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Walvis Bay

Photos: Walvis Bay

November 1, 2011

The day started with an early wakeup followed by a 30 km drive to Walvis Bay to go sea kayaking. Our guide’s name was Craig. He was originally born in Scotland but grew up in Botswana and South Africa. He was very knowledgable of the surroundings and provided a good mix of facts while also allowing us lots of time to explore on our own.

After arriving in Walvis Bay and picking up the kayak trailer, we headed out around the bay along a sand spit out towards the lighthouse. Along the way, we drove through the local salt mine. The colour of the water varied from gray to blue to red in different parts of the salt pans. This is apparently due to bacteria in the water that change depending on the stage of the mining process. The bacteria is rinsed from the salt prior to export.

We also passed a few flamingos on our way out. Craig told us that there are usually an estimated 90,000 flamingos at this time of year. However, due to more rain than usual this year ¹, the flamingos did not migrate from the other salt pans in Namibia and Botswana to Walvis Bay. The counts for this year estimate only 1300 flamingos so they are much harder to come across relatively speaking from last year.

We launched our kayaks at the end of the sand spit and found a few dolphins out in the ocean. They did not get too close to us, but we did see them jump in the distance.

The highlight of the kayaking trip was paddling through the fur seal colony. There are 15 – 20,000 seals in the area and the younger seals love to play in the water with the kayaks. They would often sneak up behind the boats, occasionally nibble on the paddles, jump out of the water all around the boats, and if they really liked you, they would give you a big splash! Great fun!

We spent the afternoon exploring some of the street vendors in town, and had a great home style meal at a local restaurant. Delicious lamb curry!