World Cruise--Walvis Bay, Namibia

One of the ports in our world cruise itinerary that was new to us was Walvis Bay, Namibia, on the west coast of Africa. We were a little nervous about trying to do anything on our own there so we booked an excursion through Cunard. The one we chose got us out of the port area and to a smaller town called Swapokmund.

We had almost canceled the excursion when we went to apply for an e-visa to enter the country. This is the first cruise where we have had to fill out so many applications for visas. I’m not sure if that’s because Cunard allocates that responsibility to its passengers where other cruise lines may take care of that for their passengers. It created quite a lot of confusion for many, especially those who were not tech savvy and those who had not bought the internet package. They had to rely on a guest pass for the WiFi just to fill out the forms online. That was fine for some of the countries but Namibia seemed to have some problems with their site.

Added to difficulty in using the visa site, was the fact that when we were first told we needed the visa and went online to purchase it, the cost was $90/each just for the day’s visit. Add that to the rather pricey excursion and we decided to make it a ship’s pool day. As time went on, Namibia relented and lowered their visa price to $16 for a day visit from a cruise ship. With that price, we proceeded to fill out the information. Paying for it was a bit difficult. Again, the site seemed to get hung up at that point but eventually we received the necessary confirmation.

The day of our arrival, immigration officers came onboard and we did what’s called a face-to-face immigration, presenting passports and e-visas. A lot of confusion arouse when some had received information that you could get a visa upon arrival. There was no office for that at the port so there was no time to get to an immigration office to get a visa and get back to the ship for a scheduled excursion. There were a few very unhappy passengers.

The time of our excursion was not until the afternoon so we decided to take the cruise ship shuttle that was provided to get a look at the area near us. The immediate area was a large container port and it looked as though there was really no good way to walk out of the port and once out of the port there really wasn’t much close by.

The shuttle took us to a huge shopping mall called Dunes. When you saw where it was situated you understood the name. The area is a desert with huge sand dunes, one of which is said to be the largest in the world at a height of over 1200 feet.

On our way to Swapokmund, we drove through a landscape of sand and sand dunes. There were squatty palm trees planted along the road and either side to cut down on the amount of sand that would accumulate on the road—kind of like our snow fences at home.

A beautiful shallow bay was surrounded by very nice vacation homes and boutique hotels. Our guide told us that many Europeans have homes there for the winter months. The bay was also home to hundreds of flamingoes, usually. I’m not I understood the reason but this day there were none to be seen.

In about a half hour, we entered Swapokmund. The town was established by German colonists in 1892. I expected to see a bit more of a German influence in architecture but it didn’t seem that way to me. Don’t get me wrong, the architecture was interesting just not what I imagined.

The most famous building in the town was the old train station that had now been turned into a resort hotel and casino. It was a very nice building and the grounds were lovely. Originally, the station was built in 1901 for the railway that connected Swapokmund to Windhoek. The railway eventually closed down and later the narrow gauge rail line that replaced it. The building was declared a national monument in 1972 and eventually turned into the hotel.

From the hotel, we drove around the corner to the Karakulia Weavers. The business has been around since 1979 and has a team of 15 who take the wool from the farmers, clean it, card it, spin it, dye it and then weave it into amazing rugs. It took me back to my college days when I spent a whole year taking a fabric arts series for my art education degree and did all those things. Our weaving was a bit different though. Not nearly as detailed as the artwork being made there.

Our next stop was at a craft market which was interesting. For something advertised as being handmade items, each stall seemed to have pretty much the same thing and the quantities were amazing. I suspect the things were mostly factory made. 

There was some interesting costuming of some of the women and they kept inviting us to take pictures. I know that ploy—take a picture and pay later. The women did have strange hats that were flat topped almost like a graduation mortar board but out of fabric. Two of the women were bare breasted, one quite a bit older and larger than the other.

A museum was included in our tour and we wandered through it albeit a bit quickly. We aren’t too fond of museums especially when the day is so nice outside.

Outside, we strolled down the area called the Mole which is a sea wall that was built back in 1899 to help protect the harbor and allow a place to tie up boats. The beach area was very inviting and we watched lots of youngsters enjoying the water and the sandy beach.

There was an hour for us to spend on our own so we found a restaurant on the Mole and had an afternoon drink with a small California sushi roll as we watched all the activity on the beach.

The excursion had turned out to be very interesting and relaxing and left us saying that Walvis Bay (Whale Bay) might be a nice port to visit again sometime. By the way, we found out the reason the excursions for this port were expensive was because the buses and vans had to be brought in from some place that was three hours away. Or so they said.