Overview of Namibia

NAMIBIA

Mel

As European countries were colonising Africa, Germany grabbed the area between the Kunene River, in the North and the Orange river, in the South. In 1884, it was declared a protectorate – Deutsch-Sudwestafrika. (Walvis Bay was excluded as Britain had already laid claim to it). After WW1 South Africa was given the mandate to govern the territory and it became South West Africa. In 1990 S.W.A. became Namibia under the leadership of Sam Nujoma.

Namibia remains more German than Germany and until we reached the far northern section, around Rundu, we encountered mainly Germans, locals and tourists. The other predominant language spoken by all locals was Afrikaans. As English speakers, we were definitely in the minority but certainly understood by most. Gray and I speak fairly fluent Afrikaans, so this was not an issue but Robs (having elected to study Zulu as a second language) had to have things interpreted regularly.

Namibia is the 34^th largest country in the world and the second least densely populated, with fewer than two million people. Possibly, the Namib Desert might play a role in this; it is also why you can travel for hours without encountering another human. The roads we travelled on, tar and sand, were all in excellent condition. The roads were constructed by the S.A. army back in the 1970’s and 1980’s and the present government has done a great job of maintaining them. The country is clean and there is no sign of litter in the towns we visited or in the rural areas. There is no need to change currency from the S.A. Rand to the Namibian Dollar, as the Nam $ is fixed to the rand. One change to bear in mind is the hour’s time difference, until you get to the Caprivi area, you can sleep in for an extra hour (and two when day light saving kicks in).

Highs:

Each area had its own charm: I loved the trip around Walvis harbour; the tour around the ghost town, Kolmanskop; Swakopmund with its brightly painted buildings, interspersed with German architecture and the Ovahimba women and children; the fast flowing Kavango River; the oysters; I think my favourite spot were the dunes of the Sossusvlei area.

Lows:

The floods; South African caravaners – neither a fault of Namibia.

Graeme

Watch this space.

Pictures (at last)

Upington

Aus

Morning wake up in our new home

Robs up a tree

Kolsmanskop - the Ghost Town

The long Namibian roads

Our buddies in the camp site

Sossusvlei

Robs going up

Robs coming down

Pandas birthday at the Brauhaus

Walvis Bay main road in flood

Walvis Harbour

                                                                             Robs cold Atlantic swim

Etosha

Kavanga River

Robs on top of the car

Victoria Falls

                                                                                     View from our helicopter flip

                                                                          
                                                                                  Sun set on the Zambezi

                                                                                               The bar men

Day 17: 1/5/2011 - Livingstone

We sadly booked out of the Chrismar hotel this morning; it really was the friendly staff there that made our stay so enjoyable. We have booked into the ‘Waterfront’ for the next 3 nights. Our accommodation is a thatch roofed cabin on the banks of the Zambezi River, with a view of the ‘smoke’ rising off the falls. We have an upstairs family room and at the moment I am sitting on the balcony watching monkeys’ play in the trees between us and the river. Much as I enjoyed the luxury of the 4 star hotel, I feel more at home here with the river and the natural forest, in a rustic room – I have been Africanised.

This morning we went on a helicopter flip over the falls. It was awesome. It is only from the air that you get to see the full extent of one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World and the 7 meandering gorges that the Zambezi flows into. All too soon we were back on the ground.

From there we visited the Livingstone Museum. We love museums and spent the next two hours exploring. I thought it would be a museum about the life and explorations of Livingstone in Africa but this information, photos and artefacts were confined to one room. The rest of the museum deals with the natural history of man and life and politics in Zambia. One of the sayings dealing with the rites of passage of the Zambian people I found profound and worth a mention - “The birth and death of an individual are less significant. What matters are ones deeds between the two periods”.

We boarded the MV Makumbi for a sun set cruise on the mighty Zambezi. With free food and drinks available (not quite, it was included in the cost of our ticket), the cruise turned into a big party. There were locals as well as people from all over the world, babies and old people. Robs went behind the bar and had helped the 3 friendly barmen for most of the 2 hour trip; all commented on how good she was (glad we are paying school fees to educate her). I took stacks of photos and Panda drank stacks of Mosi. Again, the peace of being on the water was what I needed after a busy day.

