Ek is Afrikaans
Door: Doris
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Doris
23 September 2016 | Namibië, Windhoek
Hi there!
Yes it's been a long time, but old friends never part, right?! Right.
I have so much more to tell you about my travels, which already feel like they developed in another lifetime. But they didn't, so enjoy this new story! I will continue where I left off: Namibia.
After one week in the desert, and four days on the water, we still craved for more adventure. So there we stood, again at the side of the road without a clue. ‘Cause, no, we didn't learn from our mistake. Also, the last mistake turned out to be quite easy to shrug off with the thought “it'll be allright”. So, there we where, shrugging in the dust, on the side of a desert road in Namibia. Due to the lack of internet since crossing the border, we lacked any knowledge about the country, which caused some stupid assumptions like “but isn't Windhoek on the ocean?”.
Without a worry in the world and with a lot of dust in our hair, we got our first drive after one game of Solitaire. This is how I calculate time now, thanks to this beautiful continent. This car (also a bakkie, but I don't think I have to keep explaining this) brought us to the nearest Spar, where we encountered our first real Africa. No, partying in the desert and kayaking with four Belgians isn't really the African life, if I may say so.
The blistering sun, traffic-free sand roads, a village with straw houses, some who have had the luxury of roofs made out of corrugated iron sheets, women carrying pots of water on their heads, men carrying branches on their heads, and the feeling of no hurry. The Spar was the only stone building and although the sun stood still quite high, another way of calculating the time, the shop was closing. But without hurry, there is no worry, and thus the shop was opened again for us. The guards even told us we could sleep there tonight if we couldn't find a ride. Very sweet, but not really encouraging.
After a quick run through the supermarket, we hiked back to the road towards the Fish River Canyon. Not that we knew where this was, nor how to get there, but this seemed to be the way we traveled. Luckily we got a ride that didn't only bring us to the canyon, but also to Windhoek the next day! And I don't even know his name, because although very friendly, he wasn't much of a talker. And knowing me, this resulted in six hours of therapy: not talking. Don't worry, I am still alive. Actually, I am as happy as I can be.
The town we stopped is named Ai-Ais, named after the hot springs that cause many tourist to stop there. Made me believe the Namaqua (part of Namibia's original people), simply used the first words that came to mind when touching pools as hot as 65 degrees Celcius.
Who still stays here? At the side of the second biggest canyon of the world? Next to some hot springs, or Ai-Ais? Far from other civilization apart from the spar which was about two hours away from there? That's right. No one. Except some crazy white people, roaming around these springs and cliffs. Some German's who decided to build some fences around the springs, to add some ugly lodges and open up some green patches for others to camp on, so they could make some money out of it. Oh! And if you add a swimming pool with a fountain you can call it a spa! Done.
You can probably guess, we didn't like it all that much. But when we decided to travel without our own car, we decided to be flexible and couldn't really whine about anything. So we wined, ha-ha. With some good wine in the warm swimming pool, we forgot the people around us and enjoyed the calm after four days of paddling. Not such a bad place after all.
When we left the next day, we stopped at the canyon. Here we discovered the great adventures of being a Namibian in this country. We had to pay 80N$ (which is 5 euro's), compared to the 40N$ for both father and son. Yes, there was also a son, but no I also don't know his name. That much for a viewing point! So we waited in the sun until they came back. We stay Dutch right. After this the man and son with no name brought us all the way to Windhoek (over 700 k's), which made the two hours to Ai-Ais like a warm-up of the silent therapy.
Once arrived, Josse and I both had a good feeling about this capital city. A feeling based on nothing. Especially since we expected it to be at the seaside. But during the first diner in Windhoek we where smiling and saying how happy we where. What a beautiful country, relaxed and warm people, sunny climate, stretched out plains and still a cozy feeling. The 700 k's to this city where nothing more than rocks, sand, mountains and sometimes a deserted bush all alone on the savannah. This country is 824.000 km2 wide, has a population of 2.3 million and carries sixteen languages, but still there seems to be not much in the way of a hassle or conflict. Our kayak tour guide told us there was one argument over a German statue, which the Namaqua wanted to change to theirs. The president responded with “We are not going to handle this like South Africa” and added the Namaqua's next to the German statue.
