We have now left home for a week and still we wait for Milady Landy.
Formalities
The car has already arrived at the port last Friday, but the papers I sent on July 15 from the Netherlands with DHL are still underway. First to Germany, where they remained until 28-7, when transferred to NamPost and now we have to wait when they arrive in Walvis Bay, they should be here by the end of this week hmmm. Here people tell us that I should have sent them with DHL Express instead of DHL Parcel as I did, but then in Holland I was advised otherwise in the agency.
So afterall we could have taken the papers ourselves, and handed them over on arrival …
Meanwhile our port agent, Sharaf Shipping Walvis Bay, is doning everything to move to clear the car from customs and port authorities, in order to put it in their closed private parking, unfortunately, that does not work and we have not seen Milady yet.
Well, so much for the frustration of waiting.
What we have been up to then to pass the time? We just kept a real vacation…
We read a lot, walk from the B & B to the harbor, the waterfront and downtown. Have a good lunch and drink coffee in a coffee shop (where they have only coffee, tea and pastries 😉 ). At night we eat at our B & B, just tasty bread with cheese, sometimes fried or boiled eggs and a cup-a-soup, tea, wine, beer. In short, we do everything possible to be ready to leave.
A few highlights
30-7 on Saturday we went to Swakopmund.
At 7:45 Mandy (from Sharaf Shipping) took us from our B & B to the taxi stand for a taxi to Swakopmund, a slightly larger and more developed town about 30km from Walvis Bay. The taxi ride cost us N$ 70 one way (+N$ 35 for the unoccupied seat, normally 5 people in a small taxi), which is about € 7 in all.
Swakop is clearly an old German colonial town, grand old hotels, churches and state buildings and well-finished houses and shops in the center. Everything is very clean and tidy.
I was already looking for other shoes for some time in Walvis Bay, but could not find my size. In Swakop is that eventually succeeded, now at least I have some sturdier shoes to walk around, my road shoes were not really suitable for walking long days.
The view from the pier in the city is amazing:
En sommige plekjes doen echt denken aan Duitsland.
A nice old churchAnd the German hotels.
Sunday 31-7 we made a boat trip on the Walvis Bay. With about 20 people on a boat we sailed away at 9am from the Waterfront. In the water we were met by a seal that swam circles around the boats.
After we sailed off we were immediately attacked by a group of pelicans on and off the boat that were fed fishes by the skipper (Nick) and his buddy (Johannes).
A pelican even landed on Sonja’s head:
This video gives an impression of the boat trip:
The trip culminated in four jackals who were looking for a fresh bite of seal, in this picture you see two:
