Dear Readers,  after the dunes at Sossusvlei, we headed to the town of Swakopmund – this is the second largest conurbation in Namibia, but it has a very relaxed feel, with lots of brightly-coloured German colonial architecture. Our guide pointed out the heavily-sloped roofs, designed for snow that of course never comes to Namibia. We stayed in the very posh Hansa Hotel, built in  1905 and the go-to spot for weddings and celebrations ever since.

It was something of a shock to be in such plush surroundings when we were caked in sand and generally dishevelled, but somehow we coped. John perked up considerably at the sight of a very nice bookshop, which was good because we had  a boat trip planned, and John  wasn’t coming on it – he gets very seasick, but I think the thought of a few hours to just wander around on his own was very appealing.

The boat trip left from Walvis Bay – this has become an increasingly important port for resources such as copper and granite. If you have a granite countertop, it could well have been imported from Namibia. Apparently the trade with Zambia has increased as people are preferring to travel the extra miles to this port rather than cope with increasing delays and chaos at South African ports.

We could tell that this was going to be no ordinary trip when a fur seal jumped on board just after we left the port. Apparently there are four individuals who do this, and the skipper has put in a little port at the back of the the boat so that they can pop in for a pilchard.

Then  we were off. We passed an abandoned boat which is now a site for cormorants to roost.

Long chains of cormorants passed us by, and at one point we were surrounded by dusky dolphins – experience shows me that they’re almost impossible to photograph, so I just sat back and enjoyed them. Here are some cormorants as compensation.

We passed the fur seal colony, and spent time watching all the interactions. There are lots of babies, and a few big males patrolling the beach and looking very butch.

But then we were joined by another visitor….Dodo the pelican is an ex-rescue pelican who also pops aboard for a few pilchards. I think it’s safe to say that none of us expected to be so up close and personal with the wildlife.

The final surprise was a magnificent spread of food plus champagne. There were local oysters and all manner of other titbits, and suffice it to say that none of us fancied lunch when we got back to port.

On the way back, we did a spot of birding at the local lagoon, and saw a tremendous array of seabirds,

Greater flamingo

Flamingoes, black-winged stilts, avocets, sanderlings….

But we also saw these jackal pups…we didn’t see their Mum, but hopefully she wasn’t far away.

So, a different aspect of Namibia. Tomorrow, we are heading back into the desert, the coastal one this time.