Tuesday, August 30, 2016

COS trippn' 3rd stop: Namibia - Walvis Bay

One of my favorite days in Swakop was when we went to Walvis Bay, which is about a 40 minute drive out of Swakop.

heehee 😜

We went kayaking with hundreds, maybe even thousands of wild seals! Here are just some on the beach. In the water they were all around & I even got to pet a few!! That was definitely one of the highlights of this whole trip for me. 😍



A wild jackal!! 

Wild flamingos...what?? 😄


Even a pelican just chilln on the dock!!

Such an amazing day!! 😍

COS trippn' 3rd stop: Swakopmund, Namibia - Township Tour

After sand boarding we went on a "Cultural and Township Tour". We didn't quite know what we were signing up for.

The Township is the area just a ten minute drive outside of Swakopmund, where most of the black Namibians live.


This was from a preschool we stopped at. Spongebob is beloved on multiple continents.




The town is full of makeshift shacks, but the street signs & curbs at the street signs sure are nice...?



This little shop was really similar to the barbershops in the villages of Malawi. Only in Malawi you don't see many dreadlocks.

The last stop was to the home of a local in the township for some traditional foods and singing. We started off drinking homemade ginger beer (non alcoholic). It was great! This is the rest of the tour group we were with.


A local choir sang a few different songs in a beautiful harmony. One was from the Lion King.


They also prepared some traditional foods for us to try. There was a maize dish that tasted very similar to nsima, Malawi's staple food. You rolled it into a ball to eat with the side dish, just like in Malawi.

The side dish shown just under the maize dish was tripe. I didn't know it was intestines till after I ate it. It was pretty good. A little chewy. The green one was spinach.

COS trippn' 3rd stop: Swakopmund, Namibia - Sandboarding

You can't visit Namibia without trying sandboarding. They let you do it standing, like snowboarding, or sitting, like sledding.


Here we are with the other sand boarders and our patient teachers.


Safety first! We all wore helmets, and got a lesson in technique before starting. I opted for the sitting method, which actually is the laying down method at first. For this method you used a board that has been greased up a bit to reduce friction.


Coalee opted for the standing up method. Here she is whizzing down the hill like a pro.



At the end Coalee and I sledded down a giant hill together. We got sand all over, but it was really fun! Then we had lunch with our trainers and the other sand boarders.


COS trippn' 3rd stop: Namibia - Welcome to Swakopmund

After staying a night in Windhoek, we traveled by minibus to Swakopmund (aka Swakop)...about a 4 hour drive...crammed in with our backpacks unable to move our legs, but hey, at least the windows opened 😛.

Swakop is a beach town that reminded us of OC. It was very nostalgic.



Eggs Benedict - German style

Beer sampler 😍




Fork 'n Nice food truck where we went a couple times for their soft serve 🍦😍.

 Beautiful sunset!!



COS trippn' 3rd stop: Namibia - Goodbye Cape Town, Hello Windhoek

Goodbye Cape Town! We'll miss you!

Goodbye Table Mountain!

Hello Windhoek (beer...from the plane).

...This is the best pic I could post to represent Windhoek...there just wasn't much else goin on there.

COS trippn' stop 2: Cape Town - Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

These gardens are world-famous and well worth a visit! It's divided into different sections: plants for food, medicinal plants, aromatic plants, threatened/endangered plants, etc.



A view of Table Mountain, desigur. 😃
 







Gravesite of first director of the gardens, Harold Pearson - located in the garden itself!


Here is a cool slithering bridge, designed to represent a Boomslang snake, which walks you over the garden canopy & gives you fantastic view of the gardens, Table Mountain, & Cape Town.



Sheila (RPCV Malawi), Coalee and Stacy