KalahariLog

We finally managed to make a long postponed trip to Namibia. We had been planning to go ever since we first came to Botswana, but never could quite make it happen; knowing that our stay in Africa is coming to an end gave us the needed push. And so last Sunday we got up at five in the morning and started the long drive to Windhoek. We drove for eight hours to the north-west through the Kalahari on the way to the Mamuno/Gobabis border. On the way there we saw more goats than cows, more cows than donkeys, more donkeys than cars, and more cars than people. There were quite a few dead cows on the side of the road in varying stages of decomposition, providing food for the scavengers in the form of vultures, crows, and jackals.

Crossing the border was mostly uneventful, save for the paperwork which took some working out. After paying a fee for a car permit we took off towards Windhoek, which was about 3 hours further west. The road was notable empty of people and animals as farm animals are behind fences in Namibia. The transition from the Kalahari to the high veld of the central Namibia was gradual and barely noticable. Before long, we were in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia and arguably the most livable capital on the continent. The architecture was a pleasant mix of century-old German buildings, modern glassy hotels and office buildings, and functional-looking apartment blocks. After living in Gaborone for so long, we were most impressed by the lack of traffic jams and the very notable absence of trash on the streets.

The people in Namibia are also more diverse than in Botswana. The predominant group is the Owambo from the north, near Angola. Then there are the Khoisan and Bushmen groups such as the Nama, the Damara, the Himba, etc. Most notable are the Basters, also called Coloureds in South Africa and the Herero; The Basters are people of mixed origins and many of them look like Spaniards or Portuguese. They are concentrated in a Rehoboth, about 90km to the south. When we drove there it felt like we were in Mexico: the houses were painted in bright reds, pinks, oranges, and blues. The Herero women dress in the most incredibly Victorian dresses and wear head-cover that makes them impossible to miss. Of course, there are about 10% white Namibians with Dutch, Portuguese, German, and British origins.

On Monday we visited a couple of galleries and museums and walked the breadth and width of Windhoek. The weather is pleasant most of the year as the town in a mile-high and surrounded by even cooler and higher mountains. We had some pretty good meals always including good German bread. We also had some of the local beer, Windhoek Lager. The beer does African brews proud and is exported (and drunk excessively) all over the south African region. A nice hotel in the foothills of the mountains was a perfect place for Sachertorte, apfelstrudel, and coffee while watching the sun go down.

The Alte Feste museum helps with remembering a little bit of Namibia's history: Germany and England first colonized the area in the 1800's. South Africa occupied the country in the 1900's and didn't let go until 1990, making Namibia one of the last countries in Africa to gain independence. SWAPO led the fight against apartheid in Namibia and they have won every election ever since. The country was lauded for its very progressive and democratic constitution but the first president, Sam Nujoma, changed it so that he can get a third 5-year term. The current president, Hifikepunuye Pohamba, has been in office since 2004.

Early on Tuesday we took one of the three possible routes to Swakopmund; one is tarred and long, the other two are gravel and more scenic. We took the short, scenic, gravel road. The distance was about 350km but it took us a good five hours to get there. On the way we saw a few baboons, ostriches, springboks, oryxes, warthogs, and lots of birds. From the cool high veld, with green grasses and wildflowers, the road made its way down to the hotness of the Namib desert before finally reaching the freezing Atlantic ocean.

The Namib desert fits better with what I think a desert should be: hot, dry, and full of sand dunes. It is known as the oldest desert in the world, having been dry and arid for 80 million years. The average amount of rain is 1cm per year and many years go with no rain at all. Still, there are some unique and very strange plants that manage to survive there, including the welwitschia which live for thousands of years and look like a giant greenish jellyfish. The sand dunes of the Namib desert are among the tallest in world, reaching over 330 meters (1000 feet). The edges of the desert are really barren and disorienting, surrounding the giant dune-see in the middle.