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Africa: North to South, Part 6

Africa: North to South, Part 6: Botswana and Namibia

Simon and Jennifer
2006-04-26 10:33:07

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Botswana

We eventually managed to drag ourselves away from Hwange and headed to Botswana en-route to Namibia and the jobs awaiting us in Windhoek. As such, and also due to Botswana being a difficult country to get by in on a small budget, we didn't stop, however our route did take us across a tiny corner of Chobe National Park, and even in those few hours along the main road we saw giraffe, elephant and antelope. We'll be back one day to explore the delta.

Namibia

"Contrasting, Beautiful, Namibia", so the national anthem describes this country, and so it should. It was with a definite feeling of coming home that we crossed the border into Namibia. And yet still we'd forgotten just how long, hot and straight the roads in Namibia are.

After seeing so few other travelers and tourists on our journey it was a bit of a shock to find the Caprivi heaving with hired 4x4's, the Caprivi is not after all the most accessible part of Namibia given its distance from Windhoek. However that's the way it was, Namibia being a prime holiday destination as it is these days, and it has only increased, although the high cost of fares and the ever increasing prices of the lodges, along with the strength of the Rand and fall of the US$ does seem to be slowing that growth down at last.

If arriving in the country once more had felt like coming home, then seeing the hills around Windhoek was like opening the front door and stepping into the familiar comfort within. Strange really, since although when working in Namibia we spent most of our time in Windhoek we're really not city people, and even the small town feel of Windhoek does not stop us longing for the open country, fresh air, sights, sounds and sunshine of the bushveld.

We worked in Windhoek for a couple of years before making it our base to explore southern Africa once more.