Flamingos at Sandwich Harbor

Miles of Flamingos

Sand Dunes outside of Walvis Bay

April 11, 2013  Walvis Bay, Namibia Day 1

Walvis Bay is a fairly small, but busy industrial port. Most of the 60,000 residents work in the port area, but there is also a sizeable fishing fleet and a local operation that extracts salt from seawater. The first European visitors were Portuguese mariners seeking a way to the Indies in the late 15^th century. Towards the end of the 19^th century Namibia was annexed by Germany, except for the enclave of Walvis Bay, which was taken in 1878 by the British for the Cape Colony. In 1904, the Herero people (Bantu-speaking cattle herders) launched a rebellion, which was brutally put down. Diamonds were discovered east of Luderitz and the German authorities branded the area between Luderitz and the Orange River a forbidden area. German rule came to an end during World War I when German forces surrendered to a South African expeditionary army fighting for the Allies. South Africa was given mandate to rule the territory by the League of Nations. Although the mandate was renewed following World War II, the United Nations refused to sanction the outright annexation of the country to South Africa. In 1910, Walvis Bay became part of the Union of South Africa. South-West Africa and South Africa wrestled control of the area back and forth until 1990 when South-West Africa gained independence as Namibia. Walvis Bay was finally transferred to Namibia in 1994.

Our tour today took us to the Namib Dunes located just a short distance from the port of Walvis Bay. On our way to the dunes, we stopped at a large lagoon area just south of the port to see several varieties of Flamingos. Both white and pink in color, they must have numbered in the hundreds of thousands, spreading as far as the eye could see. Seeing the Flamingos flying through the air was spectacular, as the black accents on the underside of their wings showed so elegantly and distinctly.

The vehicles we took into the dunes were mostly Land Rovers with four-wheel drive and are able to navigate the sand dunes. Our group consisted of about seven cars, each with seven guests plus the driver who was also our guide. We roamed the dunes of golden sand so fine that any small breeze will pick up and carry the sand. Near the coast there are a variety of plants and insects that survive on the ocean air, fog and moisture from the sea. Once you get a half-mile away from the ocean very little plant life survives the heat of the desert and the dry conditions. It almost never rains in this part of the world. The sand dunes climb like mountains with one side being a gentle slope to the top with a sharp peak and falling dramatically down the back- side.

Along the way we stopped to see several dolphins swimming very near shore, ostrich’s, deer like springbok, dung beetles, and gecko like lizards. For lunch we stopped in a valley protected from the wind where a lunch was set up in fine fashion. Folding tables and canvas chairs, tablecloths, champagne, beer, oysters on the half shell, salads, calamari, fish, egg rolls, cheese, hardboiled eggs, and bread and butter were served. The lunch also gave us an opportunity to climb some of the sand dunes nearby.

The weather was very pleasant with cool temperatures in the morning warming in the afternoon, but never too hot. Two ladies in our vehicle were annoying as they screamed at every hill we climbed and talked non-stop, but this is life.

We returned to the ship in the late afternoon in time for the Biergartenfest served poolside. This authentic German Beirgartennfest, was a celebration of beer, food and life. Local German brewed beer was served along with pretzels, several types of bratwurst, roast pig, and several salads and many typical German desserts. A local German entertainment group performed both German and American songs. A German event may seem out of place here but not really. About 20 miles north of Walvis Bay is located the German town of Swakopmund, settled by Germans in 1892 and located on the Swakop River. The Germans built a jetty out into the water but never completed the dredging of the shallow harbor to make it suitable for shipping. This slice of Germany on the edge of the desert resembles a charming seaside Bavarian village resort. Today it is mostly a resort town.

April 10, 2013  Sea Day

The sea has been a bit rough since we left Cape Town and headed up the west coast of Africa towards Namibia. The sea is filled with white caps and the swells are quite large. Luckily the winds are blowing from behind the ship, rather than from the side where we would be feeling it even more. These are the roughest seas that we have had but people seem to be handling it quite well.

We had a new lecturer this morning by the name of Howard Walker. Over a 33-year career Howard was ambassador to Madagascar, Togo, and the Federal and Islamic Republic of the Comoros, South Africa, Tanzania, and counsel general in northern Nigeria, and political counselor in Jordan. Following his diplomatic career he has written about foreign policy for newspapers and journals, spoken at foreign policy conferences and taught courses on diplomacy and international relations at universities in Washington, Rome, and South Africa.

