Namibia June 2009

 In June 2009 myself and another co-worker went on a geology tour that was part of a conference we had attended.  We spent the better part of two weeks wandering around the desert country looking at rocks and giant holes in the ground.  

Rossing Mine - the tiny dots on the bottom are 350T trucks...
Like this one.  The tires are about 15 feet tall
Containers on flat cars with supplies for the mine
Tank cars with chemicals for mineral processing.  Whale belly tank cars are not limited to North America
This excavator could be useful for landscaping the yard
Trekkopje is the site of a large mine as well as a little known WW1 battle between British (South African and Namibian troops) and German (German and Namibian troops) forces.  Germany held Namibia until around 1916 if I recall correctly.  The war was one of the driving forces in getting the railway system in Namibia built.
War graves of British forces
German war graves
Safari sights
Safari sights
Hopefully rhinos can't jump.  The wall is only 2 feet tall
Feeding elephants
Dining room view over the watering hole
Displayed steam locomotive.  Unfortunately someone had lost control of a truck and rammed into it.

We also had a few free days so took advantage of that to go on a wildlife safari and visit a few of the attractions like the massive sand dunes between Walvis Bay and Swakomund.  While driving to the dunes on the road from Walvis Bay we saw a freight train headed by a couple of GE export U boats.  I convinced my car mates to stop and get some photos as the freight was stopped while some workers cleared the tracks of blowing sand, a common hazard along this stretch of the line. 

Blowing sand is a common sight
Eastbound Trans-Namib freight stopped by blowing sand
Crews clearing sand from the track
View from Dune 7
Dune 7 view
Eastbound freight after the sand was cleared from the track
We did it!  They were happy to climb the dune, I was happy to catch a freight passing by
 

We carried on and arrived at a spot to climb one of the big dunes.  I hoped to see the freight pass on the nearby tracks while climbing the dune and shortly after we started climbing the freight rolled by.  It stopped again to have some track cleared by workers and then it headed off in a cloud of black smoke.  My vantage point on the dunes gave me a great view of the train as it passed by.  I kind of wish I had taken my SLR instead of the point and shoot digital camera, but such is luck.   

Walvis Bay port
Outbound wayfreight to switch industries in Walvis Bay

I also snuck away for a morning to Walvis Bay to see what railway sights were there.  I caught a few relatively new Chinese made locomotives around the port area and had a short chase of one of them.  Overall it was a very enjoyable trip to southern Africa.

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