As usual it was an early departure from our camp at Etosha National Park. At noon we stopped at the Petrified Forest Park. There we had a guided tour along 800m of trail. It was explained how the trees came to the area, which was via flooding, and how they got petrified. The first petrified pine tree we saw was 1.4 m wide and 10 m long from just what could be measured from the surface. They are not allowed to dig them up so total size is unknown. It was neat to learn they came from Central Africa via flooding because we were in a desert so it was hard to imagine where giant pine trees could have come from. The largest tree they had was 37 m long from what was visible.

The long driving day was split up with another activity at Twyfelfonten rock engravings area. The rock engravings were made in 6000 BC by the people who used to be known as the Bushmen. The term Bushmen is now not used as these people were considered animals up until somewhat recently, and that name is associated with this. The guide told us they are now referred to as San People. The engravings were discovered in 1951 and became the first Unesco Heritage site of Namibia. There were images of all sorts of animals including those from the sea. Circles meant water holes. The direction animals faced in the engraving would indicate the direction of water. Due to erosion large slabs of rock with engravings were no longer in their original position. The reception area where we signed in was made from old oil drums.

The last stop before entering the city was at Zeila Wreck, a shipwreck a few meters in the water. The afternoon was spent walking around Swakopmund. We saw the jetty, where you can see the sand dunes touching the ocean, and the lighthouse. A few of the girls sat on the beach and chatted while the guys went to the barber for a much needed trim. In the evening our group had a dinner together at a local restaurant. The meats were delicious and several people tried the game platter which had oryx, spring bock, zebra, and another meat.

The next day Nick and I explored the town. It was a German settlement so all the buildings had a German look to them and some had bright colors. The thing to do there is to go to a bakery so we went to the donut shop on the jetty that had been open for over 148 years. It was delicious.

4 of us from the truck booked a tour of Sandwich Harbour. This was a 7 hour activity with many stops and highlights. It was just the 4 of us in the vehicle with the guide, which was great. Starting with an 11:30am pick up we made our way to Walvis Bay Lagoon first. There were many flamingos here. The second stop was at a place where they take in the salt water from the lagoon and pump it into large open ponds for making salt. The salt crystalizes as the water evaporates and the water looks pink.

Continuing the tour we drove on the beach along the coast now instead of a paved road. We saw jackals, seals, a fossil, and spring buck. It was strange seeing so many animals in sand dunes and along the beach where it appears there should be nothing. There were many people fishing from shore as well. Our group took lots of photos of the ocean and sand dunes. We made a stop at a toilet that was set up in the middle of the dunes with a great view.

We stopped for photos on the beach and at two places up on the sand dunes. The views were spectacular seeing the giant sand dunes roll directly into the ocean. The sky was grey and foggy but it made for amazing photos. I joked that the photos we got here were better than our engagement ones. Nick and I definitely benefited from being on the tour with Benny and Carmel as they were excellent at posing and taking photos.

After the photo stops our guide made us a beautiful picnic by the ocean. We had champaign, beer, sodas, meat pie, chicken, fish, calamari, sausages, pork ribs, fried pita slices, cookies, grapes, oranges, and more. It was a feast. Of course as soon as we were done with photos the sky cleared and the sun came out.