Wheeling Abroad – Namibia: First Impressions

Our destination for this safari is Windhoek, Namibia and flying over it is uncannily like Outback Australia. It is an arid landscape with very little water. It is also a very old landscape, so the mountains are well worn and the dry river beds are very wide and rocky. It certainly looks like something I know very well.

That’s where the similarities end! In the cities, people are very friendly and in the case of all the staff in the hotels, restaurants, shops, etc, they are very humble and genuinely want to help you. On the other hand, seeing so many people in informal jobs, it’s definitely a bit of culture shock.

The larger towns have the usual shops, restaurants and cafes that you find at home and everything appears to be cheap by australian standards. There is a lot of German influence here as they occupied this country for many years. German, Africans and English languages are all spoken here so there is no issue with communication.

I’m finding this country fascinating as everything is both familiar and different at the same time. It has the best of both worlds.

The Windhoek Country Club, our accommodation for two nights,  is very nice with a grassy Pool, area, poolside bar and restaurant, casino and golf course. My room overlooks the pool and is very comfortable, I can’t get used to the comfort as I know what is coming up over the next few weeks.

So now it’s time to relax, and meet the other eleven travellers and begin the briefing on our Safari with our South African Guide, Dave.

The food is a little different here as well, I had the Bushman Sosatie which includes Crocodile, Zebra, Kudu, Oryx and Springbok (Antelope). It was great!

Tomorrow, we get our cars and the real adventure begins. Now it gets exciting!

Catch you next week with an update on the first half of the trip.