His lecture this morning was about South Africa’s Regional Power, Its Assets and Liabilities. He discussed South Africa’s geo-strategic power, economics, and politics, military and moral example. It was a very large subject and he was only able to cover a very brief overview of the subject.

In the afternoon we had a new speaker by the name of David Smith who spoke on Travel Photography Tips for Travelers. David demonstrated tips and techniques for taking and sharing better photographs of cruise activities, ports of call and excursions.

Deaths—There now have been four deaths on board and who know how many more were taken from the ship due to illnesses and accidents.  In our own lives, seven of our friends or acquaintances or parents of friends have died while we have been away.  Life is short…..eat dessert first!

The evening featured Pops Mohamed and Friends as the evening’s entertainment in the Queens Lounge.  Jenn was infatuated with the sax player.  Pops played several native instruments with unusual sounds.  The concert lasted 45 minutes and only 4 songs were played.

Mark at Table Mountain

April 9, 2103  Cape Town, South Africa Day 3

Once again our friend Bruno picked us up shore-side to take us up to the top of Table Mountain. We drove to the Lower Cableway Station located at 1,190 feet where we took the rotating cable car to the top of Table Mountain, a climb of more than 2,500 feet. Each cable car holds 65 people and is one of only three in the world including Palm Springs, CA and the Swiss Alps at Mount Titlis, that rotates while climbing. There are two sets of cable cars traveling about thirty-five feet per second, allowing them to transport 800 guests per hour. Once at the top of Table Mountain you can walk around the large plateau to enjoy incredible panoramic views over the bay, ocean, and city. Clouds often hang over the mountain creating what is called a tablecloth but on this morning we were able to see for miles with no obstruction from the clouds hovering above. It was not until we began our descent in the cable car that it began to rain lightly. The mountain is comprised of granite and sandstone but over time small grasses and blooming plants have grown out of the rocky surface, creating a beautiful park-like plateau. They say that there are 2,285 plant species growing on the mountain, which is a staggering number.

After descending the mountain on the cable car we took a drive over to another lower point of the city called Signal Hill overlooking the harbor. Just above Signal Hill is a taller peak called Lion’s Head for it resemblance to a lion. We then had a brief tour of downtown including the city hall, several churches, the convention center and many hotels and office towers. Much of this downtown area has been built on reclaimed land that was once a part of the harbor.

We had lunch back at the Victoria and Albert waterfront with Bruno before our all-aboard time of 3:00PM. The ship would not sail until nearly 6:00PM but immigration officials wanted to see each person individually to stamp passports before our departure and with over 1,000 guests this takes a bit of time. We also were required to have another emergency lifeboat drill prior to sailing due to the large number of new passengers onboard the vessel.

It was our tablemate, Gord’s, birthday yesterday so Kent had ordered a special chocolate bomb dessert to celebrate. The bombs are individual balls of ice cream dipped in melted chocolate that hardens when it comes in touch with the cold ice cream. This gives you a hard chocolate crust over the ice cream, which they decorated with chocolate mouse and a cherry on top.

The evening’s entertainment was Petrina Johnson, a star of the West End musicals Sunset Boulevard, Copacabana and Evita. She had a beautiful voice.

April 8, 2013  Cape Town, South Africa – Day 2

Inverdoorn Elephants

Lighthouse at Cape Point

Inverdoorn Giraffes

Cape Town, was founded by the San and Khoikhoi tribes, collectively known as the Khoisan, long before the Dutch East India Company established a supply depot in Cape Town in 1652. But and large the indigenous people refused to deal with the Dutch, so slaves were imported from Madagascar, India, Ceylon, Malaya, and Indonesia to deal with the shortage of labor. There was also a shortage of women in the colony, so the Europeans exploited the female slaves for both labor and sex. In time the slaves also mixed with the Khoisan. The offspring of these unions formed the basis of sections of today’s Cape population and also helps explain character of the city’s Cape Malay population. During the Dutch rule of over 150 years, Kaapstad, as the Cape settlement was known, thrived and gained a wider reputation as the “Tavern of the Seas”, a riotous port used by every sailor traveling between Europe and the Orient. By the end of the 18^th century, the Dutch East India Company was nearly bankrupt, making Cape Town an easy target for British imperialist interests in the region. Following the British defeat of the Dutch in 1806 at Bloubergstrand, 15 miles north of Cape Town, the colony was ceded to the Crown on August 13, 1814. The slave trade was abolished in 1808, and all slaves were emancipated in 1833.

