Windhoek, Namibia

Ongiini? (How are you? In Oshiwambo one of the main language in Namibia)
Last blog we were leaving Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. We took a plane to Namibia. It only took less than a couple of hours to get there. I always feel guilty when I use plane as I know it is not good for the planet, but it was the best option for us for that trip, so we did.
I’ll have to see how we can offset our carbon print when we come back to Australia. If anybody knows a good company, I’d love some information!
Anyway, the flight was quick and easy. We arrived in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, found an ATM to get some money (where we got some South African Rand, as they are accepted here, but we were a bit surprised: we wondered if we landed at the right place for a second!), got a taxi (after a bit of negotiation around the price) and arrived at our place, a flat in a big building. Windhoek is the closest to the city we are used to in Australia, we have seen in a long time! Big streets, big buildings, clean. That is a nice change.
We had a quiet evening enjoying the comfort of the flat and the view of the city from our windows.
The next day, we found a small breakfast place to sustain ourself and then went shopping. We have been spending a fair bit of money in Africa, so when we can, we cook to save some money instead of eating out. We are set for the next few days!
The city is nice and you can tell there is a lot of money around here, but there are also a fair bit of people asking for money and especially children. I wonder if this is a type of organised group who send kids out to try to get money of tourists. We never give money to kids, or buy things from them, for that reason; we don’t want adults using kids to get money instead of sending them to school. But it is always heartbreaking.
Namibia is considered a higher-middle-income country but has extreme inequalities in income distribution and standard of living, and it shows.
We wanted to learn more about the history of Namibia, as I have to admit knowing none of it, so we went to visit the independence museum. It is a pretty modern building with 3 big ‘pillars’ that hold a big circular part where the museum is in but several meters from the ground! The museum was full of arts, pictures and object related to the history of the last couple of centuries. It was interesting, sometime graphic, and saddening to see that Namibia like so many other countries had lived through horrible time.
The museum didn’t had a clear timeline explanation so we had to do research later on to understand a bit more. Here is what we learned:
Toward the end of the 19th century, Germany colonised the area which they called South West Africa. At the beginning of the 20th century, the local Herero people started rebelling against the German. Followed a genocide perpetrated by the German against the Herero people. It is believed than 50 to 70% of the population was killed. German chased the Herero people in the desert and poisoned the water well, so a lot of people died of hunger and dehydration or poisoned by the water.
During WW1, South-Africa invaded the region to fight the German. When WW1 finished, South Africa refused to leave and impose the Apartheid on the region. Followed years of fight to regain their independence. International forces, like UN, got involved, but South Africa refuse to acknowledge them. It is only in 1990 that Namibia finally got independence and became a republic. However since then, SWAPO (South West Africa People Organisation) is the only party who has managed to win the presidential election.
That is it for my history lesson of the day.
After that we went to visit the national art gallery, with mainly paintings of different style were exposed. I always love asking the kids what is their favourite piece of art and it always surprises me. I couldn’t take pictures of the paintings which was sad, because some were truly beautiful.
After that we got into a massive shopping centre looking for shoes for me as mine are getting old, but as always, I don’t like spending money on piece of clothing for me, so I didn’t got any! We got a bit lost in it as that shopping centre as it was huge!!!!
Then we got ‘home’ to do some schoolwork and work for me and movie night.
The next day, we did nothing!! Well, we didn’t go anywhere as Kev and I spent the whole day planning and booking things for our Europe part of the trip. Kids did a lot of homework as we know we won’t have internet much for the next few weeks, so they ‘studyladdered’ a lot (this is a website we use for school work)!
In the evening, we needed to get out a bit and we wanted to find some live music. We got lucky: we found a little place called Musos where a small band was playing. There was a drummer, a guitarist/singer and a guitarist solo and at some point, someone with a harmonica came in. They sang some pretty cool songs, and we had a great time.
So far in our travel we have used Esim for our phones. You download an electronic sim card and you got some date to use. Easy! We did that for Namibia but this time, it didn’t work very well at all, so we spent some time the next morning on a chat to get it fixed, just to be told that we were getting a refund because the network is not working well in Namibia. Great! Now we need to find a local physical sim. We got back to that massive shopping centre we went in a couple of days ago, struggle to find the right shop (as there is not map and what feels like a thousand shops over several levels!) and saw the massive line to get a sim card…. No thank you. I did not have it in me to wait for several hours for that. So we’ll do with no internet for a while! If we find Wifi, great, if not, well that will be it! Disconnection here we come! If you don’t here from us, it is just because we are not connected!
After that we try to find a botanical garden we saw advertised, but it was closed like every museum in Windhoek on the weekend. Lets get back to the apartment and do more booking. A bit more schoolwork and games.
Tomorrow, we are getting a car fitted with 2 rooftop tents and we are going to discover Namibia.
We’ll see you when we see you!
Mel

