Stampin! with Jaydee

Happy Thursday.

Well... strictly speaking, I will be mostly talking about the area surrounding Walvis Bay:-). I had a fabulous day visiting Walvis Bay and surroundings and have lots to talk about including, moonscapes, Mad Max Fury Road, 2,000 year old plants, the best way to climb a sand dune, the fourth largest game park in the world, cheetah and home of the beer that is as cold as a mother in law's heart :-)

So, where is Namibia?  Let's take a look at the map:

Here is the flag of Namibia:

Meaning of the colors and symbols - taken from the Nambian High Commission website:

• The sun symbolises life and energy. The golden colour of the sun represents the warmth and the colour of the plains of the Namib Desert.
• The blue symbolises the sky, the Atlantic Ocean, Namibia’s marine resources and the importance of rain and water.
• Red represents the Namibian people, their heroism and their determination to build a future of equal opportunity for all.
• White refers to peace and unity.
• The green symbolises the country’s vegetation and agricultural resources.

Up unil the 1990s it was known as German South West Africa/South West Africa.  Even though it was first discovered by the Portuguese in the 15th century, it was never claimed by them.  It was proclaimed by Germany in the 1880s and named South West Africa.  However, with the conquest of the Germans, it was handed to South Africa in 1920 by the League of Nations. it gained indepdendence in 1990 after a long fought battle for independence. 

So... let's begin with the 10 things I learned:

1. Namibia is one of the least popluated countries in the world with 2.8 people per kilometer
2. It is home to the highest sand dunes in the world (around 325 metres - or >1,000 feet)
3. It is home to the Fish River Canyon - second only to the Grand Canyon in the USA
4. It is also home to the oldest desert in the world and houses the national plant of Namibia the Welwitschia mirabilis.  It is absolutely fascinating - and you can read about it here.  It's certainly not the prettiest of plants - but it sure is fascinating!
5. It has the largest population of free roaming Cheetah
6. It has an area called the Skeleton Coast for a good reason.  The Portuguese called it "the gates of hell", while one of the world's most ancient tribes the Bushman called it "the land god made in anger".  More than 1,000 ships have been wrecked off the coast and was named because of the sheer number of seal and whale skeletons that would wash up on it's shores
7. You can find diamonds on the beach - although that's in specific areas that are, as you can imagine, highly patroled and incredibly well protected - called the Forbidden Beaches.  In fact, my first trip to Namibia was for DeBeers - an old client!  Sadly, they weren't offering up beach combing trips for IT consultants!!!
8. It was the first African country to add environmental protections to its constution - go Namibia!!!  In fact, almost half of the country is protected
9. It is one of only two countries that are home to desert bush elephants - yeah, I know - sounds like an oxymoron!  But they are not a different subspecies - they are bush elephants who have completely adapted to a desert lifestyle.  The pads on their feet are very different, their legs are longer and they have smaller bodies.  As an aside, I am so happy to have seen desert elephants, bush elephants and forest elephants - who knew there were different types of African elephant!
10. it is home to one of the oldest languages in the world. Language that is found only in sub-Saharan Africa - and an extinct Aboriginal language in Australia called Damin.

My personal thoughts on Namibia.

I've been lucky enough to visit Namibia on several occasions, a couple of times for business and a couple for pleasure and have been impressed each time.  It's been a long time since I have been back to Namibia and was thrilled when I found that we were going their on this cruise.

One of the things that struck me - apart from the fact that it was RAINING when we got off the ship.  Seriously, you have no idea just how rare that phenomenon is!... is how incredibly clean it is.  On our 5 hour drive I probably saw 5 or 6 pieces of rubbish - three of those in the dock yard.  No graffiti (not that I am averse to true graffiti art by the way!).  Even outside the poorest of the townships, rubbish was non-existent.  I can honestly say, in all the years I have travelled, I have never seen anywhere as clean.  People take incredible pride in their environment and it shows.  Because the area is pure desert, even the smallest piece of rubbish would be noticeable.

The other thing that struck me about this particular part of Namibia was the color of the sand dunes.  I am so accustomed to the beautiful bright oranges of the other areas of Namibia that I have visited.. No... these were white - it was almost like being in middle eastern desert countries.

