An out and back course past the flamingos/flamingoes (apparently either is fine) in the bay.
I hired a car for the weekend and drove to Walvis Bay in the morning for the 8am start. There’s plenty of parking, including a car park right by the start. It’s the most popular car parking spot on the front, maybe partly because it’s tarmacced, but mostly because the flamingos tend to be clustered there. There will also be a couple of people offering to look after your car, and perhaps cleaning it if you’re there for long enough (I put my hand up here), but they were friendly. After their attention, and that of a staff member at my guesthouse, I returned the car extremely clean, sufficiently so that the car hire place commented on it.
With all that said, you might think that car-parking was the highlight of my visit. It definitely wasn’t! I received a very warm welcome from the volunteers and felt immediately among friends. I hadn’t introduced myself; strangers stand out, as did my 500 shirt.
The start is on the grass next to the car park. You head off to the South on a short section on the grass marked by cones, following a curve round to come back on yourself very soon, joining the wide path to head North.
Walvis Bay is often a few degrees warmer than Swakopmund, but on this Saturday it was having a similarly hazy day as its Northern neighbour, with fairly cool conditions (but still, think high temperature for an early Spring day in the UK). Cool enough that I would have been okay in a long-sleeved top, but was soon glad not to have one with me.
The waterfront area that the parkrun covers is the highlight of Walvis Bay town itself, so it’s well-picked for the run. It’s all views of large houses on one side, particularly at the start, and out to the lagoon on the other. The route takes you along in a fairly gentle curve, to run past the edge of the Protea hotel, round the cheering marshal who is tucked away round the corner, then back on the same route in the opposite direction. You have the option of waving at as many fellow parkrunners as you like/have energy for.
This parkrun had been cancelled for a couple of weeks as the path was narrowed while some works were ongoing. Though they weren’t finished, they were no longer blocking much of the path so we were able to carry on as normal this weekend. Hooray!
The flamingos here are several shades from almost white through to pink, though still not as pink as those I remember in British safari parks. That may be a false memory. Whatever the truth of that, certainly there will be some variation in colouring as there are two species here. Both the Greater and Lesser Flamingos mingle. It’s very simple to stand near enough to get a good view of them, with my highlight the Greater Flamingos stamping their feet to bring up small molluscs and other organic food from the mud. It looks more like dancing, and would be hypnotic if they kept it up for a long time.
Not that I saw any of that, really, while completing the parkrun. This is a flat and fast course, if you like that sort of thing, and was my fastest of the year despite a headwind most of the way out. Afterwards some of us headed to the hotel, directly over the road from the start/finish area (some Brits will not be able to stop themselves saying it’s “literally over the road”) and with a discount on breakfast for parkrunners. Generally you don’t even need to show a barcode, they will spot you by your apparel. I didn’t have to think about it at all, as the lovely welcome from the volunteers included one of them paying for my drink.
Results from Walvis Bay parkrun #228, 23/3/24; 89 finishers
It’s on the bucket list.
Dream parkrun! Love the blogs!