(26 June)
After our lovely lunch we headed south to check out the other town near by, Walvis Bay. It has a bit more of an industrial feel, and has a population of about 100 000.
The port has been important through history, first held by the British Cape Colony, then annexed by Britain, and later part of the Union of South Africa. After the end of WWI South Africa was given the UN mandate to administer all of German South West Africa as well as the Walvis Bay enclave. Later South Africa unilaterally decided to return it to the Cape Province. The UN wasn’t happy. When Namibia achieved its independence in 1990, Namibians lay claim to Walvis Bay. In 1992 South Africa and Namibia finally agreed that South Africa would remove its border crossings, and the two countries would administer the enclave jointly. In 1994 the Namibian flag was finally raised over Walvis Bay for the first time.
Outside of town there are salt works, which supplies over 90% of South Africa’s salt (we didn’t go there).
Walvis Bay is also famous for its flamingos. We saw a large flock of the greater flamingos, in a beautiful, light pink color, in the lagoon.
It looked like a fairly modern built town. Many buildings seemed quite new. There were also constructions going on of high rise buildings on the seashores.