Date: Feb 1, 2007 1:51 AM
Subject: Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
WALVIS BAY, NAMIBIA
If you want to see something different, this is as different as it gets. The whole place is one big desert full of moving dunes. Some of these dunes are as high as 1,000 feet. That’s like a 100 story building.
The ocean here is cold. That keeps the coastal area cool and often overcast. It is usually foggy from sundown to about 10:00 AM. As you get about 30 miles inland, the clouds break and in the sun it is hot.
This is the most barren desert I have seen. Others deserts have some scrub and other vegetation and at least insects. Much of this land is nothing but sand. No life of any kind. There are some spots where there a few tufts of green scattered about. I was told that the areas where the ground is hard, water can stay on the ground and this is where these green tufts grow. Most of the area however, just lets any liquid sink into the sands. Nothing grows in those areas.
There are giant dunes everywhere. Absolutely gorgeous. There are many different colors in them due to different minerals and metals in the area. Some areas of these dunes are hard and relatively easy to walk up. The soft areas are almost impossible to walk.
We got docked by about 12:30 and our 4 wheel drive tour was the first to get off. We were picked up right at the dock in the vehicles we would use for the tour. There was one big thing that looked like an over land truck. A square box placed on wheels with no fenders or wheel openings. It was custom made for the nut that was the tour director. He was very nice and friendly but had to have a screw or two loose somewhere. He was always barefoot and just seemed a little weird. Like he was trying to be a Crocodile Dundee or something. His strange vehicle was so high you needed a ladder to get in and it had no air conditioning.
We got into a type of Mitsubishi 4 wheel drive van we do not get in the States. It was raised quite a bit as were most of the vehicles we used. I quickly grabbed the front seat. It was the left seat. This is another country that drives on the wrong side of the road. Then the driver guides closed the doors and got in. Big problem. My driver was not a man.
Right off I knew this could not be much of an off road drive. Probably just another one of these hypes and all you really do is drive down a bumpy dirt road you could drive on in a Town Car. Wrong again. We were second in line behind the leader driving the oversized box. After about a 40 minute drive on regular roads and then rough unpaved roads, we went off the road. The drivers got out and let air out of their tires for better traction on the soft stuff. It started out gentle with a few little sand hills and then we climbed way up into some really difficult stuff. Our girl driver was a little better then I thought but surely no expert. I was going to try and keep my mouth shut about her doing all kind of things wrong in driving steep hills on soft stuff until she got us stuck. She just panicked and stopped. We had gotten hung up at the very top ridge of a hill. I could have gently rocked us off dead center and backed down the hill but she had to be pulled down by the big box truck. One thing I am an expert at, is getting stuck. Just ask my son or my brother. I have gotten all kinds of vehicles stuck in all kinds of stuff all over the country.
After getting stuck I did start to tell her how to take a few hills. On one she thought she was stuck again and I told her how to get out. After that she actually started to listen to what I told her. I’d swear I saved our lives on a couple of soft corners and steep down hills. She does this for a living. I have no idea how she stays alive. She did sincerely thank me for showing her how to drive off road.
The things we saw, and some of the places we went, were so remarkable, pictures, let alone words, cannot describe. We got out several times and crawled up and down dunes. Fearless leader found a Sidewinder snake and a rare baby desert chameleon. The Sidewinder is poisonous but very small. I thought Bobbi might not have liked our 4X4 adventure as it did get pretty hairy, but she loved it too. Great fun.
There were people in a couple of spots riding ATVs and off road motor cycles. They were doing hang gliding in another spot. What a great place to go. I love to do all these things. Too bad it’s so far away. It is a truly beautiful country.
Tonight we had dinner on the desert. It was for everyone on the ship. I think every bus and car in the country was put to work transporting us. There were only two busses. Cars lined up for a mile to take us the 35 miles or so out in the desert. There were camel rides when we got there and Africans were greeting us and there was a large bunch singing and others playing drums. Some young men did a native dance. There was a big fire in a pit blazing away. Dinner was in tents. There was also a bar tent. The appetizer was served and the rest was buffet. Portable bathrooms on trailers had been brought in. I don’t mean those lousy plastic crap houses they use on construction sights. These had regular looking toilets and sinks.
I have been told there are people from the ship reading this blog. If Regent people are listening in, the food part was not great. Lines were far too long. Too much ran out. Dinner service started far too late. It was a good idea and it was fun but the dinner in Luxor last year was organized far better.
