Namibia

ON FOOD: You might be wondering why I did not discuss food as extensively as I did in other travel stories. I made the mistake of not taking food pictures while on this trip. But I am able to describe the cuisine that we enjoyed over there in a few simple sentences. Basically, we ate game meat – lots of them! And I tried them all – ostrich, kudu, eland, oryx, zebra, springbok, and other types of antelopes – either in steak form or braai. I should mention that at that time, I

We arrived at the Windhoek Railway Station at 10:30 in the morning. We disembarked from the train, thanked the crew, and collected our luggage. After making sure we had everything with us, we looked around. The station building itself was very quaint. It was built in the Cape Dutch style between 1897 and 1902 during the German colonial rule. An additional northern wing was constructed in 1929 to match the existing style of the building. If not for people around us in modern c

We stopped at Okapuka Game Lodge for a game drive and to spend time with some lions as they ate their brunch. Located 30 kilometers north of Windhoek, afoot the Otihavera Mountains, Okapuka Game Lodge is one of the most popular game lodges in Namibia. The gently rolling plains and bush land savannah in this property is home to a large variety of birds and mammals – herds of antelope roaming in the bush, zebras and giraffes pounding their hooves on the soil, rhinos hiding in t

The Desert Express  was designed and built in 1998 and offers an affordable luxury overnight travel between Swakopmund and Windhoek. Somewhat of a misnomer, the word “express” really means 22 hours to cover the 350-kilometer distance between these two popular Namibian cities. But this certainly gives one the opportunity to gaze at the Namib Desert while enjoying the good life aboard this comfortable train. I am glad we decided to go this route.   The ticket price included onb

After a hearty breakfast, we checked out and left our luggage at the hotel reception. We were taking the Desert Express Train to Windhoek but our departure was not until 2:30 that afternoon, so we still had time to enjoy Swakopmund that morning. My husband had his heart set on visiting the Kristall Galerie, so off we went. The Kristall Galerie is a private gallery housed in a modern three-storey building that features the world’s largest collection of quarts crystals, as well

On our last night in Swakopmund, we decided to go to the restaurant recommended by our tour guide. He said that this place is an absolute "must-try" when in the city. Almost everything on the menu is ostrich, with a few other wild game dishes. But diners go there for the ostrich treats. Aptly named Ombo Restaurant after the Oshiwambo word for ostrich, this small eatery situated on the first floor of the Bundu n See Hotel, has become a legend. It is owned and operated by a fam

Back in the Swakopmund downtown after the mine tour, we had a quick lunch of bratwurst and beer. You can literally find a more-than-decent bratwurst place on every street and German food is offered in most restaurants, regardless of size and price point. In fact, apart from local seafood and wild game dishes, traditional German fare dominated the menus – schnitzels, sauerkrauts, pork knuckles, boiled potatoes, German dumplings, apple strudels, Black Forest cakes, and other Ge

After our brief walk around the Swakopmund downtown area, we realized it was time to go to the museum parking lot to wait for the tour bus. We saw a small crowd of people by the museum entrance, and as suspected, they were going on the same mine tour. Our tour guide arrived shortly, gathered us around, introduced himself, and gave us instructions. Our bus followed suit, and soon enough, we were on our way to Rössing Uranium Mine. Rössing Uranium Mine is the longest-running an

If you are in downtown Swakopmund, the following places are “must-visits:” Swakopmund Museum The mine tour that we signed up for was supposed to start at the Swakopmund Museum. We had to collect the tickets that we reserved from their reception office and the bus that would take us to Rössing Mine would pick us up at their parking lot. Naturally, we decided to check-out this museum. The Swakopmund Museum is the largest privately-funded museum in Namibia, established by Dr. Al

We reached Swakopmund at dinner time. There was still a little bit of light, so our guide drove us around town before dropping us off at our hotel. I immediately felt the change in vibe once we set foot in Swakopmund. First, it is a lot busier than Namibia’s capital, Windhoek. Second, since it is situated by the coast, you could see beaches and the Atlantic Ocean, compared to landlocked Windhoek. Third, the climate is much milder. And fourth, it transports you to a totally di

