Dakar, Senegal

 

April 25th:

After docking at Dakar, Senegal, we boarded a harbor ferry and sailed to the Ile de Goree.  This was an island shipping point for black slaves in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s.  While other ports in Western Africa on major rivers were more significant in the slave trade business, the Ile de Goree has been the best maintained and is now a World Heritage Site..

Surprisingly, the USA was not the major recipient of black slaves.  Only 5% of the estimated 15 to 30 million slaves exported from Western Africa were destined for the USA.  40% of the slaves were sent to Brazil and the remaining 50% ended up  in the various Caribbean Islands. 

Like the rest of central Africa, unemployment is high.  It runs near 50% right now.  About 1/3 of the population live below $1.25per day poverty level and the average age is only 19.

The Ile de Goree was picturesque.

  

          

A local woman with her (we assume) child arranges produce for sale along one of the local streets.

On return to the ship, we were treated to a performance by the Senegal National Ballet Company,  For season ticket holders to the Arizona Ballet, we can assure you this is no ballet we ever saw in Phoenix.  The performance was entertaining and fast paced.

   

Tema, Ghana

 

April 21st:

We missed the shore side show when the ship docked in Lome, Togo, so we made sure we were up on deck for our arrival in Tema, Ghana.  We were not disappointed.  There was a folkloric group performing for us on the dock.

For the first two hours in port, the show went on, and on, and on. 

      

We elected to stay aboard ship during this port visit but other passengers said they were pleasantly surprised. 

Walvis Bay, Namibia

 

April 15th:

Walvis Bay is located at the northern end of Namibia.   We left the ship to take a wildlife cruise on Walvis Bay.  As we were waiting for our tour boat to arrive the tour group ahead of us headed out for the tour with a couple of extra passengers.  If you look between the two Yamaha outboard motors you will see two seals attempting to board the boat.

 

We were not ignored by the local inhabitants.  Shortly after leaving port one young one and one half year old seal boarded our catamaran tour boar.  He (we were told only males will attempt a free lunch aboard a boat) grabbed an early lunch before returning to find another tour boat.

 

Our second seal visitor was an older male nicknamed Popeye by the ship’s crew.  He stayed longer, ate more fish, and for a while didn’t want to leave.  The crew member even lured him toward the edge of the boat but wouldn’t follow the the fish that were thrown over the side. 

 

Seals weren’t our only visitors looking for a handout.  A black cormorant landed on the boat railing and got several fish for the effort.          

                    

Besides an abundance of seals and and a few cormorants,  we saw a number of small dolphins, but were unable to photograph them.  To finish off our wild life cruise, the harbor area had large numbers of pelicans. 

   

Craft stalls were located at the pier and these two local tribal women (not sure which tribe) posed for photos for $1.00.  Yes they were bare breasted and the baby was naked, but Anne chose a modest pose for her image.

Luderitz, Namibia

 

April 14th:

Namibia is a new country.  Independence from South Africa was gained in 1990. Originally, this was a German Colony called German Southwest Africa.

The coast line showed us one of the major features of Namibia, desert.  Namibia claims the title to having the tallest coastal sand dune in the world.  The desert extended right down to the Atlantic Ocean.

Entering the harbor we were treated to what looked like a small European Village with a Church located on the top of the hill.

       

The tour for this morning was to the Kolmanskop ghost town located about 15 miles inland from Luderitz.  Kolmanskop was the town supporting a diamond mining operation in the area.  This town started in the late 1890’s and was finally abandoned when the diamond operation moved elsewhere in 1940.  We expected to see something like Bodie, California, or some of the old Arizona towns.  What we saw instead was a series of brick, stone, and stucco buildings.

Water and its delivery was an important  activity in the town since there was no source of potable water in the area.   The small train (only a few cars are left) shown below was used to deliver 40 liters (about 11 gallons) of water to each home in the community daily.  Besides general deterioration of the buildings, sand encroachment was a major problem.

                  

These two building were the homes of the chief engineer and the quartermaster for the diamond mining operation.

 

While the front of the buildings didn’t look too bad, as we walked around to the uphill side of the quartermaster’s home, we saw the effects of the movement of the sand.