We spent the night chilling on the restaurant deck at the ‘Waterfront”, watching the Zambezi flow by.

Day 16: 30/04/2011 – Livingstone

Happy Birthday Nicky – Hope you have a great day.

We started the day off with a full English breakfast in a big open plan, chandelier clad room. We did very little communicating with each other, as we were so busy listening to the Black ‘business tycoon’ at the table behind us. He was either shouting into his cell phone at some poor manager for not having done their job or holding court over the employees sitting at his table. Then he summonsed the waiter with a “come here boy”, the three of us could no longer control ourselves, we whipped around to find him drinking sherry with his English breakfast. Colonialism is still thriving in Africa, well in Zambia at least.

Besides the 4 bikers (also from Jhb) doing the mid-life crisis thing; riding their BMW’s to Vic Falls and back for the long weekend, we were the only whities in the hotel. Most of the residents were either on conference or on holiday from Lusaka for the long weekend. Very seldom were we left alone, there were always people coming up to us to chat, we feel so welcome here.

The weather was stunning this morning and we headed into town to buy some odds and ends. I drew 1 000 000 kwacha from the autobank (no teachers’ salaries haven’t increased), this amounted to R1 500 S.A. Rand. At the shopping centre there was an Education Expo, advertising different professions and tertiary educational institutions. Then we heard a commotion, it turned out to be the army brass band, followed by a long line of students, marching down the road. They marched into the car park and before speeches were made by some official, the band played N’kosi Sikele Afrika – the whole car park, including us stood to attention. Like in Namibia, I am so impressed by the emphasis on education and quality of school buildings in urban and rural Zambia.

Our next stop was obviously Victoria Falls. I prefer the local and original name for the falls Mosi-oa-Tunya, which means ‘smoke that sounds like thunder’, so much more apt than being named after some old Queen who never set eyes these magnificent falls. Gray and I visited the falls for our 20^th wedding anniversary, having spent a wonderful weekend at the Matetsi Game Lodge on the Zimbabwean side of the falls. I think the Zambian side is even more impressive but we are now visiting them in the rainy season. It’s hard to describe just how amazing the falls are; the sheer volume of water cascading over the falls into the gorge below, sending up plumes of water making visibility minimal but making rainbows and us sopping wet. We then walked through the amazing rain forests and watched people bungee-jumping off  the old steel bridge linking Zambia and Zimbabwe. Robs is nagging us to allow her to bungee- jump, we managed to avoid her doing something so idiotic (for now) by exploring the area around Livingstone this afternoon.

We went to a Squires Loft, at the Zambezi Sun, for dinner (remember the old steak house chain), this is only one of two left, the other being at Sun City.

Day 15: 29/4/2011 - Kwando to Livingstone

Happy Birthday Megs, you are getting old cuz.

The wind howled during the night but we were warm and comfortable.

I had resolved not to let my neighbours bother me any further, that was until they were rude to Willem, the camp attendant, who was an absolute star. We packed up in record time, having no desire to spend any more time next the ‘wannabe Voortrekkers’.

I hope Kirsty and my Sandton friends are proud of me; during my shower this morning, I was more appreciative of the piping hot water, from the donkey boiler, than I was concerned of the spiders scurrying around the walls of the tiny dark cubicle.

We stopped at a local craft market near to the main road to buy a bracelet for Robs; she collects bracelets from each country she visits, I collect fridge magnets and Gray drinks their beers. In Namibia his beer of choice has been Tafel and Hansa Draught.

We then headed into Katima Mulilo, a bustling little town. We found the Boabab Bistro, the only restaurant in the town (I think). It had great food, great atmosphere and was very reasonable; perfect for brunch. There were a couple of locals crowded around an old T.V. and we realised they were watching the Royal Wedding (we had forgotten completely) – Robs and I were delighted. Gray was chomping at the bit to get going but we talked him into letting us stay until we had seen the dress.

