Seals on a Boat!

Along the Atlantic coastline of Namibia, two vastly different ecosystems live side by side. In the ocean, frigid currents from Antarctica create fog and nutrient-rich waters that give life to numerous fish, seals, whales and dolphins. Journey inland, by less than a mile, and you land in the midst of the vast Namib desert, which runs the length of the coastline and can stretch up to 100 miles inland. In other words, the Namib desert is a giant beach, 30-100 miles deep.

My girlfriend Carolyn and I arrived at Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, the largest towns on the coast and just 30 kilometres (about 20 miles) apart from each other. We stayed in Swakopmund, a touristy town, noted for its Germanic architecture. Walvis Bay, by contrast, is an important industrial town and houses a deep-water commercial port. The first morning, we left our shabby backpackers lodge headed to Walvis for a harbor cruise.

We cruised out of the Walvis Bay Yacht Club in a motorized catamaran that could accommodate 30-40 people. Our captain was Archie, a grizzled Namibian sailor. His first mate Jackson, who was from a town not far from where I had done my teaching. Jackson was surprised to chat with me in Oshiwambo as we tooled around the harbour!
Just a few minutes out of the dock, Jackson opened a box of fish to entice the seals. Several swam in the wake of the boat as you can see in the video below. Although these Cape Fur Seals weigh between 250-500 lbs, they can swim amazingly fast through the water. Next, one of the seals decided that he wanted a closer look at his fellow mammals on the boat. He launched himself from the water onto a small platform on the rear deck of the boat. From there, he hoisted himself up on his giant front flippers, put the flippers on the edge of the boat deck, and then clambered into the main cabin!



Three different seals came on deck during the tour, and while they were indeed looking for fish, they were also curious about the humans on the boat. They allowed us to touch and pet them, and seemed almost as interested in us as we were in them.

I felt a much greater connection to these seals than to any other type of aquatic life that I’ve seen before. Nor was I the only one. There was a young boy on our tour, who was at least 25 years younger than everyone else on board. He seemed bored, but when the seals arrived he petted them constantly and rested his head on theirs, sort of like an Eskimo kiss. This young boy might have just had his first inkling to become a marine biologist! The seals also enjoyed the attention, having evolved the intelligence and sensitivity of mammals rather than mindless instinct of mere fish.

We saw several other critters during the tour. As the boat motored through the harbor towards a small seal colony, we were flocked by small seagulls and giant pelicans who flew alongside the boat, looking for handouts. The pelicans would make great wide receivers in the NFL, able to fly alongside the boat at 20-30 knots and catch every fish thrown their way, as you can see in the video below.



Moving away from the shoreline, we passed dozens of container ships which had dropped anchor in the harbor. These ships were huge! Look at the picture that I’ve included here. You might need to click it to see the full-sized image. Do you see the small yellow thing on top of the containers on the left-hand side? That’s a full-sized school bus, though it looks no bigger than a toy! Walvis Bay is the main port, not only for Namibia but for much of southwestern Africa. When I was living here in 2007, I met a trucker who made a living on the Walvis Bay—Congo route, carrying frozen chickens to the Congo. Goods from Walvis travel on the two-lane paved roads to Botswana, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

We motored across the Walvis’ large natural harbor towards Pelican Point, a sandy spit of land which houses a small seal colony. On the way, Benguela dolphins swam in front of the boat, darting back and forth in front of the twin bows of the catamaran. The dolphins were playing and rolled onto their backs as they swam, giving us a good view of their bellies. We also briefly saw two humpbacked whales breach the water, though the pictures just didn’t come out.

When we arrived at Pelican Point, we saw several large groups of seals on the beach, each with hundreds of adults and pups. According to Captain Archie, seal mums know their pups by their cry, which means that the beach was a cacophony of wailing animals. Our captain told us that because seals breed so quickly, they often outstrip the environment’s ability to feed them all. As a result, he claimed that Namibia’s annual seal culls were justified. I don’t know about that, but I do know that the seals make a bloody racket.



By then it was time to turn back towards the dock. On the way, we passed several commercial oyster farms, which from the top of the water are just 55-gallon drums floating in formation. Tied to the drums, and floating underwater, small metal cages house the oysters which feed in the nutrient-rich waters. As we watched a small boat harvest some oysters, Jackson sneakily shucked a couple of dozen fresh oysters and put out some champagne – a great way to end a great harbor tour. Driving back to Swakopmund, we looked forward to the next tour when we would see the animals that were able to thrive in the sands of the Namib desert.