I’d been back in Windhoek barely an hour after my week exploring some of the highlights of Namibia when the next part of my Southern Africa trip began. I was chatting to the people in my dorm when I met Céline, a girl from Belgium who was travelling alone and happened to have a rental car. As we talked it appeared we had similar plans and she asked if I’d like to join her.
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One of the things I really wanted to see on my recent trip to Africa was Victoria Falls. Now you might think that would be fairly easy to accomplish. Just organise your itinerary around a visit to the waterfalls. However, on so many trips I’ve never actually reached several of the places I wanted to visit. Usually because I get distracted by new, amazing sights I hear about on the way and I run out of time.
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I was travelling around Namibia and Botswana with two girls I met in Windhoek, Céline and Louise. One of our first stops was a three night stay in Kasane, just across the Namibian border in the north-east of Botswana.
I’d never heard of the place before we decided to travel there but it was in a perfect location for other sights we wanted to visit and it’s such a beautiful area. The border crossing alone was one of the most stunning I’ve seen. As we entered Botswana we drove straight through the Chobe National Park and saw plenty of wildlife. We found a place to stay right next to the Chobe River; Chobe Safari Lodge. It was one of the nicest places I stayed during my three months in Africa. Just as we were checking in we were treated to a beautiful, red African sunset over the river. We knew we were in the right place.
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As part of my week-long tour around the best of Namibia I visited Etosha National Park. This was my first African safari experience and the clear highlight of the week. I had two nights there with Benjamin, my guide, arriving mid afternoon at Namutoni on the east side for our first camp.
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After eventually leaving Swarkopmund the guides I was supposed to meet in Usakos hadn’t arrived yet. Instead we met them further along towards Windhoek at a random gas station. I had already met one of them, Kefas, from a couple of tours in Windhoek and now I was introduced to Benjamin.
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Namibia was my first real taste of Africa and somewhere I’d been wanting to go for a few years. I just wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do there. I’d read about Etosha National Park in the north, but other than that I had no idea what there was to see. In Windhoek I found a company that booked excursions and they organised a whole week of activities for me, including Etosha, together with accommodation, transport and some meals. The plan was altered on pretty much a daily basis after this. In fact, on the day I was supposed to leave the plan changed so I would be doing it the opposite way round. For a very German country, organisation is not a strong point.
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I spent more time in the Namibian capital than I’d have preferred or recommend but that at least allows me to give a decent guide to the place. I landed in Windhoek airport, which is a whole 45km from the actual city, pretty late so didn’t get first look around until the following day. At which point my first task was to find out what there was to do. (more…)
Namibia had been on my travel list since I met a Belgian girl who’d lived there for 8 months and described it as “Africa for beginners”. With the other continents visited it was time to see some of Africa. Earlier in the year I’d spent a week in Morocco and then a few days in Cape Town. However, the first is more Arabic Africa whereas the other has a very European feel to it. I flew to Windhoek, the capital, and while it’s a big city it also immediately felt more African. And very German! (more…)