We had a half-day stop in Luderitz, Namibia. Aaah, Luderitz, a metropolis on the Namibian coast – just kidding…

Luderitz is a small city of about 20,000 inhabitants in a country of only about two million total. Namibia is the second-least densely populated country in the world (Mongolia is first). The lure of Luderitz is twofold: wild horses; oysters.

Luderitz offers a gateway into the Namibian desert to view a band of feral horses that were released when the local diamond and gold mines petered out in the middle of the 20^th century. The horses have adapted over the years to the harsh desert conditions and appear to have thrived. Although we would like to have gone out to view them, it was a three-hour round trip in a bus for only about an hour to see the horses. As you might suspect, we opted for the oysters.

The oysters were a five-minute drive from the pier to the oyster farm/factory. Namibian oysters are grown in the cold waters off the nearby coast and are mostly shipped to Cape Town and environs. They guarantee viability for up to five days after shipping, so they can’t go too far. During our visit to the oyster factory, we found that the Chef on board the ship has ordered 800 oysters for delivery to the ship as an appetizer for dinner this evening. Let’s see, with only about 200 passengers aboard, that’s only four oysters per person. Of course there will be some who do not eat raw oysters, so we can probably count on at least two servings…

After a short tour and schooling by our guide, we were led upstairs in the factory building to a rather nice oyster bar set up with picnic tables and a view of the water. At about 10:00 AM we were eating oysters that had been in the water only 20-30 minutes earlier accompanied by either white wine or champagne. It doesn’t get much better than that!

We then took a short stroll through town to try to find the obligatory refrigerator magnet. The entire trip from oysters to magnet only took about an hour and a half and we were back on the ship. We spent the afternoon recovering – travel can be so exhausting…

 

Some views of the colonial German architecture in Luderitz. Remember, Namibia was once part of German West Africa in colonial days.

Left picture shows rush hour in Luderitz. Right picture shows main street scene. The fountain in the foreground was built to commemorate the first water main laid in the city; however, there is not enough water to turn it on.

Tomorrow we are in Walvis Bay, Namibia for our last Africa stop before starting back across the Atlantic. Here is a map showing the itinerary for our final leg.