Day 93, Walvis Bay, Namibia

Day 93, Walvis Bay, Namibia – April 7th

Namibia looked bleak from the ship as the first lines went across to start our mooring to the commercial wharf here in Walvis Bay. Off in the distance I could make out some of the sand dunes that are a feature of some of the available excursions. Closer to the ship were some warehouses, cranes and other items to help load and unload ships. A couple hundred yards away was the first gate where the ship’s shuttle buses were staged. Several hundred yards further down was the second gate which stopped most car traffic. A temporary craft market was set up along the roadside outside the second gate. There is some question as to whether we would be allowed to walk through the commercial port area at all. In some commercial ports we must take a shuttle bus directly from the bottom of the gangway. As it turned out passengers could walk completely out of the port here if they so choose.

Immigration

The first step today would be to clear Namibian immigration. They required a face-to-face review of our passports. We docked around 8 AM and the officials were late getting on board. Some people with early private excursions were starting to sweat since they hadn’t anticipated long delays getting off the ship, particularly in a non-tender port.

Yesterday we were given letters describing the immigration process along with a number to indicate the order in which we would see the immigration officials. As usual they start off with the letter S for the suite people and Present’s Club members. I also suspect that the people on Holland America tours were given a low number as well. We had number six but since we did not have a tour arranged and hadn’t really planned to get off the ship early our number didn’t really matter.

Progress was slower than expected as our number wasn’t called until 9:30 AM. Final call for everyone was 10:45 AM. For those planning to stay on the ship, there was no need to go through immigration. When we went to the Explorer’s Lounge when our number was called, there were several people super anxious to get off and were trying to get into the line before their number was called. Christel, the guest relations manager, was monitoring the line and turned several people away who had gotten in line before their number had been called. A few managed to sneak by or if they were especially insistent were able to get themselves cleared.

Future cruisers note, when in Walvis Bay plan your shore excursion meeting times accordingly, to accommodate potential delay in immigration. At a minimum I would set your expectations with your tour company that your arrival time may vary based on the speed of the immigration.

Shuttle Bus

We left the ship around 12:30 PM and walked out to the first gate where we would catch the shuttle-bus. There was probably a half-dozen people waiting in no particular line. But since it was such a small group it didn’t really matter as everyone got onto the next shuttle bus. We did learn later that earlier in the day there was a real mob scene for the first shuttle buses with no one from the ship providing any order, so it was a free-for-all. The shuttle buses were not on any schedule and they weren’t a standard size. Some of the buses had a capacity of 40 passengers while others had a capacity of 15 people. The daily When and Where advertised that the shuttlebus would go to the Dunes Mall and then to the Lagoon Waterfront. There was the usual caveat that the shuttlebus schedules, routes and destinations were subject to change without notice. Sure enough it appeared each driver would decide based on the passengers or some other criteria whether or not to go to the Lagoon or simply to the Dunes Mall.

As we were waiting for the next shuttle-bus, several passengers and crew members were walking back from the second or further gate and told us that there was a craft market right outside and was probably less than a quarter mile away. We learned later that it was about a mile walk to the Lagoon waterfront and several passengers did make the trip on foot.

Dunes Mall

One of the smaller shuttle buses arrived shortly, and we are soon on our way to the Dunes Mall, about 3 ½ miles away. On the way out, we passed the tourist information center which was about a 1 mile walk from the ship. I was surprised that we didn’t see any taxis or the usual group of people selling tours outside either gate. We learned later that the city has been cracking down on taxis and vendors to avoid unscrupulous people hassling the tourists. The good news is you won’t get hassled as you leave the gate unless you choose to wander down the side of the street where the temporary craft market is located. But the bad news is if you’re expecting to find a taxi or get a last-minute tour on the wharf, you’re probably not going to find anyone available.

With all the warnings about West African countries, we expected a situation closer to Maputo than the very nice and clean city we discovered. This isn’t much of a tourist city and there’s not a whole lot going on in Walvis Bay itself, but it appeared very safe and I wouldn’t hesitate to walk around by myself.

The Dunes Mall opened in October 2017 and is very modern. There were a few taxis in the parking lot of the Mall, but they were not actively soliciting rides. There wasn’t any taxi stand nor did we see many taxis driving around the city at all.

Here is a schematic of the Dunes Mall along with a link to their website and a list of the stores. Namibia has their own currency but the stores in the mall all readily accepted South African Rand, US dollars or Euros. Your change, however, will be in the local Namibian currency.

We walked from one end of the mall and back taking a quick spin through the grocery store which we always find interesting to see what types of products are for sale in various countries. We did notice a can of Coca-Cola labeled with the words “San Diego”. After about an hour of wandering through the mall we headed back to the shuttle-bus stop which left shortly after we arrived. Our next stop would be the Lagoon waterfront. We weren’t quite sure where the Lagoon waterfront was located, and my reviews of the available maps didn’t make its location clear. See the map above that shows the various points of interest in the immediate vicinity of the ship.

Lagoon Waterfront

The Lagoon waterfront has two souvenir shops, a couple of restaurants, and a few smaller huts that were selling various souvenir items. If you’re looking for T-shirts, keychains and other logo items this is where you’ll find them as we didn’t see tourist items In the Dunes Mall.

A small boat arrived at a nearby pier that was filled with ships passengers returning from one of the HAL shore excursions. We learned later that this was the Dolphin and Seal Safari – this was a $139.95 tour (4 hours) that cruised Walvis Bay Lagoon and advertised “you will observe seals and other wildlife.” Here is a photo of the boat that was used – looks crowded – but everyone we spoke with loved this excursion.

We spent about 45 minutes browsing the souvenir shops and grabbed the next shuttle heading back to the ship, arriving around 3 PM.

Back on the Ship

Once back on the ship, we had to clear immigration again. We headed down to the Explorers Lounge but when we saw how long the line was, stretching all way back through the casino, we decided to go to the MYO Choir’s performance in the Queen’s Lounge and go to immigration later.

The Mondesa Youth Opportunities (MYO) was the charity that the ship supported with the silent auction, raising over $9,000. More about the MYO HERE 

The MYO choir consisted of about a dozen youngsters probably aged 10 through 16 and they put on a wonderful show. They played several different styles of xylophones, some looked like the planks were the size of a 1 x 6. Here is a short video of their performance.

On the way back to the cabin there wasn’t much of a line for immigration, so we breezed through and cleared our departure requirement.

Brazilian Navy

Up on deck I noticed the Brazilian Navy corvette “Amazonas”, a 300-foot-long, 2,000 ton offshore patrol vessel was moored at an adjacent berth.  The Amazonas was built by BAE Systems in Portsmouth VA. Walvis Bay is the headquarters for the Namibian Navy  which has 4 patrol craft, a corvette and a logistics support ship. The Brazil Navy has a long-standing military cooperation agreement with Namibia to enhance their shared interest in the security of the South Atlantic Ocean.

Evening onboard

During dinner we heard about two tours that got great reviews: One was the tour to Swakopmund, a town about 25 miles north of Walvis Bay. The other was the 4 x 4 excursion to the dunes, but the ride was very bumpy so bear that in mind. I would consider arranging for a taxi to take us to Swakopmund for a few hours the next time we are in Walvis Bay.

The food in the main dining room was the standard Holland America fare, but up in the Lido they had advertised an African Braai cook in. Braai is a South African term for what we would call a barbecue cookout in United States. Here is a picture of the menu:

There were no guest entertainers tonight in the Queens Lounge since we were leaving late, but they did have a local Namibian cultural show. The show consisted of rhythmic dancing, playing along with a variety of percussion instruments.

Here is a short video of their show.