Teddy Bears Around the World

Hi, Everyone!

I have now sailed up the coast of Africa to the country of Namibia. As countries go, this is a young one. It was only eighteen years ago that it became independent from South Africa. There are 2.1 million people living in this country or about 1/30 the population of Florida. It is the first nation in the world to have incorporated into its constitution a clause requiring protection of the environment..

As we sailed into the city of Walvis Bay, where the ship is docked, we were surrounded by pods of seals swimming along beside us and jumping through the water. They looked like they were having fun! Walvis is Dutch for Whale, so the bay is named for the many whales which used to be found here. I hoped I might see one but didn’t, even after hours of watching.

The city is on the edge of the Namib Desert. There is only 15 mm of rain each year which falls in the desert. What water there is comes as a fog which rolls in off the sea each morning to condense on the leaves of the desert plants The desert comes right down to the sea shore, so you see an endless expanse of water right next to an endless expense of sand; opposites side-by-side! There are huge dunes hundreds of feet high and miles long. These dunes are five million years old, I’m told. After we docked, we got off the ship and drove for two hours into the desert. The road was very rough and bumpy. There wasn’t much to see except sand, a few bushes, and an occasional stand of palm trees

There was one plant which the driver stopped to point out. He called it a fossil plant because individuals were over a thousand years old! He gave its scientific name as velvechia mirabilis. The plant consisted of a number of long, thin leaf-like branches lying flat on the ground. They have a radial arrangement, like the legs of an octopus. The driver said only two of the leaves are alive at a time and that as they die, two more grow out to take their place. The small amount of shade under the leaves, both living and dead, support a tiny ecosystem of bugs and lizards in this otherwise dry and hostile place.

This evening we went out onto the desert for dinner. The ship had prepared dining tents in the desert and we were serenaded by a choir of about thirty children from the schools of Swakopmund another town on the sea just to the north of Walvis Bay. While we were there, the most amazing thing happened! It began to rain! There was a thunderstorm with lightening and rain and later, as the sun was going down, a rainbow.

Our ship is leaving Africa tonight and setting out across the South Atlantic Ocean. I will write again when we get to the Island of St.Helena.

Jose