Our guide announced that before actually heading to our hotel in Swakopmund, we were going to have a “sundowner” and that this was the third surprise he mentioned to us earlier when we left Solitaire. None of us knew what a “sundowner” actually was, even though we had heard of the term a few times during the trip. So, he explained that this is a Namibian tradition…and a lifestyle…and for some, an art. In Namibia, after a long, hot day in the sun, looking at wildlife of all ki

We had a brief stopover at Walvis Bay on our way to Swakopmund. Walvis Bay ( Walvisbaai in Afrikaans, which means, “Whale Bay” in English) is a port town on the Atlantic coast of Namibia. The name conjured images of whales, dolphins, sea gulls, and busy harbours with ships and fishing boats. Our guide added pelicans, flamingos, Cape Fur seals, lighthouses, and palm trees to the list, but said that there are almost no more whales. They were wiped out by the avid whalers of th

Our guide took us to another peculiar place with an astounding landscape. Just off the C28 road lies an expansive lunar-like world aptly called Moon Valley or Moon Landscape. It was once a big mountain range carved by the Swakop River, but erosion has reduced it into low-lying hills. This area is not only a photographer’s haven, but as a former TV production person, I saw it as an ideal location for filming fantasy shows. Our guide told us that in fact, some scenes of the dys

We headed north of the Sesriem Canyon to see samples of the Welwitschia Mirabilis plants.   When we asked what was so special about it, our guide explained by way of repeating what the Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (whose name escapes me) said to his audience when this plant was first presented to him in England in 1863. “It is out of the question the most wonderful plant ever brought to this country, and one of the ugliest,” he said apparently. That got us i

Half an hour after leaving Solitaire, we reached the Tropic of Capricorn precisely located at 23°26′11.1″ south of the Equator. The Tropic of Capricorn runs through Africa, Australia, and South America. Also called the Southern Tropic, it is described as "the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) Solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the sun can be seen directly overhead. It also reaches 90 degrees below the horizon a

We drove to Solitaire, a small settlement in the Khomas Region of central Namibia. It sits just south of the Tropic of Capricorn at the centre of a 45,000 -acre trust land that preserves the ecosystem and wildlife in the region. Our guide said that this town  is popular among long-distance travelers because it features the only gas station that you can find between the sand dunes of the Sossusvlei and the coast of Walvis Bay. This gas station also serves as a general store, b

Our home for the night was the Namib Naukluft Lodge, one of two establishments located on a private desert reserve called Nam Hau Habitat. It is a 25,000-hectare nature park that spans the area between the Namib Desert and the Naukluft Mountains, and occupies a unique and diverse desert environment for its varied wildlife.   Since its establishment in 1993, animals have been allowed to freely roam undisturbed there, and this desert has hosted a variety of wild game. Pumps ope

We were excited to see another famous canyon. Located approximately 4.5 kilometers from the Namib-Naufkluft National Park’s entrance gate, is Sesriem Canyon, the second most important tourist attraction in the area after Sossusvlei. It is eponymously named after “six leather straps” in Afrikaans. The settlers, who had to tie six ( ses ) leather straps ( riems ) together to create a rope long enough for a bucket to reach the water source down below, thought of this name. Sesri

We drove east towards Sesriem. We were to stay at Hammerstein Lodge. Situated between Luderitz and Swakopmund, and nestled between the Nubib and Tsaris mountains, this place was the perfect base for exploring the Sossusvlei region. The property is about a kilometer off the dirt road and the entrance is marked by a huge tree limb with a copper statue of a wild cat. Within the compound are bungalows equipped with full kitchens, bed and breakfast lodgings, and a campsite. There

We were in for another four-hour drive that day, up north to Maltahohe.   The small town of Maltahohe, which lies on the edge of the Swartrand escarpment, has a main road, around a kilometer long, that runs through its centre and is fringed by a few small shops, a country hotel, a petrol station, and towered over by an imposing Dutch Reformed Church.   Our guide took us there to see the Duwisib Castle, a grand pseudo-medieval-looking fortress on the hills of the semi-arid Sou