There is still a lot to compare with South Africa though, since this young country has only existed since 1990, but the admosphere is much more soothing. Compared to South Africa there is “only” one famous killer story, which I am going to share. This story is about B1 butcher, who chopped his female victims in to pieces and left them on the side of the road. They caught him no worries. For more information go to Wikipedia (only for this, not for your school papers!) or the Namibian.
I will end this blog with explaining our last days in Namibia. We spent these in Windhoek, where again we didn't know how to get away, or where we wanted to go. Soon we figured there were two options to get back to Cape Town, where I had to show my internship I was still alive. One was to sit in an uncomfortable bus for 22-40 hours, since these buses always break down. Or to pay double and fly, which would take only two hours. The buses helped us by not driving on the day we wanted to go back, so we could choose luxury for once. Except that wine night ;).
After arranging this we walked around in the city. Besides the wonderful people and warm atmosphere, there is not much to experience here. We visited the official Namibian Museum, but except for the cuteness of how this place is displayed, there is not much ink I want to spend on a description. Yes ink, cause I actually write these blogs down first.
After walking around we ended up in a bar with nice music, good drinks, and still the nice atmosphere. We spent the night talking to a bunch of drunken Namibians. Amongst them I met a most interesting man. This buddhist (I know, in a bar? Let the poor man live a little) travelled all around the world and gave me new insights and convinced me I shouldn't be stressing nor worrying about other people just because they are on a different page then me. We will speak more about this fellow spirit while drinking our next beer.
The next morning we woke up with a babalas, google, and decided the best way to spend our last day was to go and hang out in a tattoo shop and it's parking place. Why? Cause this place offered us tattoos. I am sorry grandmother.
This brings me to the place where I was writing the whole story down. At candle light next to a fire, with Josse talking to random people behind me. Loving life, loving the travel. Thank you again for reading.
x-
Yes it's been a long time, but old friends never part, right?! Right.
I have so much more to tell you about my travels, which already feel like they developed in another lifetime. But they didn't, so enjoy this new story! I will continue where I left off: Namibia.
After one week in the desert, and four days on the water, we still craved for more adventure. So there we stood, again at the side of the road without a clue. ‘Cause, no, we didn't learn from our mistake. Also, the last mistake turned out to be quite easy to shrug off with the thought “it'll be allright”. So, there we where, shrugging in the dust, on the side of a desert road in Namibia. Due to the lack of internet since crossing the border, we lacked any knowledge about the country, which caused some stupid assumptions like “but isn't Windhoek on the ocean?”.
Without a worry in the world and with a lot of dust in our hair, we got our first drive after one game of Solitaire. This is how I calculate time now, thanks to this beautiful continent. This car (also a bakkie, but I don't think I have to keep explaining this) brought us to the nearest Spar, where we encountered our first real Africa. No, partying in the desert and kayaking with four Belgians isn't really the African life, if I may say so.
The blistering sun, traffic-free sand roads, a village with straw houses, some who have had the luxury of roofs made out of corrugated iron sheets, women carrying pots of water on their heads, men carrying branches on their heads, and the feeling of no hurry. The Spar was the only stone building and although the sun stood still quite high, another way of calculating the time, the shop was closing. But without hurry, there is no worry, and thus the shop was opened again for us. The guards even told us we could sleep there tonight if we couldn't find a ride. Very sweet, but not really encouraging.
After a quick run through the supermarket, we hiked back to the road towards the Fish River Canyon. Not that we knew where this was, nor how to get there, but this seemed to be the way we traveled. Luckily we got a ride that didn't only bring us to the canyon, but also to Windhoek the next day! And I don't even know his name, because although very friendly, he wasn't much of a talker. And knowing me, this resulted in six hours of therapy: not talking. Don't worry, I am still alive. Actually, I am as happy as I can be.
