It is a small relief to finally arrive here in Namibia. I have been waiting a long time to be able to touch down in the last country on the western side of this continent. The only western coastline after this belongs to South Africa, which will be the southernmost tip of Africa. What a joy to reach this point.
The only other thing that I knew about Namibia before landing here was that there has traditionally been a strong German influence in this country for many centuries and that a lot of things down here work like a clock (always organized and on time). In the early days Namibia was known as German South West Africa (later South West Africa, when it was taken over by South Africa). Several Germans stayed on here and this was later one of the countries involved in Apartheid (legal racial segregation). While much of the white population flourished, many of the natives did not fare so well and the previous genocide is still remembered here today. In 1990, the nation was able to win independence in the Namibian War of Independence and has since been under self rule (though it still maintains strong economic ties to South Africa).
This country is huge my friends. For a land area the size of Texas and Louisiana combined, there are only a little over two million people here. That turns out to be about 3 people for every 7 sqare miles of land. In other words, people here are very spread out, unlike our tiny country of Kosovo.
Because it is so vast, many people still have a lot of room to farm here. But most people rely on subsistence as over ½ of the population lives below the international poverty line of $1.25/day. Though mining for diamonds and other minerals is popular (similar to the last few countries visited), there is still a lot of outside aid that comes to this country. Since Libya and Cuba provided a lot of help during the war, Namibia tries to maintain good foreign relations with them as a result.
As I approached Namibia’s airspace, I could already see the vast, untouched land below. I could see no civilization for miles, except for a farm or two sprinkled here or there. It was so beautiful and green everywhere and very flat looking. Remember, part of that Kalahari Desert from Botswana is here in Namibia and there is another desert land here as well known as the Namib, for which the country is named. That desert is considered the oldest in the world.
I have to stop here and again thank our friend Jean Philippe van Nyen whom I met back in Sao Tome and Principe. Remember that he requested that I receive a diplomatic passport through his organization, OSJ Ecumenical Knights of Malta. It has been a tremendous gift that has worked out very well for me. It is now much easier to travel and has really cut out a lot of the bureaucratic nonsense that I hate. Here in Namibia, it allowed me to clear customs with no problems and in no time at all.
Catching a taxi was a bit of a different story. I quickly learned that taxis in this country are not cheap. Though I did try to explore other options, it turns out that buses here are nonexistent, which meant that I had no choice but to pay the steep asking price of $50 USD for a ride into town. It was nearly a 50km distance into town, so I guess that this price might compare to what it costs to get a taxi from Prishtina to my home in Brestovc. Last time I took a taxi there it was 35 Euros, which is pretty close to the price here in Namibia I suppose.
After all of my travels, I have learned a thing or two about how to save money though. Thanks to god for that knowledge, otherwise I would have remained broke and stuck in some place like Mauritania. After taking so many cabs and having been a cab driver myself, I have gained some knowledge on what types of bargains can be made, how to cut corners in cost, etc. I have found that if I am not vigilant, everyone starts to see me as a walking money sign. Remember, these taxi drivers, they sit sometimes for many hours waiting for a passenger and once they get you, they want to charge you all of those astronomical prices. They definitely don’t like people like me who know a thing or two. Once they know that how persistent I can be and that I will not take any crap, they start to reconsider their asking price and we tend to get along just fine. Basically my friends, they mostly just give up arguing with me and agree to my demands in order to make at least a little bit of money, which is always better than none. This time, they finally gave up trying to get the full amount for a ‘solo’ taxi ride. Since I was not willing to pay their asking price just for a ride into town, we worked out a deal where other people who were as poor as me could share the ride and the cost. So after rounding up another passenger, we all agreed on a total price and were off to town.
On the way, I see that Namibia has a beautiful road system, very clean and neat everywhere that you look. Our taxi driver was now acting as our tour guide and ended up giving us lots of information about his nation. One thing that I learned was that these people seem happy to have received lots of rain this year. It turns out that their government regulates water here and when there is not enough rain, it limits people from their water supply. Actually, Namibia is one of the few countries in the world to specifically address conservation and protection of natural resources direclty within its constitution. But the people here, they don’t seem to like being limited in their water usage, so they are very happy this year to have more than enough.
