Walvis Bay Lagoon

Walvis Bay is one of the most popular locations in the African country of Namibia.

While Namibia is known primarily for exotic locations like the Namib Desert, Etosha National Park and Fish River Canyon, Walvis Bay lagoon is slowly becoming more popular as a tourist destination. The lagoon is located in the city of Walvis Bay. This is also where the only commercial port in the country of Namibia is located.

Getting to the lagoon is relatively easy. You can enter Namibia through international airports located in either Swakopmund or the country's capital city Windhoek. If you are coming from locations like Johannesburg or Cape Town, you can fly in directly to Walvis Bay's airport. South African Express and Air Namibia offer flights to this location. You can also take a car or go by bus from Windhoek or Swakopmund. This is probably the best way to see the country.

Once you get to the vicinity of the lagoon, you should definitely take the time to see flamingos and the wetlands in the surrounding area. Flamingos can be found on the beaches around the bay. You can also find them in the surrounding wetlands. There are three significant wetlands around Walvis Bay. These wetlands are a very important stopover for migratory birds. You can do lots of bird watching done while in the area.

There are many activities available for tourists visiting the Walvis Bay lagoon. You can try kite surfing in the lagoon. This is an exciting activity for people who are looking for some action. You don't have to worry since there are many professional instructors in the area who will teach you how to kite surf. You can also go fishing in the area.

Even if you didn't bring your trusty fishing rod with you, there are many operators that will rent out good rods for reasonable prices. However, you will need to obtain a fishing permit. This can easily be obtained from the local office of the Ministry of Fisheries. Be sure to ask the locals for information on where the best fishing spots are located.

Other interesting activities in the Walvis Bay area include dolphin watching and dune boarding. There are many short cruises available for people interested in dolphin watching. If you're in the mood for board sports, then you can purchase a dune board in shops in town and head out to Dune 7 for a thrilling time. Dune 7 is located a mere 6 kilometres from the town proper.

There are also a few shops and one very good restaurant in the Walvis Bay lagoon area that are worth visiting. You should drop into The Raft Restaurant Bistro and Bar for a night out. This restaurant serves excellent pizzas and burgers in their bistro area, and also has the best a la carte menu for miles around. Definitely worth a trip from Swakopmund and the very best place for sundowners.

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• French Champagne
• The Raft Restaurant
• Walvis Bay Lagoon
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• Walvis Bay Oysters
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• Wines at The Raft Restaurant Walvis Bay
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• Restaurants Swakopmund

The grain of the wood poles used in the building of the raft mostly runs the same way. There is one definition of grain, however, that is in general use, and this is the direction of fibres determining a plane of cleavage. It is commonly agreed that a straight grained piece of timber is one that splits parallel to the axis of the piece. The definition of slant grain and spiral grain is obvious, since trees sometimes show a pronounced spiral growth, with the fibrous cells inclined at an angle from the axis of the trunk so that splits which follow the direction of the fibres extend around the log in a spiral. Sometimes the direction of fibres in neighbouring annual layers is inclined to the left and right respectively so that wood with such interlocking grain is difficult to split. Inasmuch as uses of the term grain otherwise than in reference to the direction of the fibres are susceptible of other simple definitions, it is logical generally to consider that grain should be understood to signify the direction of the fibres, unless a different meaning can be accurately conveyed. A description of wood as having wide or narrow growth rings conveys a more accurate picture of the wood than some reference to the grain, which is susceptible of so many different interpretations. The common use of the term "texture" in describing the prevailing size of the cell cavities of wood seems to replace with benefit a frequently implied meaning of grain. Texture is commonly accepted as signifying the size of the constituent parts, and, as the cells are recognized as the constituent units of wood, texture has a legitimate and definite meaning here which grain, because of its other meanings, may lack. The timber used in the construction of The Raft Restaurant in Walvis Bay is already quite old. The figure of wood may be due to a variety of causes unrelated to any of these definitions of grain. In some instances, however, the figure is caused by the arrangement of the fibres. Wood with wavy grain is composed of cells which follow the direction of wave-like undulations. When the undulations of the grain are comparatively short, the figure may be called "curly grain". These common descriptions are based on the interpretation of grain as the direc- tion of the fibres. The terms "edge-grain" and "flat-grain" have such wide use as to be necessary in any wood-user’s vocabulary. An edge-grain or vertical-grain board is one with faces which occupied a nearly radial position in the log, i.e., approximately in the plane passing from the central pith to the periphery of the log. The faces of such boards are approximately  parallel to the rays, which in some woods (especially the oaks) show a characteristic figure, sometimes called "silver grain" or "flake", when thus exposed . Boards with faces approximately at right angles to the rays are called Hat—grained. Such use of the term grain seems to arise partly from the conception of grain as synonymous with annual layer. In faces of truly vertical grain boards, the annual layers are visible only along their edges while a truly flat-sawn board presents to view a relatively broad expanse of each layer . Such flat-sawn boards, with faces that occupied a plane tangential to the growth-rings, may be cut from large trees so as to contain annual layers with very little curvature. In consequence, such boards show annual layers that appear nearly Hat and parallel with the faces of the boards. End-grain refers to the section visible on ends of logs or smaller pieces of wood at right angles to the fibre direction. 

