Monday May 11, 2026
Hi Folks! Today we were docked at Walvis Bay in the country of Namibia within the continent of Africa. Walvis Bay is a city located on the western coast of Namibia, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Namib Desert to the east.
We didn’t dock until Noon and had to go thru Face to Face immigration, so our 4 hour tour did not leave until 2:45 PM. The tour was called “Moon Landscape & Welwitschia”. We first drove to the Namib Naukluft Park, one of the largest parks in Namibia. We stopped to take photos of the Welwitschia plant.
It’s a plant that’s well known for its morphology. As a gymnosperm, it uses cones to reproduce. Both male and female plants produce nectar from their cones that attract these red insects (see pic!) that then carry the pollen to other plants. The plant has only two leaves that grow out of a large woody stem, known as a crown, and continue to grow throughout the plant’s life.
We saw the Female plant that was 700 years old and the Male plant that was 150 years old. Wait!! Why do the females live so much longer than the males?? Lol. I guess just like humans!
We then drove to this Moon landscape looking area that was so cool! It was caused by water erosion from 2 million years ago!! Several movies were filmed here such as Mad Maxx and 10,000 Years BC. I can see why because the landscape is so surreal.
We then drove to the Goanikontes Oasis for refreshments and to take in the desert views. They had a gift shop there so of course we bought stuff. I’m looking at you grandkids! We then drove back to the ship.
We got back about 7 PM and were a little dusty from the sand and moon dust (it was windy!) so we just got showered and ordered room service. After that we went to the theater for the 9:30 PM Folkloric Local Show. The Namibian Youth Choir was there to sing local songs and dance. Dang those kids had some great voices!
We then crashed for the night since we have an early excursion tomorrow. We are once again in Walvis Bay tomorrow. Hope everyone had a great day!
The Wandering Italian 