My travel story: Namibia Day 3, 4 (Swakopmund + travel) - Part 2 (28 photos)

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Hi Hiveans, how was your week? Hope you are doing well and staying healthy!

It is Monday again and time for new travel story. We will be in Namibia again and will continue from where we left last week. If you missed previous part, you can find it on the following link:

I get some comments, but would love to hear more about what do you think. Too long? Too many photos? Boring?
I have to thank you all for the support and special thanks to @ocdb for huge upvote. Means a lot as this is the biggest upvote I ever got :) Who knows what whale can we catch with today's photo story so better start writing...

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Only pedestrian there can be oryx or some other antelope

First one finished at our first destination in Namibia - Sossusvlei. If you remember I was sick, but dr. Mauro saved me. Night was still tough, but in the morning i was able to ate something without getting it out immediately, so that was a good move forward. After breakfast we departed to our next stop destination which wad Swakopmund. This city is fourth largest in the country based on population. Few more words about that city will follow later.

First stop that day was "city" called Solitaire. Why city in "? As this city contains only general store, bakery and importantly - gas station. That is enough to be called a city in Namibia. We tanked our car and also get something from the bakery. I remember that my parents said it was really delicious meal. They had apple strudel, just like the one our grandmother knows how to bake. I simply didn't have the appetite to eat anything.

There were also interesting old cars in sand. Great to take some photos, but don’t know the story behind it. That is negative side of self-drive travel and not having a guide 😊
After stretching the legs, we continue with our drive to Swakopmund, which was end destination for that day. To give you an impression about distances and travel time in Namibia. We needed about 5 hours for 350 kilometres which was our route from Sesriem to Swakopmund.
All that time you have something to see and do some stop from time to time. I am sharing some photos of sand dunes and vegetation below.
We should stop at Walvis bay that day and do some half-day activity but unfortunately, I was not well enough after sickness previous day. Otherwise there are many activities as 4x4 moto dunes experience, dolphin and seal cruise, pelican point kayaking, flamingo lagoon, dunes safari, etc.
A lot to do and wasn’t done, but that is just another reason to come back again 😊

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Is there a mechanic who would dare to fix that one

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That one was probably as good as our Hilux once in the past

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That is wide road

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The only public toilet we saw on the entire trip

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Even though we were officially out of the desert there were still sand dunes

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Who would know if that tree has some leaves at any time?

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Lone fighter

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More crowded at flat ground

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Sky was closing out

We arrived to Swakopmund which was the only “modern” city left on our trip. This city is known to be popular at Europeans as well and we also find it a bit similar to our culture. Many Germans has houses still there and you can also speak German there. That is a result of German colony in the past. We expected a bit more from that city before we went there as it should be very lively and nice walking city, but we didn’t find much going on at all. Maybe it was due to the weather as it was cold and windy. Other possible reason is that we were there for too short time, since we just went for a quick walk around the city and to the restaurant. Restaurant was amazing by the way, but I don’t remember the name, just know that I ate cordon bleu. We went to the shore as well, but for me shore doesn’t mean a lot if I can not swim and there you definitely can not swim 😊

Our apartment was very nice that day. We were sleeping at the local’s house. What made our experience even better was the breakfast. You will say I am praising only food in my story, but that omelette made by housewife was really delicious. Our hosts were also very nice and we were talking a lot with them. They even know where Slovenia is.

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Not in the hotel, but swan was there anyway

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Last look at the city for a week or so

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Santa Monica beach :)

I will cover our travel to next destination in this travel story as well. Following Swakopmund was the time to visit Twyfelfontein.
On the road we meet some animals again and maybe two cars in about 4,5 hours drive. That is another reason why I like Namibia so much. There is no massive tourism, that is also a condition that nature is evolving as it should and that destination is remaining fresh.
Interesting place heading north is also Skeleton coast. You can see many shipwrecks there. We only went to the closest one. There are many a lot better further down, but opposite direction from our travel and as we didn’t have much time, we photographed just one. Namibian coast has rough sea with winds and strong ocean currents, so these are the main reason for many shipwrecks in the area. Some are really good as they are totally in the sand. So, imagine ship in the middle of sand dune. It has to be amazing, but this is another thing which have to be visited when I will be back 😊

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Another road for a lot of traffic, but we were alone

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Well not alone, alone

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This ship is too close to land

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Would you dare to peek inside?

