Under African Skies

A fine pub!

Just what the doctor ordered!

Leaving Ireland we took a flight to Heathrow from Dublin and stayed overnight near Kew Gardens by the Thames. Following a fine beer and food supper at the Express Tavern on Kew Bridge we slept well and enjoyed an early morning jog along the riverbank. Back to Heathrow we relaxed in the lounge and found that Brewdog had brewed a special ale for British Airways to see us on our way. Our journey had, by now, consisted of a train to Holyhead, a ferry to Dublin, a hire car to and from Clonmel, a plane to Heathrow, a tube to Kew and even a bus the following morning to the tube station. We knew that this was going to be the modus operandi for our first week away from home so we travelled light with hand luggage only. We're not going to need warm clothing in Southern Africa are we? Or so we thought!

Plenty of room for expansion!

 We arrived at the tiny  Walvis Bay Airport, the  second largest in  Namibia, on a sunny  afternoon and drove  into town and to our  small hotel. to find that,  as the day drew to a  close it began to get  quite chilly! So our first  job on day two was to  buy some warm  clothes.  The coast of  Namibia is extremely  dry but  cool due to the influence of the Benguela Current which brings cold water up from the South Atlantic. This major ocean current also brings a rich soup of nutrients from the depths which gives rise to an astonishing ecosystem of fish, birds and mammals. The fishing industry of Walvis Bay has declined somewhat but it's still a major port and a base for those seeking wildlife and the desert scenery. 

All got your suncream?

Early seafarers on their way down the African coast called in here for a breather in the huge natural harbour which  is adjacent to an expansive lagoon which teems with birdlife. Flamingoes are all over the place and they're on most of the local postcards but we also spotted a wide variety  of waders and other seabirds many on holiday from up north, they'll be in Morecambe Bay come our winter. But what really impressed us were the hundreds of thousands of cormorants that we saw sunning themselves - half the world's population must be here!

Gosh that was quick!

 By sheer coincidence  we discovered that    there are parkruns in  Namibia. We  determined this before  we planned our trip so  we arranged to stay  one weekend in Walvis  Bay and the next  weekend in  Swakopmund so that  we could fit in both of  the coastal Namibian  parkruns. Friday night  found us sitting in the  bar in our hotel opposite the parkrun start - we checked the parkrun facebook page - oh heck, the run was cancelled at short notice! No panic though, we drove the 20 odd miles up the coast to Swakopmund, ran the parkrun there and repeated the operation the other way round the following weekend - thankfully the cancellation was for one week only. Here's the finish of the Walvis Bay event - Vicky ran her fastest of the year - hurrah!

Swakopmund is quite a contrast to Walvis Bay. Its German colonial origins are very evident and the architecture has some clear Teutonic influences. The population is a little smaller than that of its neighbour and the town is much more geared up for tourism. We found the perfect place to stay - a hotel with its own brewery, what a pleasant spot it was to stay for a few relaxing days. 

On the outskirts of town is the curiously named Swakopmund Municipal Restcamp. During a short early evening jog I stepped inside the front gate and took a photo of the rows of identical angular guesthouses - there are nearly 200 of them sitting serenely in the desert.  Constructed in the 1950's these were designed as cheap holiday accommodation - you can still hire them out for around £50 a night! And here's the somewhat oblique connection between Wales and Namibia. A few weeks previously we'd stayed in the village of Portmeirion on the North Wales coast which was used as the setting for the 1960's Prisoner TV series. The cottages in 'The Village' housed the various detainees including the central characters. The Prisoner was subject to a remake in 2009 and was filmed in Swakopmund using footage of the remarkable dunescapes - the equivalent of Portmeirion was the restcamp which featured as 'The Village' in the more recent series. How about that!

Before we left we realised we couldn't completely ignore all the touristy stuff and we had a trip down the coast into the desert to ride up and down some of the enormous sand dunes. It's on an impressive scale - to my right in this photo there's a long drop down to the sea of around 100 metres, and yes it was still chilly!

Not here to sunbathe!