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Walvis Bay, Namibia |
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The sail from Togo to Walvis Bay, our first port in Namibia, was
four days at sea, and I must say, a welcome escape from the sensual
overload of the last 5 ports in the 3rd world.
Namibia is a huge, barren country with just a little over a million people. It is the second least populated country in the world (following Mongolia). Now how impressive is that, that I can dispense fascinating, albeit totally useless, facts such as population densities in various countries... very impressive, no?? Thanks Wikipedia!! The Portuguese (of course) were the first to explore the coast of Namibia in the 1400s, but decided not to further pursue the venture, probably because of the inhospitable environment. The country was first colonized in the 1800s by the Germans as German South West Africa, and when the Germans left, the area was annexed as a territory to South Africa which brought in the Dutch / English (Afrikaans) influence. This also brought Apartheid to the area. In 1990 the annexed territory gained independence as Namibia - just a few years before the Apartheid government fell in neighboring South Africa. I mention the Apartheid influence because the towns I have visited in Namibia are exceptionally clean. This was especially obvious after having come from Togo (and the other previous mid, west African countries we visited). These cities are very, very clean, very affluent, and notably VERY white, by African standards. These pictures are of Walvis Bay
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