Discover Namibia

by Risa King

Windhoek is a sleepy town for a capital city, as is most of Namibia. The country is mostly bush. There are few roads, mostly gravel, but very well maintained. The campsites have more amenities than we're used to. We almost always had a swimming pool and a shop for cold drinks.

The influence of South Africa is very strong; the rand is interchangeable with the Namib dollar. People are very laid back, curious, but not overly anxious to sell you something. This trip was more about scenery and wildlife. You should visit the north for a more cultural experience where the Himba and Herero live.

Our group of 12 traveled by expedition truck with our three crew. Our first stop in the Namib Desert was the sand dunes of Sossusvlei, the place with those enormous red dunes you've seen so often. And that's exactly the way they are. Can something be exactly like its photograph? Our desert campsite had elephants tromping through at night; what a racket! They completely took out a tree right next to Leon's tent. Our crew nearly jumped out of their skin!

There is a certain amount of controversy about the desert elephants; they compete with humans for space and food. This was clearly evident. Murray, our tour leader, was a wildlife conservationist from South Africa, where elephant culling is widely practiced. We had quite a spirited discussion on the subject.

We would drive for miles and never see another vehicle. I wondered how the food got to the supermarkets because I saw so few trucks. But there was certainly enough of everything, even abundance, in places like Walvis Bay and Swakapond. Swakopund, now there's a strange place - a German Bavarian village dropped out of time and space to materialize on the deserted African coastline. Sometimes that's how all of white culture seems in Africa, startlingly out of place. Not far from civilization along the deserted Skeleton coast, is the Cape Cross seal colony with thousands of bleating smelly seals as far as the eye can see. Though warned about the smell, I actually didn't think it was that bad.

Then it was on to Etosha for beautiful campsites and extremely well managed wildlife parks. Although the black rhino is a rare and endangered species, we saw tons of them at the watering holes of Etosha. If rhino are on your list of must see wildlife, then go to Namibia. There were tons of lions, elephants, rhinoceros, giraffes, antelope (the cutest little dik-dik) and all manner of birds. I was particularly fond of the blue-throated crane. Jackals and hyena were everywhere. Aren't they ugly? One night a jackal raided the trash by my tent and the amateur Germans photographers next door thought it was a super-model shoot.

It rained, it scorched, it was freezing and blazing hot, sandy (beyond all belief,) all in all quite amazing. My backpack will always have some sand from the Namib desert. And that's a good thing!

To learn more about Discover Namibia click here.