Amazing Namibia

Sorry for not posting an update for the longest time, I’ve just been a little tired. Ship life is great, but I just have not gotten used to the rocking; thus, I am having a lot of trouble falling sleep. Classes are okay, but I am taking more and more interest in them, especially my comparative literature class; we discuss about the different types of theoretical approaches of space and how they can be applied to real life. I have also gotten through the first bout of tests and papers, which was not as bad as I thought it would be.

After eight weeks at sea, the MV Explorer finally arrived at Walvis Bay, Namibia. When the ship was docking, it was cold as hell, and there was fog. I was not expecting it to be so cold because I had always thought Africa was a warm place. This was the first preconceived notion that was broken. After the ship docked, I went off the ship with a group of friends and walked around in the city. My first impressions of the city were positive: the city was clean, uncongested, and semi-developed. Many people from the ship expressed their feelings of thinking that Walvis Bay did not feel like Africa. I believe the reason for this is because many of us expected Africa to be a place where all the people were poor and destitute. However, the city was quite westernized; there was a KFC and many European cars in the city.

I returned to the ship and met up for a Faculty Directed Practica required for class. The FDP explored an oyster farm in Namibia. It was not very exciting to be honest. Most of the time, we stood in a warm enclosure were we looked at extremely small oysters. It was interesting, however, to see microscopic oyster moving around. At the end of the tour, the workers allowed us to try some large fresh oysters. Most of the people in my group ate the oyster, but I did not. I was very cautious because I did not want a repeat of what happened in Brazil (read last post).

Next day was when the real adventure began; I organized a four day tour with eight other students, and the first activity was an overnight quadbiking (ATV) trip. It was extremely thrilling: the guide took us all over the Namib Desert including sand dunes (where I got stuck once), the riverbed (where it was extremely dusty), and canyons. It was a sight not to be missed. I did encounter a mishap once, however; I was quadding through a riverbed and it was extremely dusty that I was barely able to see anything ahead of me, and long and behold, there was a 180 degree sharp turn ahead. I was able to break some, but it was not enough and I flipped over with my quadbike. I fell into a bush, and my quadbike was on its side. Good thing I fell into a bush and got two or three minor scratches; I was up and running in less than one minute.

We arrived at the campsite and it was better than I expected, I had my own tent with a bed and a shower. Also, we had dinner under three large rocks. The dinner was delicious: rice, beef stroganoff, bread, etc. Early next day we were quadding again, but this time to our sand boarding location. I choose to sand board lying down because I did not know how to snowboard. Sand boarding was an exciting experience since we sled down hills over speeds of 70 km/hr (which I think is over 50 mph?). I also had one mishap here: I was sliding down the biggest hill and right when I got to the end, I had a wipe-out where I rolled around in the sand a few times. I got sand in my clothes and mouth.

Later in the day we walked around in Swakopmund, a boring German tourist city. There was barely anyone on the streets. We did walk around on the beach, which was nice, and went to a market where every vendor was selling the same items: animal figurines and masks. I did not buy anything because I felt most of these objects were not “authentic,” but were, instead, exploiting the African stereotype of safari animals and tribal populations. I, instead bought a painting the next day during the all day 4x4 Jeep tour. The painting was a simple seagull painting, but it represented, I believe, the real Namibia because the painting was of a real coastline that we visited and was painted by a Topnaar person.

During the all day 4x4 tour, our tour guides, Fanie and Andrew, took us around the massive sand dunes; it was thrilling and rough at times like a roller coaster when we went over crest of hills and down 30 to 40 degree slopes. We first visited a field of human bones in the middle of the desert, and then a Topnaar family. The family had the cutest baby, but was living in poverty; the house was made out of simple materials and was in the middle of nowhere. We then stopped at Sandwich Harbour in the middle of the day. Sandwich Harbour, in my opinion, was one of the most beautiful places I have even seen; we drove up 500 feet high sand dunes and the view was spectacular because one side was full of sand dunes and the other side was the turquoise ocean. The juxtaposition of these two sceneries made for one amazing view, and to make it even better, we had lunch in between these two landscapes on the beach. I definitely loved it.

The last day was also an adventure when my group and I went kayaking in the harbour. It was a real treat because we were able to kayak next to a massive seal colony; they attempted to splash us at times. During the middle of the kayaking excursion, my friend and I almost marooned ourselves on the beach in the middle of the seal colony because we were too close to the shore. Good thing at the last minute we thought about reversing our boat away from the shore lol. For the rest of the day I went shopping for snacks and ate at Wimpey’s where I had delicious milkshakes. At the supermarket checkout, the cashier asked me to take her to America, and I think she wanted my contact information so she would be able to find her way to America. At this point, I felt a little bad that I could not really do anything, but it affirmed for me that I am lucky to be living in America, and I should not take that fact for granted.

In conclusion, my experience in Namibia was an amazing one and I will definitely come back in the near future so I can explore more of what Namibia has to offer. Until next time in Cape Town, South Africa:

Alan Shih at Sea