Transit to Swakopmund.......

Good Morning!  The feisty doyenne of our group, Rosann, said of Le Mirage, This is a hard place to leave if you don't care about electricity or plumbing!.

Oh well, this is all history now and we are no worse for the wear.  Luggage loaded, we have another long day of travel as we head to the coast on a northwesterly route.
Tony has provided us with a terrific packet of maps, historical timelines and photos of all the animal and bird life.  These bus trips are a good opportunity to review them. 

This is desolate land with water coming from their underground rivers and 40% of electricity coming from South Africa.  Once a part of S.A., the grid was already in place. There is one nuclear power plant in South Africa north of Cape Town and three others are in the planning stages.  A new coal fired plant is being built in northwest 
South Africa but is 2 years behind in construction and 500 million over budget.

We are headed to Solitaire, a small berg developed when it dawned on someone that this was a crossroads for roads from the central and coastal towns.

It was a essentially only a re-provision stop offering gas and some groceries.  They were dying for a baker so in walks Moose McGregor who got busy teaching the locals to bake.  Six months later his wife walked out....well she certainly didn't walk as this is the middle of nowhere.  She must have hitched a ride with someone with a full tank and a basket of bread.

Tony says they are famous for their apple crumble so many of the group had some accompanied by strong coffee.  Out here in the desert they say things never rust, but I'm not so sure.  The cactus we see were actually imported from New Mexico.
Moose is buried on the property.  Apparently he ate too much apple crumble and died of a heart attack a few years back.  

We leave on a gravel road which is an improvement on the sand through the Naukluft mountains, the geologist's paradise.  The recent rains have filled the dry riverbeds.

Before too long we cross the Tropic of Capricorn.  This sign is replaced every two years or so because of all the stickers tourists leave.  This infuriates Wimpy who is busy cleaning it up until we suggest that we would like a Wimpy-less photo of just the sign!

We pass through the Valley of 100 hills streaked with the hoof prints of the mountain zebra which we can only see at a distance, heading for the Kuiseb Pass.

Tony has not seen water here for 3 or 4 years and he is overjoyed.  So much so that we park the bus and walk down and over the bridge finding large veins of white quartz in the rock.  Garnets abound in the river bed.

The two Garys and Tony with Birthday Gary in the middle

Our doyenne Rosann

As we approach Swakopmund the landscape becomes very lunar.  The Mummy and Mad Max IV were filmed here.

Swakopmund is 25 minutes north of Walvis (pronounced Walfus) Bay here at the Atlantic Ocean.  As we enter town we see what Wimpy calls Chinatown, little settlements built for the migrant workers.  There is still much German character here and is definitely coastal in landscape.  Reminds me a bit of San Diego.

 Working Lighthouse

A Dragon Tree

It is nice to be back by the ocean.  Coming from the desert we so much enjoying the drop in temperature from 105 to 65.

The bus stops for lunch at The Jetty built in an attempt to construct a one mile long jetty out into the Atlantic to accommodate ships.  The coast is too shallow for large boats to get close here.  Well, that was apparently a pipe dream because they stopped after 100 yards.

Now the endpoint is a restaurant and we cross a glass threshold with the roiling Atlantic beneath our feet.

We have a delicious lunch followed by birthday cake for our birthday boy, Gary.  You should have seen the stricken look on his face when they handed him a knife to cut the cake...fortunately the staff took over.

After lunch we walk from the restaurant into the town passing shops, open air markets and lots of little cafes.  Here there is a small cove and people are actually swimming in the 55 degree water. That's like January 1st Polar Bear Day in San Diego.  The jet skiers were in wet suits.

Our destination is the Swakopmund Museum of History.  It's a small and charming.  So many museums get into the weeds with exhibits but this is spare and choice.  There were areas devoted to flora and fauna, birds, fish and trees.  My favorite was the rocks. I like my gems!

From the Museum it is only a short walk up to the hotel which has a colonial feel to it. Built around a center courtyard with the pool, it is well landscaped and maintained. Our room is spacious and comfortable. The long soaking tub will get hot water right up to one's ears.

Always appreciated after a bumpy ride!