Greetings from the Skeleton Coast,
I hope you are all doing well. It looks like Baseball is still in full swing and Mom is running everyone around quite a bit. I miss you all and wish you were here with me to see some of the interesting sights and meet the people of Namibia.
Today I left the rainy city of Cape Town and took a two hour flight to the North. We landed in Walvis Bay, Namibia. It was a great big desert that had very few trees or life of any kind. I took a picture of the view as we left the airport for you to see the few trees in the area. 
This area of Namibia has a heavy German background and the city names still carry much of that history. For example, my hotel is on Vineta street in the city of Swakopmund. It is right on the Atlantic coast and seems like a nice place. Everyone speaks English and most also speak Afrikaans. Upon arrival I was greeted by Wayne Lindsay (our Southern Africa Safety Manager) and Charles Freeland (our South Africa HR Manager) and we stopped for lunch on the way to the rig visit. We had fresh prawns with the heads still on and fries. Luckily they have Coca-Cola light to help bring a taste of home to the mix. We then drove the two hours out to our first drilling rig of the day.
This area of Namibia has a heavy German background and the city names still carry much of that history. For example, my hotel is on Vineta street in the city of Swakopmund. It is right on the Atlantic coast and seems like a nice place. Everyone speaks English and most also speak Afrikaans. Upon arrival I was greeted by Wayne Lindsay (our Southern Africa Safety Manager) and Charles Freeland (our South Africa HR Manager) and we stopped for lunch on the way to the rig visit. We had fresh prawns with the heads still on and fries. Luckily they have Coca-Cola light to help bring a taste of home to the mix. We then drove the two hours out to our first drilling rig of the day. We traveled through an area known as the Namibia's Skeleton Coast. The area got its name from the large number of shipwrecks that have occurred on it's rocky coast (f0r more information click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeleton_Coast). We came across one ship that had hit the rocks. Wayne was nice enough to stop so I could get a picture and share the sight with you. 
Besides the shipwreck the coast was beautiful with a nice sandy beach and no development for miles and miles. It would make a perfect beach resort if it just wasn't 1,000 miles from nowhere.
Besides the shipwreck the coast was beautiful with a nice sandy beach and no development for miles and miles. It would make a perfect beach resort if it just wasn't 1,000 miles from nowhere. 
We left the coast and inspected one small drill rig. The rigs are similar to the USA but where we have two or three employees per rig they have seven or eight. The only real interesting thing on the rig was watching the geologist check for the uranium they are after. Once our crews had placed the core sample in the boxes the geologist would run a radiation sensor over it and measure the amount of energy coming from the sample. Kind of makes you wonder about the whole process.......
After the rig visit we drove back to Swakopmund and met up with one of our safety representatives named Michael. He and I first met at the Development Centre course I attended last year in Johannesburg so it was good to see him again and see how he is progressing. We enjoyed a nice dinner and now I am getting ready for bed.
I miss you all and hope that things are going well. With some of the large decisions facing the family I wish you were all here to sit down and have a face to face conversation. But the time will go by and it will seem quick in a few years from now, right? I love you and hope all is well with everyone.
Love,
Ben
1 comment:
It's fun to see Ben's travels - What a great way to keep in touch during a long trip!!!
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