During our short drive to town, I was also starting to get a feeling like I was taking a ride somewhere in California in the spring time. The sun is out (no surprise since they get about 300 days of sun per year here) and the topography is the rather flat, much like that of the golden state. I am feeling a lot of charm to this place. I see a lot of true nature here and it looks fairly wild too. Everything is green and apparently it has been raining quite often here lately since it is now the rainy season.
We arrive in no time at all to the capital of Windhoek. Such a pleasant ride with enough time to get a feel for the nature that exists in this part of our beautiful planet. The taxi driver dropped me off at a local bed and breakfast which was within my budget and not far from the city center. Shortly after check-in I was off to a nearby mall to find an internet cafe in order to update my team on my whereabouts. Though I ended up getting there around close, the workers were nice enough to let me stay and use the computer while they cleaned and closed up shop. In a lot of these African countries, everything closes at around 17:00 or 18:00, which often makes it difficult for me to finish up some of the work that I need to get done.
Friends, I could not believe my own eyes when I walked out of that place. Directly in front of me was a bright and shiny sign with the words Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in beautiful, mouthwatering letters. It was like the heavens parted and I literally got chills down my body from missing home so much. Without any further thought I went straight for their comfort food and had one of the best meals that I’ve had in a long time.
On my way back to the bed and breakfast, I was trying to negotiate a price with the taxi driver for tomorrows drive around town. He agreed to 350 Namibian dollars for the day (which is around $50USD), so I decided to hire him (even though I was getting a strong negative vibe at the time). In the morning, he had completely changed his tune and was trying to charge me triple the price that we had agreed upon, acting all innocent and unaware of our agreement. To cut it short my friends, it ended up being my worst experience with a taxi driver since I began this mission.
After getting that mess resolved, I finally started my day by heading to the media outlets and then to the Ministery of Foreign Affairs. The first and greatest people that I met that morning were the wonderful team with the television channel ‘One Africa‘. Those people were excellent, very nice and just a happy group of people. I owe a big thank you to Mr. Willem Snyman and Ms. Kudakwangu Chisweto who were both amazing to work with. They gave me an awesome interview for their tv show and were very professional. I could start to see here part of the German-style work ethic.
Thanks to the rest of the media here, Mr. Nico Smit with The Namibian who was very intelligent and dynamic with a great personalitiy. Thanks to Mr. Kae Matundu Tjporuro and Ms. Albertina Nakale with New Era newspaper for all of their great help. Thank you to Mr. Tafanji Nyirenda and Ms. Belinda Apollus with team at 100 FM Energy Radio who were all amazing people to work with. Lastly, thank you to Mr. Nghidipo Nangolo with the newspaper Informante for his dedication to publishing something that would make his government pay attention to details and remain on their toes.
At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I found a very professional team as well who were willing to help and hear me out. Thank you to Mr. Pinehas Aluten, the personal assistant to the Minister. He took our letter from Vlora Citaku and offered to forward it on to the Minister.
I feel fairly well at having accomplished many things in just a few days of work here in a nation like Namibia. I will miss this country very much, especially the nature. It is so beautiful and wild looking and remains very much an untouched and remote part of our globe. I should mention here the best part of this whole stop over.
On the way back to the airport, I was able to see a bunch of monkeys hanging around on trees. The most amazing part, though, was that from the highway I was also able to some gorillas running wild and free out there. Real, live gorillas my friends – in nature and not locked up in a zoo somewhere. To me, it is things like this that have no price tag. There is no price that you can pay that would equal the pure joy that I get from experiencing this kind of nature. The beauty and wild looking creations made by higher powers are something that we can never replace and I will rememer this about Namibia for years to come.
Further down the road I was able to stop and take a few pictures of my raw and natural surroundings. I spotted many more monkeys out there playing around and having a ball. I am very blessed to have experienced these moments and it helps me to forget some of the struggles that I have been through.
As a reminder, Namibia is the last nation on Africa’s west coast and I am leaving here, which is something to celebrate. Next country is Lesotho, which is a small, tiny nation surrounded by South Africa. After that will be South Africa, which will be the southernmost nation on the continent. I am excited to know that after that, I will be on may way north and working my way toward home.
