After watching the closing stages of the morning game at Swakopmund Sports Centre Jen and I had driven into town to have a look around. Apparently the architecture is very German influenced but as I’m not expert on that sort of thing I’ll have to take their word for it.
One thing I was sure about though was that there were camels in Swakopmund. This surprised me as I’d assumed that they were more of a northern african thing. Perhaps someone just bought a few for the back garden on the basis that with all the sand Namibia has then they’d feel perfectly at home.
Swokopmund camels.
We stopped for something to eat at a hotel where we spotted a german couple that we had noticed in at least two of the places that we’d stayed earlier on the trip. I suppose that’s how it works with everyone using the same hotel review sites prior to booking.
In a nod to home I had a warthog parmo for lunch, or a schnitzel, which I suppose is near enough. It was certainly better than the ones I’ve had in Teesside although I suspect that may have been due to the quality of the ingredients and cooking rather than the warthog. Even so, I can’t imagine it replacing chicken or pork in the Norton High Street take-aways.
As we drove out of town after lunch on the way back to Walvis Bay I stopped at the Sports Centre on a whim, just on the off-chance that another game might be taking place. It’s not that unusual for a pitch to be well utilised on a weekend. As it happened, there were players on the pitch and so we parked the car.
Second game of the day.
We took up seats on the other side of the pitch this time and whilst the fella next to us on the raised platform was able to tell us that the score was one each, he struggled with the team names.
Fortunately the fourth official was only a few feet away and he was able to confirm that Western Spurs were taking on Sorento Bucs in another Erango regional second division game. He was also able to tell us that there was half an hour remaining and that Western Spurs were in blue, whilst Sorento Bucs wore yellow. I should have asked him what the story was with the camels.
The Bucs bench.
The respective managers were good value for money, although with it being free to get in I’m not sure that’s necessarily the right term. The Sorento Bucs boss had a hat that Malcolm Allison would have been proud of, whilst the Western Spurs gaffer went the other way, deciding that bothering with shoes and socks was one distraction too many.
The Spurs bench.
The play was end to end, with both teams seeming to fancy their chances of clinching the win. It was Spurs who pulled it off though when a cross from the right was nodded home ten minutes from time. We could have stayed on for a third game of the day, but the lure of the Boro’s game with Arsenal being on the telly had us heading back to Walvis Bay at the final whistle.
The two Swakopmund matches took the total for the ten day Namibian trip to five football games and a cricket match. I’d been confident of seeing football in Windhoek but the last two games were a definite bonus.
Namibia is a country that’s well worth a visit and with us not having got to the Skeleton coast or Etosha National Park on this trip, we’ve got every excuse to return.
Trail of the Lion King 