The town we stopped is named Ai-Ais, named after the hot springs that cause many tourist to stop there. Made me believe the Namaqua (part of Namibia's original people), simply used the first words that came to mind when touching pools as hot as 65 degrees Celcius.
Who still stays here? At the side of the second biggest canyon of the world? Next to some hot springs, or Ai-Ais? Far from other civilization apart from the spar which was about two hours away from there? That's right. No one. Except some crazy white people, roaming around these springs and cliffs. Some German's who decided to build some fences around the springs, to add some ugly lodges and open up some green patches for others to camp on, so they could make some money out of it. Oh! And if you add a swimming pool with a fountain you can call it a spa! Done.
You can probably guess, we didn't like it all that much. But when we decided to travel without our own car, we decided to be flexible and couldn't really whine about anything. So we wined, ha-ha. With some good wine in the warm swimming pool, we forgot the people around us and enjoyed the calm after four days of paddling. Not such a bad place after all.
When we left the next day, we stopped at the canyon. Here we discovered the great adventures of being a Namibian in this country. We had to pay 80N$ (which is 5 euro's), compared to the 40N$ for both father and son. Yes, there was also a son, but no I also don't know his name. That much for a viewing point! So we waited in the sun until they came back. We stay Dutch right. After this the man and son with no name brought us all the way to Windhoek (over 700 k's), which made the two hours to Ai-Ais like a warm-up of the silent therapy.
Once arrived, Josse and I both had a good feeling about this capital city. A feeling based on nothing. Especially since we expected it to be at the seaside. But during the first diner in Windhoek we where smiling and saying how happy we where. What a beautiful country, relaxed and warm people, sunny climate, stretched out plains and still a cozy feeling. The 700 k's to this city where nothing more than rocks, sand, mountains and sometimes a deserted bush all alone on the savannah. This country is 824.000 km2 wide, has a population of 2.3 million and carries sixteen languages, but still there seems to be not much in the way of a hassle or conflict. Our kayak tour guide told us there was one argument over a German statue, which the Namaqua wanted to change to theirs. The president responded with “We are not going to handle this like South Africa” and added the Namaqua's next to the German statue.
There is still a lot to compare with South Africa though, since this young country has only existed since 1990, but the admosphere is much more soothing. Compared to South Africa there is “only” one famous killer story, which I am going to share. This story is about B1 butcher, who chopped his female victims in to pieces and left them on the side of the road. They caught him no worries. For more information go to Wikipedia (only for this, not for your school papers!) or the Namibian.
I will end this blog with explaining our last days in Namibia. We spent these in Windhoek, where again we didn't know how to get away, or where we wanted to go. Soon we figured there were two options to get back to Cape Town, where I had to show my internship I was still alive. One was to sit in an uncomfortable bus for 22-40 hours, since these buses always break down. Or to pay double and fly, which would take only two hours. The buses helped us by not driving on the day we wanted to go back, so we could choose luxury for once. Except that wine night ;).
After arranging this we walked around in the city. Besides the wonderful people and warm atmosphere, there is not much to experience here. We visited the official Namibian Museum, but except for the cuteness of how this place is displayed, there is not much ink I want to spend on a description. Yes ink, cause I actually write these blogs down first.
After walking around we ended up in a bar with nice music, good drinks, and still the nice atmosphere. We spent the night talking to a bunch of drunken Namibians. Amongst them I met a most interesting man. This buddhist (I know, in a bar? Let the poor man live a little) travelled all around the world and gave me new insights and convinced me I shouldn't be stressing nor worrying about other people just because they are on a different page then me. We will speak more about this fellow spirit while drinking our next beer.
The next morning we woke up with a babalas, google, and decided the best way to spend our last day was to go and hang out in a tattoo shop and it's parking place. Why? Cause this place offered us tattoos. I am sorry grandmother.
This brings me to the place where I was writing the whole story down. At candle light next to a fire, with Josse talking to random people behind me. Loving life, loving the travel. Thank you again for reading.
x-
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