Holiday in Namibia (2): Windhoek & Kalahari
Our journey from Britain to Namibia consisted of two flights: one of just over seven hours overnight from London to Addis Ababa and another of five hours in the morning from Addis Ababa to Windhoek.
At Windhoek, we met our guide for the whole holiday, Carlos Mauers. His father was of Portuguese heritage and his mother of South African Cape Dutch ethnicity. When his parents met and married, Namibia was under South African control and a system of apartheid was in place so that their inter-racial union was illegal. Everyone has a story. The local company that he presented for out trip was GoVacaction Africa.
Our group is nine-strong: two married couples, four golden girls (two married, two widowed) who have done many trips together, and me as the only single traveller. We are all of similar age and very well-travelled with a keen interest in discovering Namibia.
I had my first adventure even before leaving the airport when my luggage was put on a coach, I followed my luggage, and then discovered that everyone else in the group was on a different coach. Once I was on the correct vehicle and we moved off, I found that, in Namibia, they drive on the left as in Britain (a heritage of the administration by South Africa). Also all the advertisements are in English. But the weather was very different: blue skies and warm sunshine.
Our accommodation in Windhoek – for one night only – was in the five star Hilton Hotel, an experience that will not be repeated as, for most of the trip, we will not be staying in hotels but lodges. After we had time to unpack, Carlos gave us all a 45-minute briefing on the next two weeks. There was a lot of information, but I noticed frequent references to “an early start” and “a long journey” and warnings of “60% of the journey on gravel roads” and of “mosquitoes”, “scorpions” and “cobras”.
Our first meal was a splendid affair: a three-course dinner with three different wines in the characterful Hotel Heinitzburg built by a German in 1914.
Our first full day in the country (Saturday) was one of those early starts. My alarm was set for 6 am, bags had to be outside our rooms by 7 am, and the coach left the hotel at 8.15 am for a one-hour tour of the city.
Windhoek (pronounced ‘Vin-huk’) is the capital of the country and situated more or less in the middle. The name is probably a corruption of the German for ‘windy corner’. The modern city was founded in 1890 when the Germans started to build their Alte Feste (Old Fortress) to accommodate the occupying troops.
Today the population is still only about 400,000 which is just a little larger than a typical London borough. It is known as ‘ the cleanest city in Africa’ – that German influence again. The city is surrounded by three ochre-coloured mountain ranges and, since it is located at an altitude of 5,400 feet (1,650 metres), it has a cool and pleasant climate.
Our short city tour involved seeing from the outside: the National Museum fronted by a statue of the father of the nation and first president Sam Nujoma and close by a memorial to the victims of the genocide of 1904-1908; the Christukirke built between 1907-1910 and dubbed “the gingerbread church” because of its appearance; the National Parliament dubbed “the Tintenpalaz” because it used to be offices using lots of ink; and the railway station opened in 1897 and looking like something in a period movie.
It was time to leave Windhoek and to head south for our next destination. At first the road was fine and then about half way we turned onto a gravel road which was decidedly bumpy. It was a journey of around five hours, but there were plenty of stops: at the town of Rehoboth for coffee and to buy some lunch to eat on the coach, at the Tropic of Capricorn to take photographs, at a tree to see the nests made by social bell weaver birds, and to relive ourselves by the empty road (girls to the left and boys to the right).
It was 2.15 pm when we arrived at the Bagatelle Kalahari Game Ranch for another one-night stay. We were allocated lodges scattered around the grounds and then provided with coffee and cake before we boarded a special vehicle driven by a field guide who took us on a tour of the huge ranch to look for game. We saw lots of animals of different species:, springbok, kudo, oryx, wildebeest, meerkat, ostrich, rhino, zebra, giraffe and several kinds of birds.
After a couple of hours touring the rolling terrain, we drove to the top of a large red sand dune to observe a bright scarlet sunset and have a welcome sundowner. There were some other tourists there and I made friends with a Dutch couple in their 50s, Marco and Roelie. Back at the ranch, there was a tasty three-course dinner with choices for each course and I had kudo for my main course.
I had learned from my Dutch friends that they had arranged for some stargazing at the main lodge so, after dinner, I joined Marco and Roelie on a special observation platform where there was a powerful telescope. We were guided around the stars by a young local guy with a laser torch and an impressive knowledge of the heavens plus some weird views on extraterrestrials ands worlds outside our universe. We saw tons of stars and a swath of ‘cloud’ that was the Milky War. The experience was awe-inspiring.
By the time we had finished our star gazing and Marco and Roelie had treated me to a drink at the bar, the facility was almost deserted. On my way to my chalet, I realised that my key was at reception and now the whole place was now closed up. I imagined having to spend a night alone in the desert, but fortunately I managed to find someone who alerted a member of staff who opened up reception and found my key.