Sausage and Broccoli - More German than the Germans!

After not seeing her for over a year, I was finally reunited with my vision of loveliness - it was long overdue, but totally lived up to expectations!

Liz and I spend a lovely weekend strolling around Swakopmund, exploring the Namib desert, admiring incredibly ugly of Welwitischia plants and scaring the flamingos in Walvis Bay!

Swakopmund, completely enclosed by the Namib Desert and the Ocean, was originally built by the Germans to be the largest harbour in German-South-West Africa. The town prospered as a main source of exports and imports and soon advanced to become one of Namibia’s most important towns. To date, some political parties hold their annual gatherings in Swakopmund.
The town is a beautiful example for German colonial architecture and there is nothing – apart from the desert – that suggests that you’re in Africa and not a small village in central Germany …

Strolling along the high street, there are loads of signs like this! Pubs advertise – in German – the weekly broadcast of the Bundesliga, restaurants offer German delicacies like Saumagen, Kassler and Thüringer Rostbratwurst and the Cafés sell Schwarzwälder-Kirschtorte, Bienenstich und Nussecken! Walking into shops, I would be greeted in German, could buy German shampoo and all the books and magazines were in German!
Amazing!
After being away from home for such a long time, Swakopmund was just the overdose of German-ness that I needed!

The message on the bucket describes the theme of our trip quite well! It was a lovely and chilled out holiday with lots of ice cream, relaxing coffee breaks and walks along the beach.



Looking out onto the seemingly end- and lifeless Namib Desert.
One might think that no living creature could possibly survive in this unforgiving ocean of sand, but reading “The Sheltering Desert” – a book about two German scientists who hid in the desert when the Second World War broke out – made me realise that there are actually a lot of animals out there – zebra, springbok, jackals - even fish!



Welwitschia plants (named after Mr Welwitsch) are considered living fossils - the oldest one is estimated to be over 2000 years old! On our trip into the Namib Desert, we saw loads of these bizarre plants which, despite growing up to 9m wide, only consist of two leaves! Given the limited availability of water in the Namib Desert, the Welwitischia has its roots above the ground to absorb water and therefore stepping too close to it would actually “hurt” the plant .. hence the Rock Circles!

Unlike Swakopmund, which is all cute, cosy and charming, the British protectorate of Walvis Bay has little appeal. The city is pretty boring, but there are two things worth seeing: A massive saline, where the water shines in all sorts of weird and wonderful colours, and a lagoon with thousands of flamingos and pelicans!