We left Namushasha a day early and decided to head into Livingstone, in Zambia. We arrived at the border post at Wenela (a few kms outside Katima) at 12:30. Note must be made here that this is the first time we have travelled through Namibia without getting a puncture (Gray is very happy with his new BF Goodrich tyres). The Namibian border post was quick and efficient and we were out of the modern building in 10 minutes. Then we drove straight past the Zambian office at Shesheke  – there was no signage and nothing indicating anything vaguely official. Once located, the building proved to be a dirty dump. We exchanged US $ for Zambian kwacha from some shady looking characters in a litter strewn yard and proceeded inside. There were 4 taxes and insurance to be paid, some in Kwacha, some in Rand and some in US$. The building with broken windows, filthy curtains and broken toilets proved luxury compared to our next stop. The next part of making ourselves official for entry took place in a caravan, Robs and I stood outside watching some guys play chess as there was no room for us, in what must rate as the most run down and filthiest caravan on the planet (complete with no floor and chicken crap). We then proceeded to another tin structure to pay road tax, returning to the original one to complete the paperwork.  Gray eventually emerged after signing for and paying for heavens knows what but we were legal. As we were walking to the car, he started squirming around and found a cockroach under his shirt. After a debug, we were on our way. Beaurocracy and cleanliness aside, the Zambian officials were far friendlier than their very official Namibian counterparts.

We were stopped on numerous road blocks on our 200km journey into Livingstone, nobody checked any papers but like at the border post everyone was extremely friendly. We can see a big increase in population by the number of villages, cars and people.

As we entered Livingstone the heavens opened (the first rain in Livingstone for a month) and we get caught in an almighty hail storm. As we had left Namibia earlier than expected we had not booked anywhere, camping today was not an option. We had been given the names of a few places to try by people we had met along the way. The first 3 were fully booked (like in S.A. this is a long weekend in Zambia) and the cell network in the area crashed, preventing us from phoning around. Luckily  we drove passed the Chrismar Hotel and managed to get the last room off a cancellation. O bliss, a soft bed, hot water and a restaurant. The staff fall over themselves to please you; this must be one of the happiest and friendliest cultures on earth. After dinner we went for a nightcap to the bar (sunken into a swimming pool, much to Robs delight) and met a lawyer and a guy from the Department of Corruption, they were from Lusaka on a conference. We had a very interesting evening chatting to them, with Gray trying the local Mosi beer.

Day 14: 28/4/2011 - Okavango Panhandle to Kwando (Eastern Caprivi)

Gray usually gets up a bit earlier than the girls, makes the fire and warms the kettle for coffee/ tea/Oats so Easy etc. When I emerged from the tent this morning, he was sitting at the table with a yellow bellied greenbul eating a rusk out of his hand and a laughing dove picking up crumbs at his feet.

Its move on day, so we had to pack up camp (we are getting pretty good this). We have our food packed into 3 black ammo boxes and our crockery & cutlery in a fourth. These boxes pack neatly into one another and are waterproof, so can be unpacked and left out; or so we thought, at Rundu we left them under the table on the grass, to discover there were tiny holes on the bottom and the ants had discovered this. All the food was well sealed and no harm was done. Since the ant episode we have made sure that the boxes are raised off the ground. At Nunda we had a wooden bench, perfect for the 4 boxes, so we thought, as Gray lifted the one box this morning, Robs squealed – under the box were these gross looking termites. We knocked them all off the box and it looked like they were eating rice (yep, it was the box containing tins, soups, pasta and rice). After a very hurried unpack to determine the damage, we discovered not even an ant in the box. Not sure what the rice looking stuff was but it was gross. The joys of camping.

We took an easy 100km trip up the main road, stopping to help a couple who had blown a tyre on their caravan. There were numerous “Beware of Elephant” signs and with good cause because there were eles browsing on the side of the main road.

Doris suddenly told us to take a right turn, a decision I queried as there were no signs to the Namushasha Camp we had booked into (there appear to be no detailed maps of this area). Doris, being the only female Graeme will take directions from, won. Off we set down a sand track into the most amazing bush; if I were an animal, this section of the Kwando River is where I would like to live. Soon we encountered a herd of ele, we had to be very cautious as there was no way of reversing back along the track with the trailer on. This was the first of 3 herds we came across, along with kudu, waterbuck, nyala, impala and baboons. There were numerous tracks to take, we opted for the low road which went along the river edge, it was beautiful, the waterways were filled with water lilies and teaming with bird life. After about an hour Doris informed us that we should return to the main road. Clearly her short cut hadn’t factored in a river crossing with no bridge. The next problem was to find a place to turn the Discovery, which has the  worst turning circle of any car ever made, and a trailer, in the thick sand. Eventually we found a type of clearing near the river’s edge for our U-turn, only to get stuck on a tree stump; neither low range nor high range was going to move us. But never fear when ‘Camel Man’ is here. He whizzed around the bush gathering logs to pack around the tyres and we were free in 2 minutes. Robs and I directed him back to the track so as to avoid any further obstacles. Back on track, we found fresh lion spoor on the road (and we had been checking out for elephants). Gray thought this was a great practice run for the months ahead.

