Two Stops in Southern Africa

After a few more days at sea, we arrived at our first stop on the African continent, Cape Town, South Africa.  We stayed overnight so we had a few days to explore, although unfortunately I was fighting a virus so had less ambition than I might have otherwise.

I am not sure what I expected, but Cape Town is stunningly beautiful due to being backed by Table Mountain and others, not far in the distance but instead, directly behind the city. It is a city of nearly 4 million, although it is not apparent in the portion of the city facing the water in front of the mountains.

We spent the first day running some errands and then exploring the V&A Waterfront area, near where our ship was docked.  We had one of our favorite lunches of the trip at the Life Grand Café, seemingly another high end chain restaurant based in South Africa.

Our second day was short due to the need to clear out of immigration in the afternoon.  We spent some time looking for a grocery store downtown, which we gave up on when it was clear we were just getting lost (difficult to navigate without cell service or a good map!).  We instead ended up wandering around the canal area near the waterfront, reminding me of several places we visited in Europe with similar canals.  We ended our visit with lunch on shore before going through immigration and returning to the ship.

After a day at sea, we visited Walvis Bay, Namibia, a strong contrast to Cape Town!  Walvis Bay is a small city of approximately 63,000 people.  It is surrounded by the Namib desert and has an interesting history.  Due to its natural deep-water harbor, it was a strategic location for ships rounding the Cape of Good Hope.  As a result, there were a series of different European nations that “controlled” the bay over time.  It did not officially become part of Namibia until 1994.  Today, Walvis Bay is an important center for tourism for Namibia, due to its natural environment and nearby desert recreation activities.

We spent most of our shore time taking a very welcome long walk along a lagoon where many flamingos congregate.  After our walk, we ate at the Walvis Bay Yacht Club restaurant on our way back to the ship.  It was a Saturday, and while there were a few other cruise ship passengers there it was mostly filled with families visiting, enjoying lunch and the small beach.  We enjoyed the people watching.

One interesting thing about the landscape surrounding Walvis Bay is that it is surrounded by large sand dunes and desert, right up to the edge of the city and the sea.  It is hard to capture in pictures, but I tried to take a few from the ship as we left.