a couple of days to just relax and regroup. We’re staying in a travel lodge that’s really pretty basic, but a bed and a hot shower do wonders for the spirit. For dinner, we went to a restaurant on the edge of the pier, which served up excellent three-course meals of fish or seafood, wine and other such delicacies. They’ve been feeding us quite well on this trip, but a meal that is cooked in a nice restaurant as opposed to over a camping stove was just the ticket. After dinner, we headed back to the lodge, and I caught up on some emails and blogging before settling into bed (a real bed!) for the night.