West African Cruise
40 days from Cape Town to Lisbon
South Africa
April 2nd-4th - Cape Town
We got in a night early before the cruise and stayed at the Belmond Mount Nelson. The breakfast buffet was what dreams are made of! Hailey ran around VA Waterfront and grabbed months-long supplies of all kinds of things (vitamins, new OnCloud shoes, hair products, new pajamas, etc) before we headed to the ship.
Once on the ship, unpacking was a dream! A closet for the first time in over 3 years!
April 4th-6th - Langebaan, South Africa
Biked ~13 miles around the West Coast Peninsula starting near Geelbek, passing through incredible Stofbergsfontein, stopping briefly at Farm 375, then ending at Lot OPGR. Langebaan is the place where Cape Towners escape to have a nice, quiet, and luxury vacation. Truly remarkable views!
We started the bike ride as a group of 60 and only less than 10 made it to the finish line. It was a challenge and we were sore the next day.
Namibia
April 6th-7th - Luderitz, Namibia
Walked around the ghost town of Kolmanskop looking for diamonds, and turns out that parts of Fallout were also filmed there
April 7th-10th - Walvis Bay, Namibia
Drove up to Swakopmund to take a prop plane flight over the sane dunes and along the coast seeing seals, ship wrecks, salt reserves, flamingos and the city from above. Max was squashed in the back seat, dropped his phone between the seats before the flight and wasn’t able to take photos. Mindfulness! That night we went out into the dunes for a tented sunset desert dinner and dance performance.
The next day we drove out to Dune #7 that overlooked Walvis Bay and enjoyed hiking up to the top for the views and 2 jackal sightings. Dune 2 was filmed around parts of this area. We drove in a caravan of at least 15 other 4-wheelers and rode in the car with our new friends Melanie & Kerry from Texas.
Angola
April 10th-12th - Namibe, Angola
Took a city tour to the naval building, went out to the desert to see the endemic Welwitchsia (male and female) plant, then further out to Tombua to hike around the area and marvel at the rock arches and formations. The locals that met us as we got off the boat were singing and dancing - some of the ladies were traditionally topless.
April 12th-14th - Luanda, Angola
Took a tour around an old military fort with remnants from previous wars, then drove out to Benfica to the Slavery Museum to learn about the slave trading that took place in this area. We went to the local market near the museum and purchased a wooden mask for Max’s dad, and Max made some friends in the meantime who were walking around drinking beers and asking him for $1. As we left the area, the place was flooded with security, apparently the president was passing through. Aside from their local language, they also spoke Portuguese.
We then drove to Viana where we took in beautiful views of the tricolor karst formation at Miraduoro da Lua. We then had lunch at the Kwanza Lounge before heading back to the ship. The lodge was on a lake and a nice place for local people to stay. The food was what you would expect: fish, chicken, rice, potatoes, lettuce, hardboiled eggs, and chickpeas.
Congo
April 14th-18th - Pointe Noire, Congo
Realizing that you’re actually in Congo is exciting all in itself. We drove 2 hours to make it to the riverbank where we then proceeded to take a boat on the Kouilou river for another 2 hours deeper into the Congo bush. We had to refuel the boat midway through the ride (the guide group brought an extra tank aboard). We eventually made it to see the chimpanzees on an island on the Kouilou river. We got to spend about 30 minutes with them while they were being fed fruits by local caretakers. One of them did a backflip, another clapped demanding food, and a few spats broke out during the feeding time.
The streets felt pretty rough here, traffic was suspect, and not all faces were friendly and excited to seeing foreigners. I’m not sure our police escort was a great way to travel through the country. Aside from their local language, they also spoke French.
Togo
April 18th-20th - Lomé, Togo
Armed with turkey sandwiches and peanut butter english muffins, we spent a day touring around to 4 different villages all performing different ways of practicing their local beliefs in Voodoo. Dancing with the local children, seeing their smiles and laughs was a highlight. The grown kids (10 year olds), take care of the younger kids, and in between they’re all acting like adults. One kid about the age of 5 acted as our tour guide through one of the villages. He was only wearing his white underpants.
