Lüderitz Museum...not much to see

The Lüderitz Museum has probably seen better days. We're keen to visit local museums because the exhibits usually provide a more personal, neighborhood quality to the information presented … information you probably couldn't find on the internet. Only open from 15:30-17:00 Mondays through Fridays, the museum hours alone should have given us some indication that there wasn't much to see or digest. We entered the nondescript, brick-faced building and paid our N$15 a piece (US$1.35) and wandered around the one-room, fluorescent-lit exhibit area.

Founded in 1966, we're not sure that the exhibits have changed much since their original installation. The exhibits were old and tired and not very special. There was an exhibit about diamonds … but no actual diamonds on display … not even little, crappy, industrial ones. The information provided wasn't any more than we could have picked up on the net. We might have thought that the local NamDeb office (Namibia-DeBeers diamond consortium) would have contributed a shekel or two to making the display a bit more interesting since it's such a major part of Luderitz's heritage.

One small exhibit featured local animal bones and skulls. Faded bird specimens were mounted here and there. Some whaling pictures and a whale skeleton took up some of the real estate. Various vintage black and white photos hung on the walls. In the center of the room was a sitting area, offering 2-year old Air Namibia in-flight magazines. A display of minerals could have been interesting, but it was kind of crowded and most of the placards were in German only. The requisite military display was pretty lackluster.

A few people wandered in and out while we were visiting. Most left within 20 minutes or so. In all fairness, we realize this is a small town with limited funds for supporting a museum. So … for all our negativity, what did we like? There were a couple of interesting exhibits. At the entry door, there was a display of desert roses, sand crystal formations found in deserts that look like roses.  Unfortunately, if you didn't know what a desert rose was when you walked in and saw them, you'd be no wiser after seeing them since there was no description of the exhibit at all.

The presentations on the local native people were interesting. There are several ethnic groups that inhabit the Namibian desert including the Himba, the Herero, the Nama, the Owambo and of course, the San (formerly known as Bushmen). Some handwoven baskets, tools and weapons were on display. We especially liked the information about bead-making from ostrich egg shells … talk about a time-consuming effort.

We always walk away from any experience with something and we did, but we were hoping for more.

Meeting the Lüderitzbuchter Locals

Lüderitzbuchter (Lüderitz Bay) locals are called “buchters”, kind of like folks from Boston are called Bostonians. There's a mix of black and white and brown people, but all seem friendly and cordial. Everyone greets us with a smile and a hello and a how-are-you. Our first conversation with a local was with Andy while he was working on his trimaran. He pointed us to our mooring, if you'll remember. He's since come over for wine aboard and we've had the chance to learn more about him. A Brit, he's a diver and came for the diamonds and never left. He rows out and works on his boat daily in hopes of sailing off into the sunset sometime in the near future.

Liz at Lüderitz Safaris and Tours is an absolute sweetheart … knowledgeable, pleasant and happy to share local info.

When we bought our Namibian courtesy flag from her, I asked about the woman who made the flags. Her method of making flags with fabric paint on duck cloth was unusual and I was interested in learning more as an alternative to sewing them. Well, Liz called Doris and they set up a get together for sundowners one evening. We met Liz at the shop and rode with her to Doris and Ian's house, a short distance from the waterfront. We had a great evening learning about each other.

Doris is German and her husband, Ian, is a Scot. They're ex-cruisers and Ian was actually the Port Captain here in Lüderitz for several years. It wasn't far into the conversation before we were comparing passages and routes and folks we'd met along the way. Not so amazingly, we knew some of the same people. I learned about Doris' little fabric-painting enterprise. She's a very creative woman and makes other fabric painted products and crafts, as well as courtesy flags.

Quite unexpectedly and most graciously, Doris offered the use of her washer for our heaps of dirty laundry. She also offered hot showers (a hint, perhaps?)… and lettuce from her garden. Once a cruiser … always a cruiser. What a generous offer. No need to offer twice ...we brought over the laundry the next morning.

I spent a most pleasant morning with Doris. She's an animal lover. She has two solid black cats  that follow her around like puppies. Additionally, several neighborhood cats stop in for snacks quite regularly. She also has three tortoises that she adopted when they were abandoned. Hugo is her favorite and she found him sunning himself in the back yard and introduced us.

We keep meeting more and more locals. There's Evaldine, the Port Control Officer, who checked us in and who's continued to help sort out a possible long term mooring for a friend hoping to visit Luderitz soon. Then there's Maritje at BB Car Hire. She and her family are heading to the USA for an archery competition and vacation in August and she was interested in chatting about their impending visit. And when we were returning to our dinghy one day, we met Heiko, who is captain of the Zeepard, the local harbor sightseeing boat. We spoke for a few minutes while he was boarding passengers. It turns out he and his wife are also ex-cruisers, and we have mutual friends in common.

Each day, we learn a little more about the town and its people. All in all, this is a fine, friendly, pleasant place to be. It's relatively safe and secure and perfect for cruisers like us. When will we be moving on?  Not any time too soon.

Life in the Bay - Lüderitzbucht, Namibia

We've been calling the town Lüderitz, but in actuality, it's called Lüderitzbucht (German for Luderitz Bay) and the locals are called “Buchters”. Even the local monthly newspaper is called the Buchter News. Life aboard Nine of Cups, moored in the bay, has been pleasant and interesting. There are no other cruiser/liveaboards here, but there are several boats moored around us.

We've met Andy who works on his trimaran everyday and Heiko, the captain of Zeepard, the local harbor tour boat. Otherwise, the yacht anchorage is pretty quiet. Many of the moored boats look abandoned and forlorn.

We're well aware of any ship or boat movements, day or night, because we can both hear and feel the vibration of the ship's engines/props through the water. Then, of course, we can also feel the wake from the tugs that assist the larger ships tie-up at the wharf or the skiffs that zip by us at 10 knots. For instance, Ocean Africa's Frontier, a 480' container ship, arrived early this morning and we woke to find her making a tug-assisted 180º turn just off our port. The vibration about knocked us out of our bunks and the wake from the working tugs did the rest. Luckily, ship traffic here is fairly light and watching the tugs maneuver the big ships is pretty interesting.

Bird life in the bay is prolific. Most unoccupied boats have some sort of mechanism to keep the birds off since they land and poop on anything with a flat surface, not to mention in-flight bombs. There are two types of gulls … big kelp gulls and smaller Hartlaub gulls; several species of cormorants, some of which we've never seen before, like reed cormorants; and at low tide, greater flamingos.

And here's a new collective noun for you … a water dance of black-necked grebes works its way around the bay and floats out by the boat quite regularly.

Heaviside's dolphins (aka Haviside's dolphins) and Cape fur seals are regular visitors in the bay. Whales have been spotted as close in as the yacht anchorage, but we haven't seen any to date. Unfortunately, Namibia still condones the annual “culling” of seals on a regular basis.

Just sitting in the warmth of the sun in the cockpit is a pleasant experience … sipping sundowners, watching the birds and genuinely enjoying life in the bay.