We were originally meant to dock in Walvis Bay at and due to go on an excursion to the Mondessa township at 9:30. Due to the delay leaving Cape Town everything was put back 2hrs including the departure time from the bay. Mark awoke at 8am to find us docked so the ship had made up almost all of the 5hrs it lost in Cape Town. As usual he went out on the balcony but there was not much to see here.
Pam got up at 9am and we headed to the Kings court for a big breakfast before our excursion as lunch was not included with this one and we were now not going to be back until 4.30pm. We headed to our tour meeting point, in the theatre, to find our group which was only 15 people. Before boarding our coach we went through immigration and handed over our completed forms and got more passport stamps for our trouble. Mark in particular likes having his passport stamp which is strange as his job is about automating things and removing paper from processes. We boarded our coach (which seated about 30 people, so plenty of room) and met our guide Costa and driver, Dion.
Our first stop was the Bay Area to see the hundreds of Flamingos which were in the shallow part of the water where the sea meets the sand.
We temporarily lost an Australian lady who ran off chasing flamingos but after retrieving her we were on our way to our next stop - seeing some of Namibia’s famous sand dunes and a toilet stop.
The same lady was becoming a nightmare and tried to run up the top of a sand dune before someone from the shore excursion team managed to get her. Then, even though everyone was waiting, and had been waiting 10minutes, she decided she needed the toilet. Some people. The shore excursion lady said she would have a word but who knows if she did.
Our next stop was to the township (this township is an area that is only slightly away from the main town where the poorer people live). It was strange to see petrol stations, KFC, supermarkets etc… across the road from what is meant to be poverty stricken areas. We first went to a market place but stayed with our guide who stayed to a few stalls on the main road. The stalls sold all kinds of stuff but we focussed on one with dried fish, dried seaweed, dried worms and seal oil and local alcohol. We passed by stalls selling second hand clothes( that are sent over by ship from places like the UK) and tools for construction.
I have to say that about a fifth of our group were extremely stupid people. We were told to stick together and not to go taking photos unless Costa said we could or we asked, and got permission. We were also told to be circumspect with jewellery in South Africa and Naimbia. Our nightmare lady wandered off again and another woman, from Canada, wearing far too much bling went off to interact with children in doorways and take pictures. We felt so sorry for the guides. Someone else had their phone snatched but that seemed to be a misunderstanding on taking photos she shouldn’t have and Costa got it back.
We drove a little further down the road to be welcomed into a family home of someone Costa knew. We met a 72 year lady called Mama Erica. She was wearing traditional clothing and we were shown how to greet her - this included a 3 shake handshake. She told us about then was her past and life in the township. She has 6 children and 19 grandchildren (some were watching with embarrassment and one granddaughter kindly translated as Mama Erica spoke a local language and no English. We were told how cows we’re so important for meat, milk and making utensils from their carcass, so cows are given as part of a marriage dowry as they are so useful.
Many properties have a small one story building with a handful of rooms. They have a yard for clothes and sometimes animals but most erect a little shop in the yard to make extra money - tuck shops, hairdressers and barbers. In this township you pay very cheap rent to live there. The houses are made of wood, and occasionally brick, and are one level and very basic.
Then we went deeper into the township to an even poorer section which is used mainly for immigrants. It seems here you erect you own very small dwelling (made of anything) and pay no rent but only for water and electricity/gas. We came here primarily to meet a long term resident who was a herbalist (Auntie Velma) who people came to get all kinds. of cheap concoctions from. She was dressed in an African print dress with a apron made of crisp packets. We seemed to be a curiosity to the area as many children and a few adults flocked to see us cast down around the herbalist. We listened to explanations about herbs used for different ailments and was shown examples of them.
Afterwards we were allowed to talk to some of the locals and many took pictures of the children who loved to pose and shout “cheese” and see their photos afterwards. It was really strange as most adults had cheap mobile phones and everyone had clothes (some branded goods and football shirts) whilst, at the same time, children had no shoes and some people drank water from whatever utensils that could find like emptied out polyfiller tubs. Pam took children pics (which we won’t post here) and Mark chatted to a man who supports Chelsea and cannot understand why Frank Lampard has returned and watches matches in a place “over there”.
Our final stop was to a small cafe where we had a small male acapella choir sing 3 songs for us and then we were offered very simple Namibian food of seaweed, porridge bread, corn hummus and cooked worms. Pam was very adventurous and tried everything whilst Mark tried a crispy worm and wish he hadn’t - he said he was tricked as he heard the word crisp in the title.
We arrived back to the ship at almost 6pm, over an hour late, and went straight to the Kings Court buffet. We have been cruising for months and our bodies have been accustomed to wasting every couple of hours (and worms don’t count) so we were starving. We won’t list what we ate as it would be too long but we staggered back to our cabin and a complimentary golf buggy would have been very useful. We finished off Pam’s Beyond Paradise TV show on the iPad and went to the theatre to see Chris Hamilton, the piano showman. He was very talented and at the end of his set asked the audience to shout out songs and he performed a mash up of these 20 odd songs. We should have shouted out the birdie song to confuse him! The downside was that everything was an instrumental and we prefer our songs sung as it feels like something is missing - the same feeling with Australian chocolate.
We joined Andrew and David in the Golden Lion for a music intros quiz and romped home winners - yes more wine and no stickers.
We ended the evening in the Carinthia Lounge with drinks and crisps and the late night trivia quiz, with Andrew and Raju. We only got 13 this time but we were already winners so winning again would have been greedy.
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