Our excursion today took us to a private game reserve by the name of Inverdoorn, which is located almost a three hour drive north of Cape Town. The reserve contains 10,000 hectares of land where they have not only a fine resort, but also a wide variety of animals. Ten passenger jeeps along with a guide took us through several different enclosures where we saw rhino, buffalo, giraffes, lions, cheetahs, gazelles, zebra, wildebeests, and others. My favorite, although I have seen them many times in the zoo, were the giraffes. The way they walk with such grace and bend their long necks to eat from the treetops is so beautiful. The weather was cloudy and cold in comparison to the weather that we have experienced thus far on the trip. The guide gave us blankets to share, but it was still cold. Kent and several others in our jeep had to stop along the way for a potty stop. While the three men were peeing in the bush, those remaining on the jeep were photographing them like they did the other animals. The tour of the animals took about three hours before heading back to the resort for a buffet lunch served poolside. The lunch included several salads, pea soup, roasted pork, spaghetti and a couple of desserts.

The ride to and from the ship to the reserve took us through the wine valley where you see mile after mile of vineyards growing. It is early fall here so the vines are still lush green in color from one side of the valley to the other. On either side of the valley, the mountains rise protecting the area from the wind and much of the cool ocean air. It was raining on and off but it was beautiful none-the-less.   Once back at the ship, we headed to the mall for a short shopping effort.

Back onboard the ship we were entertained by a local group called “African Masala” who performed a variety of songs and dances. There was a boot dance which was performed by the miners dressed in boots and overalls, local songs and instruments and an operatic number sung by one of the young men. The group was comprised of about twenty people mostly black men.

April 7, 2013  Cape Town, South Africa

Bruno and Kent at the V and A Mall

Boulder Beach Penguins

Cape Town is the third most populous city in South Africa and its legislative capital, as well as capital of the Western Cape Province. The city lies at the foot of Table Mountain, so named for its flat top, and on the shore of Table Bay. The peak of Table Mountain stands at 3,570 feet above sea level. Cape Town is a commercial and industrial center; oil refining, food, chemical and fertilizer processing, and the manufacturing of automobiles, leather and plastic goods, and clothing are the chief industries. An important port, Cape Town’s exports consist mainly of gold, diamonds and fruit. Cape Town is famous for its gorgeous natural harbor, as well as its location near the Cape of Good Hope. Much of the former dock area is now a commercial and tourist waterfront area with museums, craft markets, shopping malls and restaurants. Lastly, it is famous for the fine wines produced in the areas of Stellenbosch, Paarl and Robertson.

A friend by the name of Bruno whom we met in 2007 on a cruise from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Santiago, Chile lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. Bruno was in Cape Town to visit his daughter and to celebrate his granddaughter’s birthday so we were able to meet up with him in Cape Town. Bruno picked us up at the ship and took us for a look around the nearby waterfront area called the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront Center before heading south to the Cape of Good Hope. The drive along the coast is rugged with lots of whitewater waves crashing on the shoreline.  The vegetation at first glance looks like scrub brush, but on closer inspection you can make out the vast array of unique plants that makeup the brush. There are many grasses of differing shades of green, small flowering plants and shrubs each unique unto itself. We passed many beautiful hillside homes overlooking the rough seaside coastline in communities like Camp’s Bay and Hout Bay.

Once we arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, we entered the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, which has been set aside as a nature preserve for the 19,000 acres of local fauna and flora. Once inside the park, you are free to drive around the vast open space on your own to explore all that it has to offer. We came across Ostrich, Baboons, Cape Zebra as well as birds in our journey to the lighthouse at the tip of the cape. Once at the lighthouse, you have a choice of taking the funicular or walking up to the lighthouse built in the late 1800’s. We elected for the exercise and climbed the stairs and steep paths to the lighthouse on foot. The views from the lighthouse out over the ocean are beautiful. After our climb we had lunch at a restaurant at the foot of the lighthouse overlooking False Bay. False Bay is a huge bay between the Cape of Good Hope on the west and the actual tip of South Africa on the right, which extends quite a bit further south than the Cape of Good Hope, although not as famous or popular.  At the Cape, the Indian and Atlantic oceans converge.

