We’ve been in Windhoek now for 4 days and tomorrow we head off in the direction of Grootfontein and eventually Popa Falls in the Caprivi. Windhoek is quite an interesting city. Very German and with an affluence that is incomparable with anything else that we’ve seen in Namibia (Although we believe that Swakopmund is similar.) Most of the big S.A. stores are here, there is at least one theatre, but, strangely enough, we haven’t come across a cinema yet.
We were fortunate in that one of our new buddies that we made in our travels (and we’ve made a lot) tipped us off as to where to stay here. It’s called Arebusch Travel Lodge, and you come to it as you enter Windhoek from the South. The entrance looks like a truck stop and we would have most certainly have passed it by. Instead, we find a very jacked up organisation with cottages (used by a number of business people), and a very nice caravan park. Each site has a large shade cloth awning – all same car port but bigger – and the ablutes are immaculate, equipped with washing machines, and, to Jean’s delight, double ply toilet paper (which goes to show how simple our pleasures have become). All this at R 60 per day. “And that’s not all” (as the advert goes), they took one look at Jean and gave us a 20% pensioner discount!! We took it with alacrity – Sean is not too proud to be seen as a toy boy. –
On our way up from Keetmanshoop we stopped at Hardap Dam, just outside Marienthal. We really thought that we would have trouble getting in – It was a weekend and in the middle of the Namibian school holidays. The place was empty! Hardap is similar in size to Midmar but, as it is a flooded canyon the accommodation is all on cliffs above the water. As with most of the “parks board” type places, the tariff was R 90 per night. The system is crazy, you pay the same whether you are 1 person per site or 8 with 2 vehicles. The place was OK as an overnight, but not a place to rush back to. Actually, we find that Namibia is expensive for what you get, and there is quite a backlash from the overseas visitors. We see some very scathing remarks in the visitor’s books, and the people that we have been chatting to have not been happy. (We later found that these remarks mainly applied to the “official” Parks board type establishments. The private places were very reasonable.)
“I don’t care how big your brother is. This is my parking and I’m not moving.”
Actually the Unimog is owned by a very nice young German couple travelling around Africa with their two kids.
Because of the trouble in West Africa they had to drive back to Germany from Gambia and come down to S.A. with Safmarine – S.A.Winterberg – where they became big buddies with Michael M’s great pal Leon.
A small world.