We broke our long journey to the coast from Khoraxis to Swakopmund at a roadside stand of the Herero tribe. The Herero women make lovely dolls, as well as other carvings. They wear gorgeous clothing and graciously allowed us to take their photos.
Following our stop we made the coast in several hours, passing through increasingly dry/desert ecosystems and by Brandberg mountain – the highest moutain in Namibia and home of the famous Brandberg rock paintings.
Our first stop on the coast was Cape Cross were Diego Cao planted his famous cross and the home of a colony of 80,000-100,000 fur seals. Diego Cao reached Cape Cross in 1485 and erected the cross to honour his king. He thought he had reached the southern most part of Africa. The original cross is now in Germany and Cao died shortly after erecting it – possibly of disappointment. The fur seal community was thriving with lots of babies. After watching for a while we headed south and reached our detination for the evening – Swakopmund. Swakopmund literally means dirty mouth. The name comes from the Swakopmund river which when it is raining dumps garbage and pollutants into the ocean near the town. Keeps the city crews busy cleaning it up. Other than that and the city using partially treated sewage water to irrigate the boulevards (everything is very green here) the city is pleasant. We spent our day off from traveling shopping and having lunch. Carol and I actually felt like women rather than bedraggled dust bunnies.
Travels with Anne 