namibia: windhoek

It was quite easy to arrive in Namibia by flight. I flew from Capetown, South Africa, to Windhoek, Namibia, moving my watch back an hour along the way. (Namibia is the only country in Southern Africa on a different time zone.) 

We walked from the plane to the terminal (maybe 200 meters?) and straight into passport control. That took me all of 5 minutes, as I was at the front of one of the 'visitor' lines. 

After I was through customs and baggage, I went through the arrivals section of the airport rather quickly. I asked information where I could buy a Namibian SIM card for my phone, then did so, adding some data to the price. 

Soon afterward I found a shuttle to take me directly to where I wanted to go in the city. It dropped me at the front gate of the compound where my next airbnb host lived. 

I checked in, then did very little for the rest of the day. I didn't leave the flat at all. I watched tv, chatted with my host, and wrote some of the postcards I'd already amassed during this trip. 

I don't know if it was just this guy, or if data is much cheaper and more efficient in Namibia than in South Africa. I was able to stream a few TV shows, and get completely caught up on my social media. (By caught up I mean reading what others have posted recently, not me posting anything.) 

The next day I got moving, and immediately set about my only plan for the country: setting up a tour to one of the national parks in Namibia. Ever since a friend had posted photos of his trip, I'd wanted to see the dunes of Namib-Naukluft national park. 

I hadn't realized this is high season, somehow I'd assumed that winter would be low season, as it is in much of South Africa. I'd emailed a few companies, all of which said they were fully booked for the entire month of August. Argh. One really frustrating aspect of booking tours in Windhoek is that these companies do not have central offices. Everything is done by phone calls and Internet. 

I even walked to the Namibian Tourism Board building, which isn't for customers and guests at all. There is no list of tour companies anywhere, so it's all about searching online, or hoping someone hooks you up. While I was in South Africa I had talked to another traveler who had just come from Namibia, and he suggested a hostel to check out, so I headed there. 

At least, I thought I headed there. I typed the name into google maps and it gave me a location, which I double checked with the webpage of this hostel. When I got to that spot, there was nothing there. Nothing. No house, no business, not a single building.

I called the hostel, and it turned out they were located another 20 minute walk away, argh. (I love walking, I really do, but I'd already walked 40 minutes in 25C/77F heat without a cloud in the sky; it felt hotter and I could feel a sunburn developing on my neck.) I told whoeva was on the phone that they should probably change the mapped location on their web page. 

Fortunately, when I arrived at the hostel, they were able to help me out. Though the tour they run themselves was already fully booked, they had the phone number of another independent tour operator, who still had room. YAHOO!! I got that sorted, then started walking again. 

My first stop was a supermarket. Exciting, I know, but I needed snacks. And I love wandering through supermarkets, and this was my first in Namibia (though it was a chain I'd already seen in Lesotho and South Africa.) 

Then I headed to an ATM to get money. For whateva reason, the ATM at the airport had given me South African rand, not Namibian dollars; even so I needed more cash to pay for the tour. Side note: in Namibia, like Swaziland and Lesotho, it is legal to spend South African rand, they're considered equal with the local currency. (When in South Africa your only option is rand.) 

At that point I was hot, and starting to feel as though I was going toward heat exhaustion, so I went home. After relaxing for thirty minutes, and drinking cold water, I felt better. 

I walked back toward the city center, ending up at Christuskirche. The postcards say that it dominates over the city, but it didn't feel that way to me. It is located in the bit of land in the middle of a(n admittedly large) traffic circle. I entered, and sat for a few minutes. Though traffic is constant, it was quiet inside. 

On the other side of the traffic circle is the Independence Memorial Museum. It's definitely eye catching, and not in an attractive way. I found out later that it was designed and built by North Korea. Why??? It doesn't fit in the surrounding architecture, at all. Out in front is a statue of Sam Nujoma, who is considered the founding father of modern Namibia. I took my photos, and decided to come back another day. 

Also near the traffic circle were Parliamet Gardens. It took me a while to find an open gate, I first found two that were closed. I wonder why the gates aren't all open?

It didn't take me long to walk all around, as the area isn't big. I liked the way some of the trees had been planted to form tunnels of a sort, and benches placed inside those tunnels. It was much cooler inside the tunnels, which felt really good. I could tell I was headed toward heat exhaustion again. Winter in Namibia is pretty similar to summer in Kyiv, I'm just sayin...

I bought more water after leaving the gardens, and walked back to the hostel where I'd booked my tour. The guy running the tour came to meet me and gave me the itinerary of what we would do and see, and let me know exact costs. 

Then I was walking again. Remember how often I say I love to walk? At this point, I was totally over it. I was tired, hot, dehydrated, and hungry. I had dinner at a chain restaurant (not something I want to do most of the time,) then went home. I wrote more postcards, and crashed early. Windhoek isn't a tourist destination so I didn't feel like I was missing anything. 

The next morning I was up early, packed up, and walked over to the hostel to be picked up for the tour.