Walvis Bay

Walvis Bay is known for its profuse wildlife in the sea and as the entrance to the Namib Desert. The wildlife is abundant because the Benguela current from Antarctica and the nutrients surface along the coast, creating a huge ecosystem. Jim and Tim went kayaking on the Bay and was surrounded by seal pups cavorting in the ocean.

 

We did a tour of the desert, which has huge dunes near the ocean. The sand comes down the Orange River, is swept north by the current and then the winds pick the sand up creating enormous sand dunes. Dune Seven, the tallest, rises 7 kilometers outside town. 

Sand Dunes

We headed to Namib-Naukluft National Park to see the Welwitschia Plant.

Welwitschia Plant

This plant can live for 1500 years; this one is about 600 years old. It has a 35 foot taproot and morning fog from the ocean provides water. The bark structure grows about 1 mm per year. The female has large cones, while the male has smaller ones. The cones start to grow in December and drop off in April. The plant supports several endemic insects. The white spotted beetle fertilize the plant, meanwhile a red bug feeds on the beetle. Pencil bush and the dollar plant were the other vegetation nearby. We went on to see a moon landscape formed by the erosion of the mountains after the melting of former glaciers. We took a break in an oasis in the nearby valley, watered by the river flowing underground. We would later see this dry river near the ocean when we crossed a bridge over it, needed only in the years it flows briefly above ground. 

Namibia's Moonscape