JNB to Windhoek

For some reason that I supposed seemed reasonable at the time, we left the hotel at 04:00 for the JNB airport and flight to Namibia. The driver really seemed to enjoy careening through the empty streets. At the airport the South African Airways counter was empty, in fact all the counters were empty, the entire place was empty. Well, at least we were first in line.

One and a half hour flight to WDH. Spotted a herd of something as we landed. Had a ride into town by the rental car company and picked up a Nissan X-trail. Not a model sold in the states as far as I know. X-trail A small SUV with plenty of room for us three and luggage. Right hand drive to match the left hand roads. I was pretty confident until the first shift when I grabbed for the shifter with my right hand and my daughter yelled "You're on the wrong side of the road!". She was good at that and generally kept us on the proper side of the road.

Windhoek is a pretty organized small city and after wandering around some residential areas managed to find downtown and our hotel. Kalahari Sands

The guidebook mentions a gem shop so with the car safely parked we walked over there. The whole downtown is small enough to walk around in about a half hour so not much point in driving. The shop was getting towards the (relatively) seedy side of town and I just had to pose next to the sign in the picture. I was too timid to snap the sign in the doorway of this fine establishment that proclaimed that if you weren't drinking or gambling then you weren't welcome.

While the owner of the gem shop regaled me with tales of nude trips into the desert on his quad bike, the girls looked at the stones. The first of innumerable German (although in this case Austrian) refugees we met that had found a home in that desert land. Namibia had been a German colony and maintains close ties to the homeland as well as to South Africa which ran the place.

Before bed, I studied the city map to convince myself I could make it to the highway. I was actually most worried about backing out of the parking space without hitting anything. The car featured a backup alert system but it wasn't very useful. It seemed to only know the number six. So it would always say "zero point six meters" as the distance behind. Maybe the sensor was pointing at the ground.

Map