As we walked through the community, a small water basin attracted some small birds.  While many looked like wrens, this one was a Weaver Bird.   It was similar to a variety of Weaver Bird we saw in Tanzania last fall.

Cape Town, South Africa

 

April 11th and 12th:

Cape Town marks the end of the third segment of the world cruise.  It’s hard to believe that we have completed  three quarters of the trip.

As we entered the harbor we were greeted with a clear view of Table Top Mountain and the city of Cape Town.  We’re told that this is unusual.  Most days some or all of the mountain is covered in clouds.

We stayed in Cape Town two full days.  We used the first day to tour the city via the local Hop On Hop Off bus. Like the other South African cities we visited on this trip, Cape Town is modern, and has great roads and highways.  We were reminded by the ship that high unemployment and extreme poverty of the black community has increased the amount of street crime. Walking alone; off the beaten, path or at night is unsafe.

    

We did get a glimpse of the black townships on our second day.  Clearly, progress since Apartheid, has not reached all South Africans.

On our second day, we hired a taxi to take us out to several wineries. The few South African wines we tasted at home were good.  Our visit reaffirmed that.  The big surprise was the scenery. The most impressive setting was the Vrede en Lust (means Peace and Eagerness in Dutch) winery.  South African’s call wineries, wine farms, this one is located in a valley next to the Stellenbosch Mountains.  The view below is from the patio of the tasting room. 

We bought a few bottles of wine.  The only regret we have is that neither of the wineries we visited is distributed in the US.  These wines will be a fond memory.

Leaving Cape Town, Table Mountain’s typical cloud blanket returned.  Both of us agreed that if we ever take another safari, we would include a return visit to South Africa.

East London, South Africa

 

April 9th:

The MS Pacific Princess sailed into Buffalo River from the Indian Ocean this morning and docked at East London’s cruise terminal.  We decided to see the city on our own. 

We shared a cab with friends to the post office and then to a shopping center.  The cab ride ended up giving us a mini  tour with a private guide.   When we arrived at the post office, we were in for a surprise.  We couldn’t enter.  The door was locked and we had to be buzzed in by the clerk on duty an example of the extra security needed.  

Our cab driver told us he was having problems earning a living since he had two strikes against him.  He was white and over 50.  We were told there was no “safety net” for all South African residents;  no unemployment benefits, retirement pension, or government supported healthcare.

The city looked like any  western city.  Modern buildings, good roads, and modern infrastructure, but our port lecturer told us they are saddled with 30% + unemployment and 25% of the black community (blacks are 80% of the population) were diagnosed with AIDS.  He indicated the actual percentage is higher since there are a lot of South Africans who carry or have the disease but have not yet been diagnosed.  We only took a few photographs as the ship departed East London.

       

           

Durban, South Africa

 

April 8;

The ship pulled into Durban at 7:00am. Our initial reaction is that Durban is a bigger surprise than Maputo.  The downtown and wharf areas are impressive.  This is a modern city.  Durban is the gateway to KwaZulu, the Zulu Homeland.

 

Our limited time in port prevented us from visiting an actual Zulu village so in midmorning we left on our tour to a recreation of a Zulu village in the 1000 Hills area.   The site also had a small crocodile and snake display.  As we departed our bus, we were greeted by several Zulu tribal members in tradition dress.  We later found out that single women are bare above the waist.  Apparently all the women were either married or they chose not to follow tradition.   Wayne was disappointed. 

       

                     

In addition to the tribal entertainment, we were in the area called 1000 Hills.  While the day was misty and overcast below is what we saw from the edge of the village.

   

After the tribal show, we visited the crocodile “farm” and snake pens.  The “farm” was actually just a series of pens holding crocodiles of various ages and sizes.  The youngest was eight months (and about 12” long) to one 100+ year old male croc pictured below, who weighed in at 2,000 pounds and was over 15’ long.

    

While traveling to and from the village, we were able to see some of the Durban city sights and neighborhoods.  If you didn’t look too carefully, you would think you were in any western city but…..we noticed all the middle and upper class homes were surrounded by high walls and fitted with either barbed wire or and electrified fence at the top.

     

As  we left Durban, the South African Navy frigate (or destroyer) was leaving port.  The surprising thing was that they used tugs to pull them away from the pier. 

We also had a nice sunset as we entered the Indian Ocean and head to East London.