Two hours later we were back on the main road. The turn off to Namushasha -  was a police block and 7km down the road. The dirt road to the entrance was like a national highway. We found a great camp site, with a large river front area (not great ablutions, but we would manage). As we were the only ones in the camp site, we chose an area near a lapa with a stunning view. We then went exploring round the area and found a deck overlooking the Kwando River to chill for a while. This river is gentler flowing than the Kavango River and surrounded by reeds and water lilies. The trees in this area are hundreds of years old and form umbrellas over the vegetation below allowing the light to permeate like little fairies.

We returned just before sunset to prepare dinner. We were in a mellow mood, enjoying the quietness of the sunset. All of a sudden 5 4x4’s with off road caravans arrived. With the camp site being a km long, one would have thought they would have found an area away from the only other campers, we certainly would have. This morning Garth, the owner of Nunda, an Afrikaans man who has travelled Africa extensively said ‘there is nothing worse than Afrikaans (he used the word Boere) campers, he was wrong Afrikaans caravaners can piss you off a whole lot more. They set up a laager around us, took over our camp fire and invaded our space completely. Graeme, being the absolute gentleman that he is, quietly moved our ‘living area’ to the other side of our tent and started a new fire (by now it was too dark to move away from them). Just as we settled ourselves with a drink, determined to get over the rudeness of people, they started up a generator and then proceeded shouting at each other to be heard over the din. So much for our quiet evening, listening to the sounds of Africa. This is by far the most irritated we have been so far this holiday. We can cope with bugs, termites, heat and hard beds but selfish caravaners are another story completely, now I know why they have such a bad reputation.

Day 13: 27/4/2011 - Okavango Panhandle

Oops, sorry about the typo on yesterday’s date – I just lost 10 days. If it weren’t for the blog, I wouldn’t know what day it was.

I am passionate about the education of children on “saving the earth” and teaching them to appreciate their environment. I have a group of 50 little bunny huggers at school and I am very proud of their commitment to the Paw Print club.

Gray and I have tried hard with our own kids to make them aware of and appreciate the environment and to look after the earth for future generations Gareth loves the bush and for many years had aspirations of being a game ranger. With Kirsty, we failed dismally, she is queen of the concrete jungle and would much rather be shopping in London, New York or Sandton City to being stuck in the bush. However, it is her choice to join us for her mid year holidays as she would “love to see the migration”, Gray thinks it’s all a pose on her part and there is some bush chic in her.

However, with Robyn we have created an eco monster. Robs and I went off to wash the dishes this morning. There was some mud in the basin that I started to rinse away; I got severely kakked on for wasting water. I tried to explain that the water came the river 20m away and it would return to the same river, which just so  happens to be in flood and about 6m above its normal level and rising. My normally polite, level headed daughter, still would not see my reasoning in this, so as punishment I took a really short shower (the water was luke warm, so I was keen to get out anyway but I won’t tell her that).

We have had the most relaxing day so far, I almost feel guilty. We literally moved from the camp site, to the deck, to the pool and back again. We read, played games and sorted out our accommodation and route for the next few days. It was good to recharge our batteries.

The water on the banks of the river were particularly noisy this evening. There were very few hippo sounds but a 4m croc was spotted in the shallows today. Robs decided we needed an evacuation plan: she hops onto the bumper, then the spare tyre and is on the roof rack of the car in 2 steps. Can you just imagine Gray and I attempting the same manoeuvre, if we managed to get to the top, with the car intact, we probably would have pulled one of the major muscle groups in the process.

So while she ate her dinner on the top of the car, we braved it around the camp fire and enjoyed the sounds of the bush.

9 o’clock and we are off to bed – another great day in Africa.