I’ve decided to name our truck Bertha. Shabby, utilitarian and surprisingly
spacious, we are all now settled into our mode of transport for this 3 week
trip. Early morning starts have become a
staple for the trip, as have many hours sleeping, reading or simply watching
the countryside pass as we travel across Namibia. Bertha has her own special form of air conditioning
- lots of open windows – and I really enjoy being able to walk around the truck
with the wind blowing everywhere.
Reminds me a bit of time spent with friends in the back of an open truck
in Lincolnshire!
Travelling north, the landscape was initially flat bushland
between two distant ridges; it is now completely flat and much drier as we
approach the dunes. Not much to look at
really, especially after my 3 months of travel through the Andes. But camp sites are done well. The climate is of course perfect for spending
a night in a tent. Our tents are
impressive and have large mesh windows on all 4 sides as well as on the roof so
you can lie there protected from the bugs and beasts staring up at the night
time sky. This is what coming to Africa
was all about for me! The camp sites
have flushing toilets, warm enough showers, and they mostly have bars – so not
much to complain about! Many have
swimming pools too. As we often arrive late, it is difficult making the decision between a quick swim before supper or a beer by the poolside!
Interesting that Namibia has a currency pegged directly to the South African rand, especially as SA is not the most successful economy at the moment. Namibia still imports more than it exports and a lot of it from SA so de-linking will not really be advantageous to them at the moment, but it does feel a bit strange especially as Namibia has been independent since 1990. At least it means the prices here still are relatively cheap. I didn't realise Namibia's population is only about 2.5 million. Money comes mainly from agriculture, fishing and mining - diamonds and uranium are also still important. Tourism is growing rapidly, but there is a huge difference between the few rich and the many poor. Unemployment is officially very high, over 50%, but our guide said that most households will have 2 or 3 workers bringing in some kind of wage whilst the rest of the extended family tends whatever smallholding they have. Casual workers in the towns line up each morning in the hope of work at a rate of around 7 rand/Namibian dollars an hour (that is less than 40p an hour to you and me!) but apparently many companies don't even pay that! An interesting situation to watch - revolt may be around the corner as there seems to be quite a few articles about exploitation of workers in the local papers. There is no official minimum wage.
We travelled through a place called Bethanie, a seemingly unimportant little place but a relatively old settlement with two churches, one of them built in 1811 and the oldest building in Namibia, the other built by a new missionary who wanted a church of his own. The above photo shows how ridiculously close the two are (building on left is a church) given this is a settlement of a few hundred people. The place is of some political interest too as one Josef Fredericks signed a treaty here giving away a large piece of land to Germany in the 19th century - Fredericks did not understand the measurement of land fully and gave away a much larger piece of land than he thought! Apologies to my niece ("Bethany") but I could not resist taking this photo!
And so our journey continues on to the infamous dunes!
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