Moon Valley was fascinating - and I mean fascinating.  One minute we were traveling along the road with sand for miles and suddenly we came across Moon Valley.  Sadly, there was absolutely no way I could capture the true feeling of Moon Valley with photographs.  It was early in the morning and the mist was still coming in from where the cold air created by the Benguela Strait met the hot air from the desert.   But... here is what we had initially seen:

sorry about the reflection in the window!!  but you get the idea.... desert... with tiny little scrubby plants that had popped up when there were little riverlets of water.  Suddenly we came across this - and it needs several photos to try to get the idea - but even then, you just don't get the vastness of it!

It was so impressive.  But, it was even more impressive when we managed to get INTO it.  The Swakopmund river runs through the valley and we travelled along the dry river bed for quite a while during our trip into the valley.  I took a photo of the river bed and you can see that it has rained at some time.  Our guide advised us that the river last flowed 2 years ago and the remnants of that movement can still be seen.

We travelled out and away from the river bed and into the canyon.  It's there that the landscape changed and was beautiful in it's own strange, desolate kind of way.  The geological formations were amazing.  We were still in that strange twilight that can cover the Namibian desert.  The fog/mist had not yet been burned off by the sun and it casts this strange, ethereal softness to the landscape and mutes all the colors around it.

It's here, in the canyon, that parts of Mad Max Fury Road were filmed.  (Full disclosure - not a Mad Max fan, so haven't seen it!). looking at the canyon and the landscape, I can see why they chose this particular location.  It's up the - almost indiscernable - roads that the filming took place, apparently.

Our guide explained that the erosion that had created this amazing area is supposed to have happened over the last 450,000 years.  There is also talk of this being created when the supercontinent of Gondwana broke apart.  Regardless of how it formed, or when, it is still beautiful.

Whilst driving through this magnificent area, I could imagine the lives of the original inhabitants - bushmen - finding their way through this landscape as they looked for food.  According to some language entomologists the bushman click language is perfectly suited for hunting as the click sounds made echo natural sounds that are less likely to spook prey; the sound of a snapping twig or branch, for instance.  I did find it amazing that the click language was also found in an ancient - and now extinct - Australian aboriginal language.

On our way back from the Namib-Nauklift National Park, we drove past Swakopmund, through Walvis Bay and returned to our ship.  On the way back we noticed an oil rig that was surprisingly close to the coast.  We learned that the oil rig was not functional.  It had apparently been brought to Walvis Bay several years ago for repair.  Who knew they moved entire oil rigs to repair them??? Not me!  Anyway, it never quite made it for some reason and continues to sit out in the bay to this day.'

So... what is the best way to climb a sand dune?  Up the spine, apparently.  Trying to climb up the sides ends up in 2 steps forward and three sliding backwards:-)

Oh... and what was the thing about the cold beer and mother in law's?  On our way through the Namib, we visited the Goanikontes Oasis in the middle of the National Park.  There is a sign on both sides of the oasis that reads - and I so wish I had managed to capture a photograph of it.... "Beer as cold as a mother in law's heart"!  Now, I'm not saying anything about either of my MILs!  But I did think it was funny in the middle of the hot desert to see a pretty unusual sign for cold beer!

My final thoughts:

I loved Namibia the first time I went there.  My first visit was to view the amazing wildflowers that erupt during the rainy season - and it was spectacular.  This part of Namibia is different - it has a different feel but still beautiful.  I'm still amazed by how incredibly clean the towns and populated areas are.  It truly was pristine.  Arriving in the gentle rain seemed perfect somehow and the mists that covered the area created a magical light where the silvery sun was hidden by layers of cloud and mist, but occasionally managed to let out long, silvery rays of light will leave a lasting impression. 

One of my favorite all time artists was a man called Keith Alexander.  Keith was an extremely talented artist who practiced photorealism.  His paitings of the desolate areas of the Namib and his depictions of the remants of civilization being taken back by nature fascinated me and inspired me to visit the Namib originally.  I was lucky enough to meet Keith at one of his art exhibitions prior to his very untimely death in 2000.    My visits to Namibia didn't disappoint and that morning mist, empty dunes and a rusted out car shell at the oasis, so reminded me of his paintings.   Nambia continues to be magical, and I would definitely return.  I've captured a copy of a couple of my favorite Keith Alexander paintings below:

Well, we are currently sailing to our next destination and I will be back with photos from that in a few days.  In the meantime, warm hugs and prayers for those of you who need a little lift tonight.

Hugs

Jaydee