Walvis Bay – Flamingos and Dunes

Walvis Bay, where the dunes meet the ocean.  It’s the 2nd largest city in Namibia and for photographers it’s best known for 2 things – dunes and flamingoes.

This day was supposed to be all about the dunes.  We were ready to go at 5:30 but when our drivers arrived they told us it was too windy to go.  Their drive in from Swakopmund, which usually takes 20 min took them and hour and they couldn’t see the road at times.  It was decided that we would delay our departure until 11 am and, since we were already up and ready, we went to photograph the flamingos instead.

There are 2 types of flamingos in Walvis Bay – the lessor flamingo (in the back) and the greater flamingo (foreground).  They’ve done counts of the greater flamingos here, and they number over 40,000!

It was really windy and by 10:30 the sky was grey with sand and it was everywhere.  We were postponed again, this time until noon.

By noon the wind was down a bit and the sky was clearer, so off we went.

We stopped just past the salt plant to photograph the flamingos (greater & lesser), the pied avocet & some great white pelicans.  We kept walking up the road (towards the dunes) while the vehicles followed.

The greater flamingos look quite bland when they are standing, but when they take flight and you see their wings outstretched they really are very colourful!

Finally we loaded back into the vehicles and headed into the dunes.  Looking back, this was one of my favourite days of the trip.  Being able to actually drive on the dunes, to walk barefoot on them and to drive on the narrow spit of sand between the dunes and the sea was truly special.  Here is a short video that hopefully captures the spirit of the day…

It’s hard to imagine that anything can live on the dunes, but life will find a way…

Up close, you can really see the textures of the sand, constantly changing and shifting with the wind.

After driving on the dunes for a bit, we drove down the side of the dune to the beach below…

Then back up into the dunes for the last shots of the day…

The next morning it was time to head out.  After breakfast, we put our bags out to load up and went across the street to photograph the flamingos in the morning light.  Once we quit following them and sat down, they came right up to us and went about their business as if we weren’t even there.

Walvis Bay was without a doubt one of the highlights of the trip, but there was still more to come.  It was time for the next adventure as we headed inland to Spitzkoppe and a night under the stars…