Blogs from Luderitz, Namibia, Africa - page 2

Luderitz is described as a German colonial relic, and I am expecting it to be like Frutillar in Chile, but it has quite a different character - possibly because the Germans were invited to go to Frutillar, whereas they imposed themselves here. There's plenty of German architecture in evidence, coupled with bright colours recalling La Boca or Valparaiso, but my nostrils twitch in vain for the scent of sauerkraut on the breeze. The small port reminds me more of Whitby, a dearth of fish and chips shops notwithstanding. There's not much going on in Luderitz, so I catch up on the Namibian news. Corruption is rife, political opposition discouraged. Links with China are being forged, but Chinese infrastructure projects in Namibia seem to involve mainly Chinese employees, meaning no skills transfer to locals. There's plenty of ... read more

Having spent our first night camping in the South African bush on the Orange River, Matilda (the name for our Land Rover) has got us safely to Fish River Canyon in Namibia. All is well in Africa, the sun is shining brighter every day as we head north. Unfortunately the BT homehub is not up to scratch in the middle of the dessert so we'll update with a full itinery in Swakopmund within the next few days. Love to all... read more

We are now in Luderitz and therefore back on the coast. It was a bumpy 4 hours on gravel roads followed by another hour or so on tarred road before we got here. We did pass through the Namib Rand national park on the way and managed to spot the usual array of animals including springbok and gemsbok/oyrx. I felt the need to take more animal photos (don't ask me why). Later on we saw 3 bat eared foxes, which was good, as we had not seen them before, and they are not normally out in the day. We also saw a huge black snake in the road. Don't know what it was but we decided against hanging about to find out. Luderitz is supposed to be a big city but we are yet to be ... read more

Our next stop was Luderitz on the coast. We set off from Canon Lodge in the morning and arrived about lunchtime. The B4 road to Luderitz was one of the most wonderful journeys we have ever done. The scenery was stunningly beautiful and diverse and the landscape just kept stretching for miles. We saw some red hills (I presume they were sand dunes) in the distance, huge plains or prairies of grass (savannah), rocky peaks, it was all very very beautiful. We also saw a few of the famous feral desert horses just off the main road up a little bumpy track. We checked in to our B&B and then walked into the town and had a lovely snack lunch at the Diaz Coffee Shop. The two things we had planned to do was a boat ... read more