After lunch we continued up the eastern shore of the Cape of Good Hope along False Bay to the town of Boulders. Boulders, has become famous for its thriving colony of African Penguins. From just two pair of penguins in 1982, the penguin colony has grown to about 2,200 in recent years. The population was believed to have been 1.5 million in the early 1900’s. Because of their donkey-like braying call they were previously named the Jackass Penguin. Since several species of South American penguins produce the same sound, the local birds have been renamed the African Penguins, as they are the only species that breed in Africa.

The penguin reserve has raised walkways for you to see the penguins while not disturbing their natural habitant in the sand and brush along the shore. You are able to see them very close including their nests, eggs, and baby chicks. The chicks are covered in soft down for about sixty days after they are born. After that time the down is replaced by a blue-grey plumage for a year or two until they attain their distinctive black and white plumage. They are just the cutest little birds to watch swimming and waddling along the shore. These penguins feed on squid and anchovy, and can stay submerged for up to two minutes.

After returning to the ship around six, we took the ship’s shuttle back to the nearby mall to use the free Internet service. By the time we returned to the ship it was too late to get dinner so we ordered our first room service dinner before retiring for the night.

April 6, 2013  Sea Day

The day started off with our usual Good Morning Amsterdam, except that the cruise Director, Bruce, was busy with a disembarkation talk for guests departing tomorrow in Cape Town. In his place was the guest chef, George Geary, who has been onboard for three weeks giving cooking classes and demonstrations. George is gregarious and loves to tell stories of his adventures of cooking around the world.

The morning lecture by Lawrence Kuznetz was titled: Life on Mars from Ancient Perceptions to Today. In his lecture he discussed how the evolution of science has changed our perception about the possibility of extraterrestrial beings in the universe.

In the afternoon George Sranko lectured on: Predators of Africa where he discussed the relationship between all the animals of Africa and how they are interdependent. He talked about animals as small as the dung beetle and how they help to fertilize the land up to the lions, and elephants and how they relate to each other.

We had dinner with our friend Jenn in the Italian specialty restaurant called the Canaletto.

April 5, 2013  Sea Day

Candy Apples

More Desserts

After three busy port days, it was nice to have a day at sea to relax a bit. They have picked this day as the day of Celebration onboard to celebrate special occasions during the voyage like a birthday or anniversary.  We are going to celebrate our 21^st anniversary, which is May 2.  There is free wine at dinner to help us celebrate.

Barbara, our travel guide, spoke about things to see and do in our upcoming port of Walvis Bay, Namibia. George Sranko lectured on the great white sharks that call this coast home. Most every beach in South Africa uses shark nets to keep the sharks away from people enjoying the water. These carnivore sharks can be over twenty feet in length and weigh several tons. Unfortunately, with the demand for shark fin soup, hunters are killing the sharks more rapidly than they can reproduce. The great white shark has an eleven-month gestation period with more than one fetus but the strongest fetus will eat the others until there is only one left in the womb. This is a unique fact that I had never heard of before.

They had another fundraiser for the Bernard Noordkamp Center in Namibia today. Many of the folks who have been taking watercolor classes on all of the sea days during the voyage donated works of art to be auctioned off in a silent auction. Some of the paintings were quite nice, so I am sure that they will add more money to the $1,227 that was raised at the dunk tank event a few days ago.

We took in the movie this afternoon, which was: “Hyde Park on Hudson” about the love affair between Franklin D. Roosevelt and his distant cousin Margaret “Daisy” Suckley.  It centered on the weekend in 1939 when the King and Queen of the United Kingdom visited upstate New York. It was an interesting story about the times—romantic and sad at the same time.

Our tablemates were having dinner with the captain so Kent invited one of our lady friends, Kathy, to join us at our table. She had already eaten at the early seating but they were serving free wine with dinner and that was of interest to her….why eat when you can drink! It was a formal dinner and the dining room was completely decorated in gold, red, green and yellow fabric and streamers. Each table had primary colored Mylar balloons and there was a colorful horn and top hat placed at each seat. All of these decorations were for the Celebrations theme of the day.

