| | |  Travel & Outdoors 
World Cup Travelog Part 4
 Peter Engel - PVNN
December 02, 2010
| | A Week in Nambia and Into Capetown, South Africa | |
Our taxi driver came on time and the immigration into Namibia was as fast and easy as all the border crossings before. I think many people have got an uneasy feeling before traveling into another country. How many times must I have entered Canada or the United States, and every time I wonder why I have to fill out so many forms and answer such stupid questions. This was never a concern in Africa, and the custom did not even ask any questions about our luggage and belongings.
Shortly after the border we drove through several small villages with typical native houses. All of them had a high, wooden fence around and one could not see what was on the other side. Our taxi driver explained to us that this was for their safety. Animals do not jump over an obstacle or run into a fence when they do not see the other side. Therefore just a simple fence around the property guarantees safety from lions, elephants and all other wild animals in Africa, isn't this interesting?
There were cows on and beside the road for almost the whole trip to our destination, a town called Katima Mulilo. The taxi driver said that they had huge cattle farms with 10,000 or more cows and they were just grazing wherever they could find food. This was almost like in Argentina and we were already looking forward to a big, juicy steak that night.
The town of Katima Mulilo was clearly the biggest place in a 500 km radius and it had all the shops and stores any big city provides. Our initial plan was to spend at least one night there, but the bus to the Capital Windhoek was leaving tonight or only 3 days later. So we decided to spend just this afternoon in town and catch the night bus to Windhoek.
We had left our luggage at the bus terminal and around 6 p.m. there arrived a modern bus with seats on two levels and the sign read Windhoek. We had not seen such an elegant vehicle on the whole trip and were delighted to board. The bus was full to the last seat and it took not long to find out, that those seats were not comfortable at all. Nevertheless we had no choice and realized that it would be a very long night ride of 16 hours.
Around 10 a.m. we approached the city of Windhoek, 1,600 meters above sea level. During most of the ride it was dark but when we entered the city limits we noticed right away that Namibia was much better off economically than the previous countries we had visited.
There were no shacks and huts built with plywood or paperboard. The roads were wide and well maintained the city clean with some tall, modern buildings in the center, several shopping centers in town and one did not have the impression of being in Africa.
Namibia is another big country with 825,000 km2 and a population of less than 2 million, even less than in Botswana. This makes an average of fewer than two people per km2; Mexico has about 60 and Switzerland 170 in the same space. The local currency is called Namibian dollar and the exchange rate is similar to the South African rand.
Botswana and Nambia are totally oriented towards their big neighbor in the south and import almost every-thing from South Africa. Namibia is the number one country in exporting diamonds, but also copper, gold, many other minerals and, of course, beef.
There are over 100,000 white people living in Namibia, about half of them are from South Africa, about a quarter from Germany and the remaining quarter are mixed but many of them are from England. It is easy to get around with English and along the coast many also speak German.
Public transportation was as critical as in Botswana and we rented a car for one week. Namibia has about 2,000 km coastline on the Atlantic Ocean and there is the most popular tourist attraction located, the Namib Desert. It is the oldest desert in the world with 80 million years and the only one that is home to elephants, rhinos, lions and giraffes. The absolute highlight is the Namib-Naukluft National Park and Sossuvlei, the home of the world's highest sand dunes. I have no idea how many sand dunes there are, it is better to not start counting.
But they all have one thing in common; it is damn hard to climb them. I have climbed several in brutal heat; it is an excellent training for your physical condition. There is no path, stairs or whatever to make it any easier to climb those dunes. The sand is soft and believe me; you go three steps forward and two backward with any effort to go up!
Anyway, it was real fun to walk around in the middle of nowhere and we enjoyed this day even it took us hours to get there. In order to see the Namib Desert we drove 800 km on unpaved roads and there was not only sand in the trunk and passenger cabin of our car, even our suitcases were full of dust.
Another fine destination along the coast was the city of Swakopmund. The whole city is just beautifully maintained with many renovated buildings, colorful houses and excellent restaurants. The day we arrived they had a "Carneval" parade in town just like in Germany and I could not believe it - but they all spoke German. In every bar or restaurant we went to they spoke German just like at home. Of course, all those German immigrants also speak perfectly English but they stick to the traditions of their former home country.
Due to a health problem of my friend we had to stay in town a bit longer than intended but it was fun, as I mentioned they had the best restaurants on our whole trip and we truly enjoyed it there. But it is a bit strange when you are eating in a restaurant which is full to the least seat and the only black people you see are the ones working there.
