{"id":7610,"date":"2025-04-12T04:10:43","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T08:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?p=7610"},"modified":"2025-04-12T06:25:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T10:25:30","slug":"world-cruise-three-days-in-namibia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?p=7610","title":{"rendered":"World Cruise – Three days in Namibia…"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Sailed up the western coast of Africa from Cape Town to the next country north of South Africa Namibia.<\/p>

We arrived in Luderitz early morning on a Sunday and as we expected, the town was quiet with local residents at church and enjoying their day of rest – so we did not expect much in this very small, sleepy town.<\/p>

Luderitz located between the Namib desert and the Atlantic, was established by German settlers in early 1900’s when diamonds were discovered – and as we found out, they did not dig for those diamonds, they were sitting there just under a layer of sand. The diamond miners had staff on their stomachs crawling the dessert inch by inch and in the course of two years mined some 2 tons of diamonds. \u00a0They built a town called Kolmanskop which today is a ghost town. \u00a0It was abandoned in 1915 when the diamonds dried up and found new diamonds south of Luderitz. \u00a0At Kolmanskop, a fourth generation native of the area told us the story of the small town, its rise in luxury and final demise to being a ghost town. \u00a0Very interesting in deed and very sad as you can sense the impeding demolition of the buildings by the wind blown sand over the next 20 years. \u00a0<\/p>

Traveling back to the ship, it was noticeable that stores were closed, and walking around would be to see the original German architecture. \u00a0We decided to have a good lunch, meet friends on the ship.<\/p>

The following day, we sailed further up the coast to Walvis Bay, arriving at noon, we had the most highly anticipated excursion, “where the dunes meet the ocean” in which we would be in 4×4 vehicles and travel up the coast along the dunes of the desert which borders the ocean. \u00a0We stopped along the way to see the bay where flamingos and pelicans hang out eating on the small fish. Then we traveled to a salt mining operation and touch the salt in the trapped waters. \u00a0Picking up samples of sand our driver Jani, took a magnet and simply extracted the iron from the sand. \u00a0The close up photo of the sand shows the tiny traces of diamond, ruby, iron and many other minerals in the sand. \u00a0 Our caravan of 4×4’s then entered the national park, and as we traveled the dunes got higher and higher – our driver grew up driving these sand hills and he gave us a thrill and his driving ability made us very comfortable…. midpoint we had a snack break on the dune overlooking the nearby ocean and had wonderful champaign, beer (Namibia has excellent beer), finger foods of various cheeses and pastries. \u00a0<\/p>

On the way back, we had more exciting Sand dune climbing and going down huge sand mounds.. Like driving on snow except warmer and the sand is more predicatble. Along the coast, we felt like the episode of Top Gear that was filmed here a few years ago. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>

Arriving back at the ship at 5:30, we had to do a quick drop off of our stuff and get onto another bus that was taking us to Viking’s special event – Diner cookout and party in the middle of the Desert – they had 700 guests all bussed some 50 minutes away into the middle of the desert among the high dunes – to a tented pavilion that had white cloth tables, all the beer, wine and food you could imagine. The steak was spring buck venison and local sausages too.<\/p>