Not two minutes after we started eating, Cathy announced she was not wearing underpants. Why we needed to know this I am not sure ,but Kent got quite a kick out of it and needed an explanation. Of course, prim and proper as I am, I was scandalized and had to stop eating my garlicy escargot.  The explanation can’t be printed.  Kathy is on her 75 cruise and is a hoot.  She knows where to get all the free drinks…..hates to pay for it.  She had 3 glasses of wine with us while we ate and behaved pretty well…only blew her celebration horn (like you use at New Year’s Eve) twenty times.  Kent gets along with her very well, as they both have the same sense of humor and behavior…..OMG!

After dinner they had a dessert extravaganza on three levels of the main atrium of the ship. The chefs had created a delectable concoction of delicious candy apples and desserts from the classic to the unusual. They were all beautifully displayed for folks to take pictures of before they served them up for guest to enjoy.  Oh, if Kent could only be happy with a dessert picture…instead of eating them!

The entertainment this evening was a strings group called the Soweto Strings. They were four South African men who played two violins, the viola and cello. They wore zebra printed jackets, black slacks and white shirts. They were very accomplished musicians but all of their songs sounded very similar.

April 4, 2013  Durban, South Africa

Kent and Mark at the Beach

Spice Shopping

Orchid House

The port of Durban is one of the few natural harbors between Port Elizabeth and Maputo, and located at the beginning of a particular weather phenomenon, which can cause extremely violent seas. This made Durban a busy port of call for ship repairs when the port first opened in the 1840’s. Now the busiest port in South Africa, it is also the busiest container port in the Southern Hemisphere with 1.8 millions containers a year. The port of Durban benefitted from the industrial and mining trade from Johannesburg, which is not located on any navigable body of water. The port of Maputo was unavailable until the early 1990’s due to civil war and the Port of Durban picked up and ran with the trade business. Now there is an intense rivalry between Durban and Maputo for the shipping business.

There is no written history of the area before Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama came to the KwaZulu-Natal coast while searching for a route from Europe to India. He landed on the coast on Christmas in 1497, and thus the name “Natal”, or Christmas in Portuguese. Durban is famous as a major tourism center due to its warm climate and beautiful beaches. The proliferation of tourism in the area has attracted craftsmen from all over South Africa. Painting, pottery, woodworking and wire sculpture are all popular items found here.

The population of Durban is approximately 3.5 million with 68% being Zulu’s, 9% white, 20% Indian and 3% other.

Our tour today was the highlights of Durban where we took a driving tour around the city of Durban. We visited the Durban Botanical Garden with its gorgeous, well-maintained lake and grounds. We saw many birds roosting in the trees around the lake, an orchid house, cycad gardens, amphitheater, sunken garden, the canon ball tree and so many more local plants and animals.

We passed through beautiful wealthy-looking neighborhoods, with panoramic views out over the bay and homeless-looking people in the streets. The city appeared to be very diverse and very western-looking as well. The architecture was mostly traditional with stucco houses, deco style buildings from the early 20^th century as well as modern skyscrapers. We stopped at the Moses Mabhida Stadium built for the 2010 soccer world cup with its huge arch like a rainbow over the building. The arch is also a tourist attraction with its funicular, which takes you to the top of the arch to enjoy the view or you can also choose to bungee jump off of the arch.

We visited Victoria Street Market, commonly known as the Indian Market where you could purchase local handicrafts; zebra skin rugs, spices, clothing and more. Many of our fellow passengers thought the prices were good and were buying up most everything including the zebra skin rugs.  We also toured the beach-front area.

After returning to the ship for a bite to eat, with Jenn we took the ship’s shuttle to the Golden Mile and UShaka World. The Golden Mile is a stretch of beach that is much longer than a mile but has white sandy beaches for swimming and surfing. There is a wide pedestrian path along the beach front with planters where you can find tons more souvenir stands, restaurants and hotels. The locals were holding a several day long beach surf safety event for young people. They were busy with races along the sandy beach and many in the water surfing and swimming.

Also at the beach was an amusement park called UShaka that looked to be similar to a Sea World in the states. They had rides, restaurants, a water park and a shopping mall, all of which were filled with locals and tourists alike. We wandered there for a while including a visit to an Internet café where we used the Internet for the equivalent of about fifty cents an hour.