And now to the last part of today’s travel story – people.
Africa is totally different place from others continent I had visited. I am wrong when I say Africa, as it is too big to be generalized. But Namibia for example is a different world, especially rural part, which is almost whole country. People there don’t have cars, they don’t go to school, they don’t know what TV is and they have to walk tens of kilometres daily just to get “fresh” water. Different life for sure. And from that aspect also their way of looking on the World is different. More of this will follow through most of my stories. In this one I will touch just this few people I met and photographed them.
First there was a family with about a year-old baby. This babies and kids are so cute. They were doing OK and even had donkey carriage, which is very good for he conditions there.

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Little company on our way

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Ohhh how cute are these babies

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Ready to go

Second family we met didn’t speak English as most of the people there, but they know some words. We were driving towards our destination and on the intersection where we were looking where to go and choose the right way, we saw a lady waving and running after the car in the rear mirror. We stopped and she had an empty water bottle in her hands. She came closer and said water, water, water. She wanted water. We had our stock full of water and also used cooler box so some of them were cold. We gave her and her family couple of bottles. She had five kids. They were so cute. The oldest one was looking after all his brothers. You could see it in their eyes that they were really connected. There was also the youngest one which stayed in my memory. He was very shy or maybe even afraid of us. He was looking down all the time. We always have some chocolate bars or biscuits on our travels as meals are not regular and on this travel, we had doubled the quantity. We knew that it will be of good use. We gave all the kids and mother as well a chocolate bar (Pick up is called if you might know) and they were so happy. They ate it and no one asked for more. When I am giving some chocolate to my nephew, she always wants more. Even thou he can have chocolate every day and these African kids maybe ate the chocolate for the first time. Precious experience which gives you an opportunity to think.

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Our new friends

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This chocolate taste differently

We continued our way after about 20 minutes of hanging out with that beautiful kids and soon we saw three stalls, like a small marketplace in the middle of nowhere. We stopped there and wanted to look what they are selling. These stalls are made like that, to sleep in there as well. They are extended like a tent. As far as we were able to communicate, we understood that much, that they are living there all the time. First thing was again begging for water. It was really a hot day and I cannot imagine being out on the sun all the time. One of the three saleswoman was there even with the kid. And that kid deserved some sweet as well. We have him a praline (Ferrero Roche, if you know) which was folded in the foil. That kid put whole praline in his mount with the foil as well. He didn’t know what this is. Another example that they really don’t know what the chocolate is. It was not a baby, but maybe 3 years old boy, who would definitely know what to do with the praline in European world, but Africa is different place. After that experience, there was even more to think while we were driving to Damaraland and Twyfelfontein.

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Nice haircut

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That is life as well

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Smile is key to keep you going

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She was selling everything, but not her hat

Hope you like my travel story and you are getting to like Namibia as destination. In first travel story I focused more on the desert, now people combined with some landscapes in next one we will stay mainly with people and my experiences plus same landscapes, after it will be animals time…

I also achieved some milestones in April and now at the beginning of May.
After starting on Hive I had less than 500HP now I have doubled that. I am expecting to reach 1K when payout of my last week's photo story will happen later today. I also reached 750 followers, so I am really grateful for all of you, but especially my most loyal ones.

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See you soon with another photo story :)

Have a great Monday and stay safe!



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24 comments
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(Edited)

Wooow, how could a post like this one be boring? It´s again full of absolutely amazing photos that, together with the interesting write up, provide a unique insight into the beauties, culture and history of this extraordinary African country.