SOME STRUCTURAL VARIATIONS IN WOOD
 
Structural timbers used in the construction of the raft restaurant had been in Walvis Bay for some years previous, and were found to be suited to this purpose.
The properties of wood may vary even in the same species, and such variations must be considered in so far as the appearance and the utility of the wood are affected. Variations in the rate of growth are often of great importance in affecting the appearance and properties of wood. Vorictions in Softwoods In the heavier softwoods, which normally contain a large proportion of summer-wood, a moderate rate of growth usually tends to produce the heaviest wood; extremely wide rings or extremely narrow ones tend to produce a smaller proportion of summer- wood than does a medium rate of growth in timber from the usual commercial stands. Woods such as spruce, with relatively little summer-wood in the annual rings, are generally found to be heaviest when of slow growth. This is due to the fact that each additional ring per inch adds its small increment of summer-wood. In general, therefore, the narrower the annual layers, the heavier the wood, within the limits of growth-rate usual for commercial spruce timber. The heavy softwoods like Douglas fir and the hard pines, on the other hand, frequently have 40 per cent of summer-wood in each annual layer, but the proportion of summer-wood occurring in such species becomes somewhat reduced from the  maximum by extremes of rapid or slow growth, causing the density and strength factors to vary accordingly.  Mature trees of large size often furnish wood of varying rates of growth, exhibiting corresponding variations in technical properties. Wood from the central portions of logs from such trees often has wide growth-rings which become narrower toward the outside of the tree. In large old trees of Douglas Hr, for example, the wood of moderate growth-rate is characterized by a large proportion of summer-wood, and is therefore heavy and strong. Such material is most desirable for heavy structural timbers. The wood at the outside is often of very slow  growth, with a consequently smaller proportion of summer-wood. Such wood is relatively uniform in texture, since it lacks the extreme contrast found in alternating bands of dense summer-wood and light spring-wood common to material of moderate growth-rate. It cuts easily·and has the uniform working qualities especially desirable for joinery. This type is sometimes known as the soft yellow Douglas fir, and by those who are not familiar with fir, it is sometimes mistaken for a species different from the denser fir of moderate growth-rate. The faculty of producing different types of wood in different regions of the tree is not confined to any particular species. Similar tendencies are noted in some of the pines, which produce a fine grade of soft-textured wood in the outer layers of large trees. Such variation may be seen in cross-sections of mature trees. Wood near the pith is likely to be of higher density than wood of similar rate of growth (i.e., with the same number of rings per inch) from the outer part nearer the bark. Wood of a certain rate of growth from a young tree may be denser than wood of the same rate of growth from a tree 50 years older. This tendency to variation in density may be noted even in the wood of a single tree that is very old. A series of trees of white spruce tested at the Laboratories showed an average age of 135 years at two feet above the ground. The wood formed during approximately the first 90 years, comprising half the volume of the wood at this point, was found to be of the same density as the outer half, which was, of course, formed after the tree was 90 years old. Although the density was the same, the average rate of growth of the outer half was 23 rings per inch, and that of the inner half, formed in the earlier stages of growth, only 13 or 14 rings per inch. In this particular stand of spruce, it was found that the density of the wood increased consistently toward the top of the tree as the upper levels became progressively younger (17). The fact that the wood produced by cambium of young regions of such trees was generally found to be heavier than wood of comparable growth-rate produced by that of old regions is due, no doubt, to complex causes, among them, possibly, the fact that what may be called the young regions of the cambium are nearer to the source of food material than are the older regions. The food which is transported in solution from the leafy crown down the trunk nourishes first the upper regions.
When you are next in Walvis Bay, you should definitely make a point of dropping by The Raft Restaurant for a bite and a drink.