Back onboard we had a South African Braai or barbecue poolside where we were able to sample such local foods as zebra, ostrich and beef jerky. The meats were not that different in taste from our beef but they were a bit on the dry side and a bit tough. Because we did not sail until 11:00pm and many folks may have been out in town they showed the movie Out of Africa as the night’s entertainment.

When we are in a port city with a free evening, some folks venture into town to try a local restaurant for dinner.  Most we know prefer to eat on the ship and avoid any possible stomach problem from the local food.  Maybe we will try a local restaurant in Cape Town.

April 3, 2013  Richards Bay, South Africa

Shakaland Zulu Village

Zulu Dance

Richards Bay is South Africa’s largest harbor, situated on an 11.5 square mile lagoon off the Mhlatuze River on the northern coast of KwaZulu-Natal. It began as a makeshift harbor set up by the commodore of the cape, Sir Frederick Richards, during the Boer War of 1879. In 1935 the Richards Bay Game Sanctuary was created to protect the ecology around the lagoon and by 1943 it expanded into the Richards Bay Park. The town was laid out on the shores of the lagoon in 1954 and proclaimed a town in 1969. In 1976 Richards Bay Harbor was converted into a deep-water harbor with railway and an oil-gas pipeline linking the port to Johannesburg. Later, an aluminum smelter, (the largest in the word) and fertilizer plant were erected at the harbor. The port handles the largest exporting of coal in the world. Titanium is mined in the sand dunes close to the lagoon. Today 150 million tons of cargo is handled annually through this port.

Until 1870 the economy of South Africa was almost entirely based on agriculture. With the discovery of diamonds and gold in the late 19^th century, mining became the foundation for rapid economic development. In the 20^th century the country’s economy was diversified, so that by 1945, manufacturing was the leading contributor to the gross national product. By the 1990’s, services contributed almost 60% of the GNP, while industry contributed over 35% and agriculture only about 5%. Tourism now plays an integral part in the local, as well as the national economy.

About 1860 with the large sugar cane plantations and not enough labor to handle the farming and picking of the sugarcane, people were brought in from India to assist with the harvesting. They were required to commit to working for a minimum of five years. This brought many Indians to South African and they still remain today.

Our tour this day was to the Shakaland Zulu Village, about an hour’s drive from the port. On our way to the village, we passed mile after mile of sugar plantations as well as some orange groves. The weather was cool and rainy most of the day. Shakaland village is where the 1985 mini series of nine hours, Shaka Zulu was filmed. King Shaka was the King of the Zulu people and was famous for uniting many tribes into one large tribe. The Shakaland mini series set was converted to a cultural center and small hotel after the filming. Today you can stay in individual round huts, similar to those of the Zulu’s, made completely out of natural tree branches, sticks and grasses woven together. There is a swimming pool and restaurant for hotel residents to enjoy as well.

We watched a short video created out of the mini series footage to give us an idea about the Zulu people. The cultural center has many people dressed as the Zulu’s would dress to provide entertainment and to tell the story of the Zulu people. They performed Zulu dances (unmarried women danced without their tops), told us about the Zulu medicine man, showed us about the Zulu dress and traditions and handicrafts. The women do beadwork, weave mats, sculpt pottery, bake bread and even brew beer. The Zulu men show you how to carve spears and shields and how to built a hut. Unfortunately, some of the activities were limited on this day due to the rain.

A buffet lunch was included for us in the Kwabonamanzi Restaurant including a beef stew, chicken curry, ground corn with a consistency of rice, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, white rice, salads and fresh made bread.  Several desserts were also available.

It was my impression before arriving in South Africa that the country was desert with sparse vegetation–but not here. Most everywhere we went you saw green fields of sugarcane or citrus trees and things were much more green and lush than I had imagined. When we did see what they called “the bush”, it was much more thickly vegetated and green.

The evening’s entertainment was a variety show featuring the past three singers and comedians (John Martin, Richard Gauntlett, and Bayne Bacon) who had performed recently.

April 2, 2013  Maputo, Mozambique

This beetle is about 2 feet long!