After the diner was done, we gazed at the stars in the sky and enjoyed the near dark conditions you don’t get in south Florida. We traveled back to the ship, staff there welcomed us back on board with music and Congo music and up in the pool area, had a chocolate & wine buffet to enjoy before going to bed. WHAT A DAY it was!\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\"Flamingos
Flamingos in the distance<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Walvis
Walvis Bay salt mines a big industry here called the \"African glaciers\"<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"love
love these photo frames - good for memories and highlighting the area<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"King
King of the hill!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Driving
Driving back on the sand dunes<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Driving
Driving the dunes by the beach<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Okay
Okay here we go!!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Closeup
Closeup of the sand - look for tiny pieces of diamonds, rubies and iron<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Entry
Entry to national park - sandwich because you are sandwiched between the ocean and the dunes<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Our
Our ride for the dune adventure <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Salt
Salt blocks form in the waterways next to the dunes<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"A
A break for some snacks and refreshments <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"The
The magnet extracted the iron in the sand<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Hill
Hill climbing<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"the
the chase<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"We
We got to do some dune walking and filled our shoes with sand<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Where
Where the dunes meet the ocean<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Driving
Driving on the dunes was a thrill<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"You
You have to be there to appreciate the terrain <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Our
Our group of guests for the 4x4 ride<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Amazing
Amazing scene of ocean and sand dunes <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Night
Night fell as we arrived at the special event in the desert<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Viking\u2019s
Viking\u2019s dinner for 700 guests in the desert <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Viking\u2019s
Viking\u2019s dinner in the desert <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Night
Night at the special event<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"The
The stars of the desert sky....<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Viking
Viking welcome back greeting<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Chocolate
Chocolate under the stars<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Selling
Selling her crafts to live<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Here is a video of our travel in Walvis Bay, enjoy!
(click on the link or YouTube play button)<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\thttps:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Dune-Namibia_0.mp4<\/a>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Sailed up the western coast of Africa from Cape Town to the next country north of South Africa Namibia. We arrived in Luderitz early morning on a Sunday and as we expected, the town was quiet with local residents at church and enjoying their day of rest – so we did not expect much in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230351823,"featured_media":7627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[200,50518550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel","category-world-cruise-24-25"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peuwlC-1YK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7496,"url":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?p=7496","url_meta":{"origin":7610,"position":0},"title":"World Cruise – South Africa – Part 2","author":"Jim and Gina Sumislaski","date":"April 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Part 2 - Port Elizabeth and Cape Town South Africa\u00a0The challenge of sailing through South Africa and rounding the cape of good hope is that the seas can be quite tricky. \u00a0We have been extremely fortunate in that the seas have cooperated with our travels to date have been good.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","block_context":{"text":"Travel","link":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?cat=200"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_5596.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_5596.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_5596.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_5596.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_5596.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6160,"url":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?p=6160","url_meta":{"origin":7610,"position":1},"title":"World Cruise – Day 40 Bay of Islands, New Zealand!!! Magnificent!","author":"Jim and Gina Sumislaski","date":"February 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"We had a great 4 day hop from Cook Islands to New Zealand (which included losing a day crossing the international date line). We arrived in the bay of Islands specifically Waitangi next to the town of Paihia, where we rose early in the morning and took the included panorama\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","block_context":{"text":"Travel","link":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?cat=200"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/img_2483.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/img_2483.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/img_2483.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/img_2483.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/img_2483.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7722,"url":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?p=7722","url_meta":{"origin":7610,"position":2},"title":"World Cruise – okay, we saw Luanda, Angola\u2026","author":"Jim and Gina Sumislaski","date":"April 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\ufffcWhen the itinerary for the Viking Sky World Cruise was released and we saw Angola listed as one of the port stops, it definitely gave us pause. Our expectations for docking there were fairly low\u2014mainly due to Angola\u2019s history of slave trade, internal civil unrest, the presence of malaria, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","block_context":{"text":"Travel","link":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?cat=200"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_6029.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_6029.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_6029.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_6029.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_6029.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8167,"url":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?p=8167","url_meta":{"origin":7610,"position":3},"title":"World Cruise – Vigo, Spain!","author":"Jim and Gina Sumislaski","date":"May 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Not far from Porto Portugal, you can get to Vigo, Spain a beautiful city with lots of history. \u00a0Known for being Spain's gateway to the Atlantic, it's history goes back to the romans. \u00a0The port was used as a trading post between the Vikings and Romans. \u00a0Being so important however\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","block_context":{"text":"Travel","link":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?cat=200"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/img_7242.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/img_7242.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/img_7242.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/img_7242.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7391,"url":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?p=7391","url_meta":{"origin":7610,"position":4},"title":"World Cruise – South Africa – Part 1","author":"Jim and Gina Sumislaski","date":"April 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Day 100 of 138 of our cruise from Fort Lauderdale to London. We are making 5 stops in South Africa - Richards Bay, Durban, East London, Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) and finally Cape Town as we round the southern tip of Africa.Let's cover these in a mult-part series if I may\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","block_context":{"text":"Travel","link":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?cat=200"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_5343.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_5343.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_5343.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_5343.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6876,"url":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?p=6876","url_meta":{"origin":7610,"position":5},"title":"World Cruise – Malaysia and Thialand","author":"Jim and Gina Sumislaski","date":"March 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Days 73-77 of 138 cruise days traveling Fort Lauderdale to London on the Viking Sky. \u00a0After leaving Singapore, we had a casual sea day going up the very busy Strait of Malacca (which has to be the busiest shipping lane for trade between India and China) as we headed towards\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","block_context":{"text":"Travel","link":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/?cat=200"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/img_4323-2.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/img_4323-2.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/img_4323-2.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/img_4323-2.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/img_5917.jpg?fit=1500%2C2000&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/230351823"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7610"}],"version-history":[{"count":55,"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7710,"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7610\/revisions\/7710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chasing-sunsets.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}