We then went to a “fetish” market where locals go to buy all of the necessary things you would need to perform certain voodoo acts and rituals. You could buy anything from an owl carcass to a warthog’s head to the shirt off of somebody’s back. Because it was early in the day, it was mostly children setting up and running the market. There was a foosball machine in the street and Hailey went over to talk with the children about playing a game. The kids names were Gracia and Augustine.
We went to another local craft market where Hailey bought handmade Togo postcards and a ceramic necklace
Ghana
April 20th-21st - Takoradi, Ghana
We arrived in Ghana over Easter weekend and were able to see how the locals come together. There we hundreds of people gathered together under tents, some dressed in all white and marching to their place of worship or center of celebration. We went on a hike at the canopy course at Kakum National Forest, but the highlight of Takoradi without a doubt was Elmina Castle and the surrounding area. It was such a surreal experience to be in the very place where slaves were held and sent off to the Americas. Upon leaving, Max made a friend with a local rastafarian-looking man and he made him a special personalized sea shell with his name on it. We “bought” it off of him for $5.
April 21st-23rd - Accra, Ghana
We toured around Accra, doing a hike in the morning and visiting a local who recycles glass bottles and turns them into glass bead necklaces and bracelets. Hailey bought one in every color. We went to the Royal Senchi hotel for lunch - it was the nicest thing we had seen in any of the African countries visited.
April 23rd-24th - Takoradi, Ghana
Ivory Coast
April 24th-27th - Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
We set out to do a hike through the national park. It had just rained the night before and the roads were not in the best condition. Because of that the busses couldn’t get too far into the park, so we all hopped off the busses and walked to the trailheads ourselves.
It was a quick trip in Ivory Coast, after our hike we made it back on the boat to head to the next country. Aside from their local languages, people spoke in French.
Hailey sang karaoke this night to Patsy Cline’s “Crazy”
Sierra Leone
April 27th-28th - Tokeh, Sierra Leone
Getting off the zodiac boats in Tokeh was eye opening, as we were baseically just dropped off right in the middle of what seemed to be a very busy local beach town. We toured around their town as locals kept their eyes on us observing our moves, curiosities and interests. Two local men were playing some kind of chess/checkers game, while others were putting fishing nets together, children were playing soccer on the beach, and another group of men were working on building fishing boats. Everything was so picturesque and there were even tourists from other countries already there and touring on their own.
The main street in Tokeh was very lively, felt very real, and was also aggressive at the same time. Some little girl, maybe the age of 3 seemingly saw a white old man for the first time and was crying and shrieking so loud in terror. It was comical. It was their independence day and they were passing through the main street celebrating all dressed up. The blue-painted Baptist Church was also filled to the brim with people and with music pouring out of every glassless window.
Later that day they organized a soccer match for us to watch on the beach of “The Flying Stars”. It consisting of those who survived their civil war but not without brutal amputations as battle wounds. There was security everywhere.
April 28th-29th - Freetown, Sierra Leone
We went to go see the Chimpanzees in a sanctuary. While we waited, there was some local fresh baked banana bread that was almost the highlight of the day.
Guinea-Bissau
April 29th-May 3rd - Bijagos, Guinea-Bissau
We were greeted on the beach with excited locals curious about what we were up to. This was our favorite time spent with locals as the kids were so friendly and the adults put on a welcome performance from us. We started our hike through town and were followed by kids for almost the entire journey. The kids were feeling Hailey’s legs as if they had never felt fat before. When we were leaving a group of 15 kids around the age of 10 ran up to our zodiac boat with excitement to touch it and see it up close. Max got an incredible video of their excitement.
The next stop was at another local town that also had a good looking beach resort with other tourists already there. We had lunch at the resort, sat on the beach for a bit, watched the locals play in the water, then headed back to the ship. Kids were doing backflips on the beach seemingly to impress us.
Aside from their local language, they also spoke some Portuguese and some French. But mostly Portuguese.
Cape Verde
May 3rd-4th - Praia, Cape Verde
May 4th-7th - Porto Novo, Cape Verde
Took the day to go see how grogue is made, of which we bought a few bottles.
Hailey learned to play Mahjong during sea days with Carie, Brie and Melanie. Dolphin and flying fish sightings off the side of the boat always caused excitement and a stir. Karaoke, 4pm trivia and evening music trivia were activity highlights. Playing chess after trivia was a fun routine with Max.