Beachside souvenir stand

Batik Wall Hangings and fabrics

Iron House designed by Eiffel

Formerly known as Lourenco Marques, Maputo is the capital and largest city of Mozambique. Being located on the east coast of Africa, on the Indian Ocean, has led to an economy centered on the harbor. Coal, cotton, sugar, chromite, sisal, copra, and hardwood are the chief exports. Lourenco Marques was named after the Portuguese navigator sent in 1544 by the governor of Mozambique to explore. In 1895, construction of a railroad to Pretoria, South Africa caused the city’s population to grow. Served by German, British and Portuguese ocean liners in the early 1900’s, the harbor was well-equipped and enabled vessels to discharge their cargo onto railway trucks. The Portuguese, Islamic, Indian and Chinese communities achieved great prosperity, but the largely unskilled African majority did not. In 1962, the formation of the Mozambique Liberation Front fought for independence from Portuguese rule. The Mozambique War of Independence ended in 1974 when the government of Portugal granted independence to all Portuguese overseas territories. The People’s Republic of Mozambique was proclaimed on June 25, 1975, and the city’s name changed to Maputo. Over 250,000 ethnic Portuguese left the area, virtually overnight, and the newly independent country had no skilled professionals to maintain its infrastructure. The economy plummeted. The governing party turned to the communist Soviet Union and East Germany for help, but by the early 1980’s the country was bankrupt. The Civil War, which lasted until 1992, further weakened the economy, but with the end of the war, growth and stability returned. Today, tourism is playing a part in boosting the economy.

Our tour today took us on a panoramic drive through Mozambique’s capital city and to the local market where vendors sold fruits, vegetables, fish and spices for the most part. On the outskirts of the market you could also purchase a variety of essentials like toilet paper, soap, hair extensions and laundry soap. The produce looked very fresh and clean, as did the market itself. Many of the local vendors appeared not to be used to tourists as they would hide behind something rather than have a photo their taken. They also did not appear to be very friendly.

Our next stop was Independence Square with a large statue of the country’s first president, Samora Machel. Also on the square are the neoclassical city hall and a Roman Catholic Cathedral. . Nearby was the Casa do Ferro, or Iron House, built entirely out of iron. Gustav Eiffel’s 19^th century design was intended to be the colonial Governor’s Mansion. The sub-tropical climate is just not suited to a house built of heat-conducting material, so a replacement was hastily built.

Adjacent to the Iron House is the Tunduru Botanical Gardens, designed by British ex-pat Thomas Honney in the late 19^th century. The gardens are a wonderful public park in the middle of Maputo’s busy city. Unfortunately they have not been well maintained over the years and are in need of refurbishment. Everything from the walkways, lath house and buildings, to the plant materials are in disrepair.

Continuing on, we visited the Natural History Museum featuring the only collection of elephant fetuses in the world. The museum had a great collection of African wildlife taxidermies of lions, zebra, elephants, rhinos and more. There were also collections of local beetles, butterflies, fish, and most every animal found in Africa. It was an extensive collection although the well-labeled displays were tired and in need of sprucing up.

We then took a driving tour along the coastal areas of town called the Poblana and Costa do Sol. We saw everything from gorgeous five star hotels to run down, burnt out buildings sitting on trash filled lots and everything in between. The beach side road was filled with street side vendors selling batiks, fabrics, clothing, wood -carvings and other local crafts. There were stands selling roasted chickens, food and soft drinks to enjoy along the beach. The only problem with all of this was that we saw almost no one on the beach to purchase all of this stuff.

The city of seven million people is very large with many high-rise buildings and busy streets with traffic. Gustav Eiffel built the stunning train station located near the port, but once again it is in need of paint and sprucing up. Overall the city looks as though it was once nice but through the years of war and bankruptcy it has really suffered. There are signs of construction all around the city but it will take many more years to get back on its feet.

After returning to the ship for lunch we took the free shuttle from the ship to the local craft market. At the craft market we saw stand after stand with much of the identical same “hand-crafted” merchandise that looked to have been manufactured. There were many wooden sculptures, batik printed fabrics, t-shirts, jewelry items, wooden boxes, wooden bowls, and limited clothing items. Kent purchased a small round covered wooden container with a lid about the size of an egg, but that was it for our shopping.

The night’s entertainment was the UK’s musical theater concert group that gave us the music of Les Miserable a few nights ago. This night they performed a show called Beyond the Barricade featuring the music of Broadway Shows.