Top notch piece. I hope it gets an appropriate support and attention. Let me do my part :)

@tipu curate 3

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Thank you for your kind words Petr!
I am glad you like it and I am really grateful for your support. Your part is big part and hopefully it will get recognition from the community as well.

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Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍

Did you know every user has their own profile map?
And so does every post as well!

Want to have your post on the map too?

  • Go to Pinmapple
  • Click the get code button
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  • Congrats, your post is now on the map!

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Hi!
That is my first Pinmapple post. I know I am late to the party, but better late than never right :)
I will try to use your tool daily now.

Can I just doublecheck with you if I did everything correct? I don't see my post on the map.

Thanks for your hard work!

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Hi there @crazy-andy, I'm part of the Pinmapple team. You got the above auto comment so all is good, thanks for supporting pinmapple.

I love this post particularly the part with the locals. I've never been to Africa before but now it feels like I have.

As to comments about your post, normally I find anything over 1500 words long but for me it all boils down to genre and quality, and here it was absolutely fine as you talked about so many different things during your trip. I really enjoyed reading the entire posts. Looking forward to the next part...

And, now you noe where we are, hope to continue see you pin your travel post on Pinmapple.

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(Edited)

Hi :)
Thank you for stopping by!
Now I see how easy procedure actually is.

I can see my post on the map and I am proud on that :)

Africa is really amazing. I could go again and again. After few years I really get strong pull through memories for visiting this destination again.

I am glad that you are travel enthusiast and you are supporting quaility work.

Will see you around definitely, if not sooner with my travel story next week!

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Hey there @crazy-andy! Great to have you on the map! Once you get this comment it is a confirmation you made it to the map. To be sure you can check on your personal map link or post link for the map that are provided above.
The reason it doesnt show right away if you open it seperately is that we have a filter on, showing only all the curated posts first in order to avoid overload.
You can however disable that filter at search function and then see your post together with all the others 🙂
Let me know if you still have questions, and welcome!
Cheers, @lizanomadsoul

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Just noticed your content appears twice, did you copy and paste twice by mistake?

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Thank you very much for noticing that!
I really appreciate you careful read.
I have corrected it, so now should be fine.
Thanks again!

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A great post here my friend and good that you are posting about your travels in our African continent.
The people and children in your post are most likely of the Damara clans.
I live in South Africa, but have traveled to most of the neighboring countries.

If you really want to see something fantastic on your next visit, I suggest that you pop in to Chobe, an vast area in Botswana and the Victoria waterfalls is also not too far from there.

Take care!

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Thank you for stopping by and for your feedback!
Africa is amazing!

Been to Republic of South Africa as well. Kruger NP and vicinity of St. Lucia mainly. Amazing trip!

People in my this week's travel story are Damara probably yes. Next story will be more of Damara people as we continued to Damaraland.
Than Etosha will follow and also Chobe amazing park, but not enough time there. It is really expensive there. Victoria falls were our last stop on this travel.

Hope to see you around my blog again and thank you for the support again.

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Ah, the Etosha Pans are wonderful, but I am more of an Okavango Delta man.
Will have a look when you post.
Take care!

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Awesome travel post 👌👌👌
Amazing photographs you have chosen 👍

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Hiya, @LivingUKTaiwan here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Top 3 in Daily Travel Digest #839.

Your post has been manually curated by the @pinmapple team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!

Become part of our travel community:

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Hi again and thank you again.
Your support and recognition means a lot.
It gives me even more enthusiasm to continue with my travel stories and other posts as well.

Hope to see you around!

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Great to see you made it 😉 So now you can be sure it worked 😅
Great job! Looking forward to see your next one!
cheers, @lizanomadsoul

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Your narrative is spectacular, beautiful, with your words you give life to those photos, humbly I am not a whale, I think I am a little fish, I want to give you my recognition for such great content full of natural beauty. After this wonderful presentation I will not hesitate to follow him and continue enjoying his travels.🙋

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Thank you @truelovemom!
I am really glad you like my travel story. Namibia is a great country and I am just transfering what is has to offer through my eyes to Hive community.

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