Trip to Luderitz

This weekend we went to Luderitz which is a small, coastal town in Namibia. We stopped at a place called Keetmanshoop Thursday night. We got to see Cheetahs and Meerkats and we even stayed in Igloo Bungalows.

Curious meerkat checking us out.

Me petting the Cheetah. If it looks like I was a little scared, it was because I was. I've got cats, I know they can be a little unpredictable.

Quiver tree forest sunset at Keetmanshoop.

Group photo right before the sunset.

Emily and I being risky...

The igloo bungalows were fun to stay in and reminded me of the houses in the original Star Wars where Luke Skywalker lived.

Beautiful Cheetah named Chakita.

Chakita eating dinner. It happen to be horse meat that day, which was her favorite.

Here I am petting the cheetah. Apparently cheetahs are one of the few cats that you can pet while eating and they don't care. I still was a bit hesitant though.
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Friday morning we drove the rest of the way to Luderitz. We walked around town and saw the old buildings and had fresh seafood at the waterfront. The buildings were picturesque and the sight of the ocean was beautiful.

One of the original buildings built in Luderitz back in 1909.

We went to a place called Diaz Cross, where the Portuguese landed back in the 1400's. When they got here they looked around and didn't see much worth sticking around for. They put up a cross to mark that they had landed, but then headed back to Portugal. It wasn't until the early 1900's when the Germans came back around and saw something more. They are the ones who found the plethora of diamonds in the sand. Luderitz and Kolmanshop are still diamond territory.

Shot of the waves crashing against the huge rocks near Diaz Cross.

Atlantic Sunset.

One of the few houses at the ghost town, Kolmanshop.

This was a common site among the houses. The sand had taken over everything.

On the drive out we saw a lot of different wild life. The ostriches were my favorite to see. At one point we saw a bunch of them still sleeping with their heads in the sand.