JMA's World Travels

We planned our trip to include an overnight stay in Windhoek to experience the capital city of Namibia. The drive from the airport into Windhoek was a good half an hour as, when they originally built it, there were grand expectations of the city expanding into a giant metropolis. While this has not happened it does mean that the first views of Namibia are of some pretty spectacular scenery.

We were delivered to Pension Moni where we checked in and then set off on our first walk in Namibia. It may have only been March but the temperatures were already in the early 30's Celsius so our first stop was a shop to buy a 2-litre bottle of water. During our 10-day trip we repeated this purchase many times and refilled our bottles often. I can only imagine how hot, dry and thirsty it must be during the real heat of summer!

Windhoek is what I consider a typical African city, a mix of modern and traditional with a smattering of the old Colonial days still in existence. We started by wandering through the craft centre where one of the ladies selling traditional African crafts was trying out her new mobile phone. Then walking along the pedestrian walkway, lined with trendy shops, boutiques and sidewalk cafes, we admired some beautiful African carvings and were offered "I'll give you a good price" by many of the stall-holders trying to sell their wares. Sadly a lot of the carvings are the same, almost as if there is a production line somewhere churning out the latest idea and giving it to all these people sitting in a row trying to be the one you buy from. In between all of these there are always a few unique pieces and, in this instance, the one I liked the best was a half-life-size carving of a Bushman out on a hunt. It was a really beautiful carving but far too big to consider bringing home.

Our next stop was a brief one in the ultra-modern Kalahari Sands Hotel to make use of their bathrooms before going to the supermarket to buy some bread, salads and fruit to take back to our Pension for supper.

Our first morning in Windhoek started off with a delicious breakfast at the Pension, cereal, fruit, cheeses and breads. As Namibia was originally German South West Africa there is a lot of German influence in the foods, people and general way of life. We were due to be fetched for our drive to Sossusvlei and the Dune Sea at 2:00 PM that afternoon so we went for another walk into Windhoek centre to the very Colonial Zoo Tea Gardens where the tables have crisp white linen tablecloths and the waitresses are all turned out in their black and white uniforms. We enjoyed a cup of tea while watching the world go by which included an anti-war in Iraq demonstration along the main street of the city in the direction of the US Embassy. After tea we had a walk through the gardens and back to our Pension where we sat around the swimming pool before setting off to Sossusvlei.