Namibia....Reflections

Our Toyota after covering 3500 miles of Namibian roads!

What a fantastic way to end our nine month trip. We had high hopes for Namibia but we wondered if the pending return to an English summer would spoil things but it completely exceeded all our expectations and we barely gave home a thought. Until now.

Our little Toyota Corolla barely stayed in one piece as we covered more than 3500 miles, two thirds of it on un-tarred gravel roads which at times was more than a little hairy. The last leg was from the Atlantic town of Luderitz to Fish River Canyon, the second largest canyon in the world. We stayed one night there in the wonderfully named town of Ai-Ais in a bungalow about twice the size of our house!

In fact all the accommodation here has been extraordinarily good. A far cry from some of the hovels we’ve endured since our trip began. The food too has been way above what we expected, especially the meat.  In particular the poor little oryx which Vanessa wasn’t overly pleased about me sampling but Namibia does have marmite and some cheap South African red wine so everyone was happy!

Back in the capital, Windhoek for our last few days to collect our thoughts, our clean washing and to catch the last of the warm African sunshine before returning home.

Namibia has undoubtedly been one of the highlights of our whole trip. With deserted roads, great food and accommodation, wall to wall  sunshine and some of the most spectacular scenery and game viewing, we just couldn’t go wrong. All this in a country that remains very poor, struggles with high unemployment and where life expectancy is around 50 due to their continuing battle with AIDS, TB and malaria. Somehow it remains stable and a safe place to visit with the friendliest of people.

TIME SPENT:   25 days

TRANSPORT:  1 flight, 6 taxis, 1 hire car

NUMBER OF PLACES WE STAYED:  10 (2 guest houses, 7 lodges, 1 hotel)

FAVOURITE EATERY:  Barrells in Luderitz

WILDLIFE SPOTTED:  monkeys, warthogs, babboons, mongooses, oryx, black rhinos, elephants, giraffes, leopard, impalas, kudu, ostriches, zebras, wildebeasts (gnu), hartebeests, lion, springboks, seals, flamingos, penguins and the tiny antelope…..the dimara dik-dik

TOURS TAKEN:  20 day self drive

BEST VALUE FOR MONEY:  South African red wine