The First Two Days In Namibia

I didn’t have a bus ticket booked, but I packed my bags and met Alex at the bus station at 9:30 am to try my luck. There were no seats left but I was dying to get out of Cape Town so I chatted and flirted my way in to being let on… I sat in the driver’s cabin, wedged in between the driver and the host. I had the best seat on the bus with a panoramic view.

Alex and I spent the first day in Windhoek shopping around for hire cars. Michael was meeting us the next day and both Alex and I wanted to leave the capital as soon as we could. There wasn’t anything to see or do in Windhoek. It looked and felt quite European, there was a shopping mall, some big supermarkets, one cool art and crafts centre but that was really it.

As we were strolling down the main street in the city I heard someone yell out “Katie!” I hadn’t been called Katie for a few years now, but I still reacted and swung around to see Emily, an American girl I went to university in Amsterdam with. I always liked Emily, but never thought I’d ever see her again – definitely not in Africa anyway! She was living and volunteering somewhere in the North of Namibia but was travelling around with her mum and a friend. We arranged to go out for dinner that night.

Dinner was pleasant, as usual though I get sentimental about how transient everything in life is: saying goodbyes to a time, a place, a person, always makes my heart feel heavy. It was surreal to see my life in Europe meeting my life in Africa – two totally different worlds sitting at the one table eating zebra steaks and kudu kebabs.

Back at the hostel I sat alone in the dim lights of the closed and wrote in my journal, not quite ready to let thoughts from the night pass me by. The security guard came over and asked me what the date was. I told him and he pulled out his licence to show me that the next day was his birthday. He asked me for money so he could buy meat to celebrate. I don’t know why it annoyed me. If the bar had been open I would have bought him a drink. If I had food I would have shared it. What’s the difference? But for some reason it did bother me. I gave him the money anyway and went to bed.

The next morning I was the first one up in the hostel, as usual, and it was just me and the guard again. I asked him for a match to light the stove to make a coffee. I was being so petty about him asking for money that I totally forgot what the money was for. When I finally remembered that it was his birthday at 9am I wanted to kick myself… literally if it were possible to get a good kick into my own butt I would have! I let myself get so worked up about money that I had turned into someone I didn’t like.

By the time Michael finally arrived in Windhoek Alex and I were chomping at the bit to leave. We had gone to every car place and every camping store, written up and compared all prices and options and even converted everything to American dollars to make it easier for Michael. We had both agreed the best deal was a 4X4 which included everything – tents, sleeping mats and sleeping bags and pillows, cooking equipment, tables and chairs, a fridge, 80L of water, tools and first aid kits… seriously everything! The first thing Michael did was ask if we wanted to stay longer in Windhoek – “No way!” Alex and I both said simultaneously. There really was nothing here and we’d be back at the end of the trip to drop the car off anyway. Then Michael wanted lunch before he made any decisions. It was passed 2pm when he wanted to shop for animal horns for souvenirs for himself, Alex and I had hoped to get to the next town before sunset.

Then Michael announced that he wanted to check other car deals, we assured him that we checked them all. Then he wanted a 2WD because they were cheaper… even if quite impractical in a sandy desert. Then he added that because he had his own tent Alex and I should pay more than him, I had to take a few deep breaths. I could see Alex controlling his temper too. Michael decided to call the 4WD place we had originally chosen as the best option to ‘get a better deal’. After a few minutes of haggling Michael exclaims into the phone “deal we’ll take it!”

It turns out that he had gotten exactly the same deal that we did, only he just wasted 3 hours getting to the same point we were already at. But Alex and I were just relieved that a decision was made and we could fly out of there.

We got to the car hire place at 3pm. On the way Alex and I had wanted to stop for cash but Michael insisted we didn’t need it, that we would only need to pay on return. Michael was wrong. When we got there we had to leave again to go find money. We got a lift with one of the staff going home, but when we got back to the car hire and went to fill out forms Michael noticed his passport was left in the car that dropped us at the ATM. We had to wait nearly another hour for the driver to get it back to us. We definitely didn’t have time to stock up on supplies, but figured it could wait until we got to the next destination. I did get a dozen beers at our first petrol stop though.

When we finally got in the car and on the road sunset was already flirting with us. The drive was nice though, and it was a relief just to be on the road. We all took photos and listened to music and it all felt really good.

Until we got to our destination – Swakopmund.

We arrived at 9pm and the place was like a ghost town. Alex and I wanted to find a camping ground to park and set up camp. Michael wanted to eat. We had stopped an hour earlier and gotten food but Michael didn’t want to eat then, instead he waited until we needed to set up camp in the dark before he decided he needed to eat so badly it couldn’t wait. We went to a few different restaurants but they were all closed. We also tried a few campsites… they were closed too. Tensions rose as Michael insisted that the best way to find a place to camp was by drinking beer at a bar and chatting to the locals. Alex insisted that it was a better idea to go back out of town to a campsite that we had passed on the way. I just insisted on keeping the peace and trying to stay neutral. Finally we found a backpackers that was still open (but had no free beds) who gave us a list of all the hotels and campsites in Swakopmund. Michael and I called everyone. The majority of people who answered the phones said “sorry we shut at 10pm… yes that is right it is now 10:05pm so we cannot let you in”. It was starting to be more German than African!* Eventually we woke someone up who was willing to give us three dorm beds for the night.

We checked in to the dorm room, drank a couple of beers and went to bed.

*Namibia was colonised by the German’s