Namibia

Jill, Shadrack and I just spent a long weekend in Namibia. Shad was there for work and we tagged along for the ride. This is Shadrack Katuu, our friend and co-worker at the NMF, with Ellen Namhila, National Director of the Namibian Library and Archives.

We flew into Windhoek early Thursday afternoon. Shad had arranged for Edison, a driver from the National Archives of Namibia to pick us up at the airport, which is located thirty minutes outside the city – literally in the middle of nowhere!

The drive from the airport to the city was spectacular. The terrain is very different from South Africa. Namibia is a big country, but only one million people live there, unlike South Africa which has a population of forty-five million. The scenery really was incredible – hard to describe. Perhaps a photo would help…

After checking into the hotel, we ventured into the city. We hit the craft co-op, as well as a few other shops. I bought my first wooden mask and plan on getting one in each country I visit in southern Africa. Returning to the hotel, we were surprised to have two messages waiting for us. One was from Ellen Namhila (pictured above). She was checking in with us to make sure we were all right. When we did not answer the phone, we later found out that she had sent the hotel staff looking for us because she thought we were in our hotel room scared to answer the phone! LOL. Little did she know we were in the city making our contribution to the Namibian economy.

Shad was there to run workshops on Friday and Saturday for the National Archives. Friday morning, we met Ellen Namhila. We had a fantastic tour of the National Archives and the National Library, as well as a museum in the city. Here is Jill and I at the National Library and Archives:

We then visited the Penduka Traditional Village, located in the townships outside Windhoek. Namibian woman are known for their needlework. I had read about Penduka in an Air Namibia magazine and wanted to visit. I bought two GORGEOUS pillow cases. I just wish I could have shown them to Auntie (my grandmother) as I know she would have enjoyed examining their work. We saw the townships and “Smarties Land” – houses painted every color of the rainbow. It reminded me of the Magdalene Islands. Krista, you would have gotten a real kick out of it.

On Saturday we ventured out of the Windhoek. We went to the Daan Viljoen Game Reserve and a government reserve. We finally saw some animals. Edison drove us around the reserve in the "Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and Culture" car and we pretended to be Namibians for a discounted park entry. Off roading in this “not a whole lotta car” was a riot. There was one hill that we barely made it up. We saw our first giraffe, as well as whole bunch of hungry looking wildbeest. We then proceeded to another bigger reserve (the name of which escapes me) and were lucky enough to get the last two seats on the safari drive. I sat in the front with the driver and there were no doors on this contraption. When I asked the driver if anybody had ever fallen out, he responded with a simple “Yep.”

We saw all kinds of giraffes, Bontebok, Springbok, and all kinds of other things with horns. The highlight for me, was coming within five feet of a seemingly tame rhino. I had to keep resisting the urge to reach out and touch it! The highlight for Jill, I suspect was coming across all kinds of warthogs. There are actually signs on the roads telling people to watch out for the little buggers. We also saw baboons en route to the airport. Here is a little taste of what we saw:

Edison took us to the townships again and we went to his sister’s house for a beer. My favorite beer is actually “Windhoek,” a very smooth Namibian beer. Edison’s sister was looking after a 6 month old baby, who proved to be quite the beer swilling baby. She loved it and probably drank more beer than we did! That night, the Archives staff treated Shad, Jill and I to a lovely dinner.

Namibia was fantastic. Windhoek did not have a big city feel to it, was very clean, and is much safer than Jo’Burg. We regret that we were not able to visit the Namib Desert, but I do plan on going back sometime. I would actually like to drive from Jo’Burg the next time. We did what we could this time around with both time and $$ constraints.

I will try and post some more photos tomorrow...hopefully of the friendly Rhino.