Top 7 things that surprised me about Namibia
May 20th, 2008
Well I’m back in my office gearing up for some serious
productivity, getting my feet under me after the trip to Africa.
It has been quite the amazing two weeks – way too many things to
talk about in a simple email, but let’s just say this – I’ve been
to the “dark continent” and it is amazing!
In case you didn’t know, I spent the last two weeks with my
family visiting Namibia, Africa, a country with land bigger than
Texas and only 2 million people in it.
Vast lands were filled with nothing but low lying savannah and
springbok jumping around.
This was my first trip to this side of the world. I really had
no idea what to expect – in fact, when people recommended books
to read about the place, I tried not to read anything.
Didn’t want to ruin the surprise.
A lot of things surprised the heck out of me, to be honest. One
of the biggest surprises that I had was how far away the place
was – but how relatively easy it was to get there. You know, jet
transportation and all.
One other thing surprised me, and this was about myself.
I forgot how long it had been since I’ve been out of the US -
almost 7 years! Yikes! Too long.
There’s so much perspective to be gained from an outside the US
perspective…gonna have to keep travelin’.
So, in honor of how many years it took to leave the country
again, here is a list of the top 7 things that surprised me about
Namibia:
#1 The stars at night
At night, there were so many stars, I couldn’t believe it. I
don’t know how many times somebody would wonder where I was, and
there I was standing in awe as the Milky Way passed overhead, and
Scorpio crawled along the horizon in the distance.
This was the first time I’ve been in a place with such a lack of
light pollution. Holy cow!
#2 The lack of roads
As we flew into Windhoek, the capital, we were looking out the
window of the plane.
Usually you’ll see some suburbs, or roads, or buildings.
We saw one, count it, one dirt road. No people. No buildings.
No traffic. Where the heck are we landing?
#3 The size of the country
I mentioned that the country is bigger than Texas. Imagine
trying to drive much of this on dirt roads, in a crappy old VW
bus, and how long that would take.
Now imagine that you don’t see people for miles and miles (sorry,
kilometers and kilometers), for hours. It makes the place feel
HUGE.
#4 The transportation system – hitchhiking.
Which brings me to another surprise, the main mode of
transportation. Hitchhiking! We picked up a number of
hitchhikers along the way, from a lady going to the hospital to
visit a friend, to a student trying to make it 80 miles across
the land for his first day of school.
No bus service out here my friends. Lucky for us, we didn’t have
to hitchhike anywhere. But we learned how, just in case.
#5 The kindness of strangers.
There was a time late in our trip when we were broken down, 4
blown tires (out of 6 total that we had with us) and the six of
us sitting on the side of a road, hoping for cell phone
reception, and nighttime upon us.
Well, I’m here telling this story so I didn’t get eaten by a
jackal. Thanks to the kindness of strangers, that is, a man
named Jan who gave us a 2 hour ride back to our lodge in his dune
buggy.
#6 The creative lifestyle of the people in the villages.
We spent some time with my younger brother, in a village in the
north country. To get there, you take a left off a tar road, and
then drive for about an hour through intertwining dirt paths, and
if you’re lucky, you end up where you need to be.
At the end of the road, where lo and behold, there is a village
with electrical power, a school, and a bunch of people living in
a subsistence lifestyle.
More on these people later, but let it suffice to say they were
incredibly handy and creative, even making their own special
beer, stored in a gourd, called Ovaluvo (I think).
#7 Only two types of beer to choose from.
Which brings me to number 7, and definitely most important
surprise of all (hehe). Through most of the country, there were
only two types of beer to choose from – Windhoek Lager and Tafel.
Both were pretty tasty, if I must say. And both were brewed for
Namibians by Namibians. Being a good fellow from Fort Collins,
one of the world’s best beer towns, I took it upon myself to
support the economy by trying their flagship brews. I have to
say, well done!
Barring an epileptic seizure from the strange experience of
reverse culture shock, I should be sending some more updates and
stories from my trip soon. Stay tuned!
Reach for the top,
-Jason “Wally” Waldron
P.S. – If you want to travel more often and work less, you’ll
need to make more money by doing less work. Find out how at
http://www.wallythewebguy.com/
