George and the palm nuts

Swakopmund, 4th of April - Last night we had dinner in ‘The Tug’, an out of service oil-fired tugboat built in Glasgow in 1959. The boat was pulled on land and is the central part of a restaurant. Cool atmosphere with hake, sole, kingklip and monkfish on the menu. Noisy place but with a view on the misty Atlantic this was a minor problem. Today we go to Walvisbay for a catamaran tour. We are early, and a man named George says he will keep an eye on our car. George does not charge much and also sells palm nuts as key hangers on which he carves your name. We thank him and move on. On the quay, we wait with the yellow group for the Silversand. George spots us and comes over to talk to us. Not about palm nuts but about Lukaku. At the end of the conversation, he talks business: ‘No key hanger?’ Jeroen starts questioning him about the nuts, and he explains everything. We decide to buy a few, also for our families at home. George asks us to spell our names and writes them down on a slip of paper. Great salesman that George. See you after the boat trip! We climb aboard the catamaran and sit down in the front seats of the deck. Billy, a white Namibian pensioner, does the introduction. In the meantime, a pelican slowly walks past us between the rows. On the other side, a sea lion flops around on his fat belly and steers with his front flippers. Billy explains everything about the local oysters, introduced only in the eighties in Namibian waters. We drink coffee and a Captain Morgan and the powerful engines of the boat start roaring. The sun chases away the clouds.

Not shy this pelican (FDC)

Billy holding a Namibian oyster (FDC)

Sea lion on board (FDC)

Palm nut expertise (FDC)

George carves with care (FDC)



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