A 500 km drive back to Windhoek ended our coastal experience. We were surprised how carefully and disciplined they drive in Namibia, there is no comparison to Mexico. They also have many clean and safe gasoline stations which are open 24 hours. I could even imagine traveling Namibia in a small motor home or camping bus. Their road system is excellent, or should I say the paved roads. From our experience, Namibia is a safe and interesting country for tourists.
Back in Windhoek we booked a hotel right in the center. Windhoek has only 270,000 people and it is easy to get oriented and walk around. Of all the places so far it was the most western city in many respects. It was planned to travel from Windhoek to Cape Town by bus or train. But there is no real connection for passenger trains to South Africa and my friend Markus had enough of bus rides after the rather uncomfortable 16 hour trip into Windhoek. So, if we did not want to walk, there was just one alternative - we caught a plane and flew into Cape Town.
It took just 2 hours by Namibian Airlines to reach Cape Town, instead of a 21 hour bus ride. For me personally, Cape Town is one of the most beautiful and diversified cities in the world. It was one of the host cities of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, which was the main reason for our trip. We had exactly one week before the opening match on June 11 and wanted to see as much as possible from the city and the many attractions in the Western Cape Province, one of the 9 Provinces in South Africa.
Even though Cape Town has about 5 million inhabitants it does not seem that big. It is said that about 3 million of them live in squatter camps outside the city center. The center itself looks no different from any big city in the U.S. The harbor front is one of the highlights for visitors, where one can find almost any restaurant and store. This is also the getaway for boat tours and harbor cruises
Just 7 kilometers from shore is "Robben Island" which became famous as a prison, just like Alcatraz in San Francisco. We made a tour and could not believe what we were told. All their inmates were black political leaders and their only crime was that they were against the white South African Regime.
Nelson Mandela, who was in prison for 27 years, was just one of them. However he became the most famous ex-prisoner in the world when he was elected President after his release in 1990. I was in his cell of 2 x 2.5 meters where he was kept under very primitive circumstances so many years and can you believe that he had no hate against the people who did this to him when he got out?
There are three wonderful spots which have a panoramic view of Cape Town. Signal Hill is about 300 meters above sea level and can be reached by car. The Lions Head is a 700 m tall mountain and is only recommended for people with a good physical condition. The path to the top is steep, rocky and narrow. I had to climb many rocks to get there, but the 360 degree view paid for the strenuous effort.
The most famous of them is called Table Mountain, 1,100 meters above sea level. For the convenience of many tourists there is a cable car going to the top. As a Swiss I should mention that it was built in Switzerland, like so many all over the world. However, this cable car is unique because it turns exactly once around during the short ride from the bottom to the top. So nobody has to look for the perfect spot, everybody has the same view.
There are many sightseeing highlights in the Cape; I will only mention two of them. Cape Town is located at the Atlantic Ocean. However, the African Continent ends about 150 km south of the city and this is the meeting point of the two great waters, the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean.
This landmark attraction at the end of the Cape Peninsula is called the "Cape of Good Hope" and is Africa's most southwesterly point. It is a day trip from Cape Town because there are so many beautiful things to see along the coast ride. Many ports, beaches which hundreds of surfers, old towns, penguin colonies or all sorts of antelopes and ostriches which run free in the many parks.
The other main attraction is the numerous vineyards about 70 km east of Cape Town. Many of those wine estates offer tasting tours on their fantastic properties. The mostly Old Dutch houses are in impeccable condition and the tasting rooms are inviting with friendly staff.
The wine industry in South Africa has come a long way and counts today to the better wine producing countries in the world. Most of the wines are still relatively affordable compared to the ones in Europe. But there are also very exclusive wine estates like for example the one of Ernie Els, one of the best golf players in the world.
But unlike my first two trips to Cape Town in 1990 and 2000 the wine tasting is not free anymore. We had to pay for it in all of the wineries we visited. To really enjoy the wine country in the Cape I recommend one week or more. Many of the fine wine estates have their own exclusive restaurant and there are plenty of accommodations in the area.
Our week in Cape Town was gone rather quickly and, on June 9th, we went to the airport to pick up two friends, Martin and Peter, from our home town in Switzerland. They flew from Zurich directly to South Africa and they were traveling and staying with us for the remaining 37 days of the trip.
|
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us