Again, this has been a great day.
WALVIS BAY, NAMIBIA
If you want to see something different, this is as different as it gets. The whole place is one big desert full of moving dunes. Some of these dunes are as high as 1,000 feet. That’s like a 100 story building.The ocean here is cold. That keeps the coastal area cool and often overcast. It is usually foggy from sundown to about 10:00 AM. As you get about 30 miles inland, the clouds break and in the sun it is hot.
This is the most barren desert I have seen. Others deserts have some scrub and other vegetation and at least insects. Much of this land is nothing but sand. No life of any kind. There are some spots where there a few tufts of green scattered about. I was told that the areas where the ground is hard, water can stay on the ground and this is where these green tufts grow. Most of the area however, just lets any liquid sink into the sands. Nothing grows in those areas.There are giant dunes everywhere. Absolutely gorgeous. There are many different colors in them due to different minerals and metals in the area. Some areas of these dunes are hard and relatively easy to walk up. The soft areas are almost impossible to walk.
We got docked by about 12:30 and our 4 wheel drive tour was the first to get off. We were picked up right at the dock in the vehicles we would use for the tour. There was one big thing that looked like an over land truck. A square box placed on wheels with no fenders or wheel openings. It was custom made for the nut that was the tour director. He was very nice and friendly but had to have a screw or two loose somewhere. He was always barefoot and just seemed a little weird. Like he was trying to be a Crocodile Dundee or something. His strange vehicle was so high you needed a ladder to get in and it had no air conditioning.We got into a type of Mitsubishi 4 wheel drive van we do not get in the States. It was raised quite a bit as were most of the vehicles we used. I quickly grabbed the front seat. It was the left seat. This is another country that drives on the wrong side of the road. Then the driver guides closed the doors and got in. Big problem. My driver was not a man.
Right off I knew this could not be much of an off road drive. Probably just another one of these hypes and all you really do is drive down a bumpy dirt road you could drive on in a Town Car. Wrong again. We were second in line behind the leader driving the oversized box. After about a 40 minute drive on regular roads and then rough unpaved roads, we went off the road. The drivers got out and let air out of their tires for better traction on the soft stuff. It started out gentle with a few little sand hills and then we climbed way up into some really difficult stuff. Our girl driver was a little better then I thought but surely no expert. I was going to try and keep my mouth shut about her doing all kind of things wrong in driving steep hills on soft stuff until she got us stuck. She just panicked and stopped. We had gotten hung up at the very top ridge of a hill. I could have gently rocked us off dead center and backed down the hill but she had to be pulled down by the big box truck. One thing I am an expert at, is getting stuck. Just ask my son or my brother. I have gotten all kinds of vehicles stuck in all kinds of stuff all over the country.After getting stuck I did start to tell her how to take a few hills. On one she thought she was stuck again and I told her how to get out. After that she actually started to listen to what I told her. I’d swear I saved our lives on a couple of soft corners and steep down hills. She does this for a living. I have no idea how she stays alive. She did sincerely thank me for showing her how to drive off road.
The things we saw, and some of the places we went, were so remarkable, pictures, let alone words, cannot describe. We got out several times and crawled up and down dunes. Fearless leader found a Sidewinder snake and a rare baby desert chameleon. The Sidewinder is poisonous but very small. I thought Bobbi might not have liked our 4X4 adventure as it did get pretty hairy, but she loved it too. Great fun.
There were people in a couple of spots riding ATVs and off road motor cycles. They were doing hang gliding in another spot. What a great place to go. I love to do all these things. Too bad it’s so far away. It is a truly beautiful country.
Tonight we had dinner on the desert. It was for everyone on the ship. I think every bus and car in the country was put to work transporting us. There were only two busses. Cars lined up for a mile to take us the 35 miles or so out in the desert. There were camel rides when we got there and Africans were greeting us and there was a large bunch singing and others playing drums. Some young men did a native dance. There was a big fire in a pit blazing away. Dinner was in tents. There was also a bar tent. The appetizer was served and the rest was buffet. Portable bathrooms on trailers had been brought in. I don’t mean those lousy plastic crap houses they use on construction sights. These had regular looking toilets and sinks.
I have been told there are people from the ship reading this blog. If Regent people are listening in, the food part was not great. Lines were far too long. Too much ran out. Dinner service started far too late. It was a good idea and it was fun but the dinner in Luxor last year was organized far better.
Again, this has been a great day.
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