Life without proper internet access is not life

Anonymous (read: Me)

I have been up and down touring Namibia these past few days. It was on my list of things to do this year and it is probably the only thing I have done.  Being on the move has meant no proper internet and I have been dying to blog!

My travel buds have been my friends Helga and Joan (Helga’s sister). Bless their souls. I finally got to their home and my life has been restored, thanks to good internet.

My journey was as follows.

Cape Town——(21 hours)——— Windhoek——-(4 hours)———– Swakopmund——-(4 hours)———- Windhoek——(10 hours)———– Ondangwa (Helga and Joan’s home).

I have only been here a few days and I already know in my heart that Namibia is one of the countries I must come back to within my lifetime.  The landscape is spectacular:  from beaches, to arid rolling plains, to hills, to the Namib desert and its sand dunes. The weather is lovely for holidaying: SUNNY SUNNY SUNNY. EVEN IN WINTER! And the people are so warm and friendly.

There’s so much about Namibia that I would like to share and can’t be shared in one blog post so I will just do a small profile of Namibia with facts that I have learned on my trip here. Pictures will come soon.

NAMIBIA (random facts)

• Gained independence in 1990
• English is the national language
• Population: approx. 2 million
• Currency: Namibian Dollar
• Dialling code: +264
• Ruling party: SWAPO
• First president: Sam Nujoma
• Current president: Hifikepunye Pohamba

There are some contrasts between Namibia and Kenya that struck me.

Windhoek, the capital, for one, is NOTHING like Nairobi. Windhoek has a population of  less than 300,000. This is less than 10% of Nairobi’s population! I found that life in Windhoek was generally slower than in Nairobi. Everyone seems to know each other here. LOL. Unlike many African cities, Windhoek has no matatus (minibus taxis) or buses. Instead, they use saloon cars as taxis because apparently the population is so low, it would take forever to fill a minibus taxi. The roads in Namibia are good, Kenya, ahem, not so much. There are traffic lights that people actually obey and it is well planned. There  are no traffic snarls here either.  Namibia is very very  dry. Life here is as expensive as in South Africa, maybe slightly more, with the Namibian Dollar trading 1:1 with the South African Rand.  I do not know about the UN stats but I felt that the standards of living of the people here were higher than in Kenya. There are no slums, only locations (something like a township).

The only words in my Oshiwambo vocab:

How are you? / Wassup?—————– Ongeipi

Good/ Cool———————————– Onawa

Thank you————————————- Tangi

Joan and Helga, since I know you will probably read this, thank you for everything. You guys are great hosts and I love your country.