22.5.2025. We woke up to a cold morning, it's bloody freezing here. First things first, sort out some breakfast. A very short walk to a small coffee shop/cafe, see's us get that sorted. Then off to a supermarket to get some supplies for the next few days. Back to the apartment and put everything away. Off again to find some attractions. We found the Independence Museum, where we learnt about Namibia’s struggles with colonisation. They finally got their independence in 1990, after lots of fighting. After that we walked to The National Art Gallery of Namibia, it was interesting to see different styles of art. We then walked and found one of the biggest malls I have ever been in, almost got lost. We were looking for shoes for Mel, but had no luck finding what we were looking for, a hiking sandal thingy. We navigated our way out, Mel remembered they had seen something fitting that description in a shop near where we bought groceries. We headed there, a little pricier than we hoped. We'll think about it and maybe come back. We went back to the apartment, did some schoolwork and researched Namibia a bit. Made dinner, played some card games and hit the sack.
23.5.2025. What did we do today? Not a lot, and yet heaps. We never went out, we stayed in all day. Kids blogged some more and got lots of schoolwork done. Mel and I got a fair bit of planning done for Italy. Most of it is paid for, found out there's a tourist tax in all the major cities, yay! Something else to pay. After a full day of that, we, Mel especially was spent. I found a place on GMaps that has food/drinks and live music, Mel found a place too. We headed to mine, couldn't find it, and where we were looking looked a bit dodge, so we didn't hang around and ask questions. Alright, let's head to the place Mel found. It wasn't where GMaps says it was either, but we found it on our way to where GMaps says it was. Nothing was happening yet, we grabbed some drinks, found out there's no food, went outside to a table and played a card game. We heard the music start up, so we packed up and went inside. Just three guys playing, one of them singing, but it was good music. We chilled there for a bit, and left when Andrew looked like he was falling asleep and Emma kept saying she was hungry. Walked back to the apartment, I made pasta and egg quick. Watched a little tv and went to bed.
24.5.2025. We had bought a Namibia esim, we only got 1 because it was kinda stupid expensive. It hadn't been working properly or even at all. My job this morning was to contact the company and see what could be done. After a lengthy WhatsApp conversation and multiple screenshots, the assistant told me that the esim doesn't work in Namibia. Then why sell the bloody thing! We got a refund, but now we're without mobile service except for wifi. We walked back to the massive shopping mall we were at yesterday looking for a local Sim. Mel waited in line for a while, I went and got some money out, I came back and Mel hadn't moved. Judging by how many people were waiting and how slow the line moved, we gave up, we're not waiting all day and decided we don't really need a Sim card that much. Hopefully places will have wifi. We wandered back, started doing more schoolwork again. We'll be camping for almost three weeks, so we're getting a heap out of the way now. Also because all the museum's and other stuff seem to be closed on the weekend, yay.
Kev

On the 21st we woke up and made breakfast then we did schoolwork, we did that for ages and then we went to the airport to take our plane to Namibia. We were going to go to the capital city, it was called Windhoek. When we got to the airport we went through security then we went to a little café because it was nearly lunch and we were hungry. We ate our food and then went to the gate and waited again then when it opened we went in, the plane was a new plane with new types of seating and TVs. It was going to be a short plane but there were TVs, it made me very happy. When the plane took off I was already watching a movie, the plane was flying for two hours, that means I can watch two short movies or one long movie. When the plane landed we got off it was a bit late so we got a taxi and drove over to our hotel, when we got there we went to bed straight away. Night night.
On the 22nd we were going to have a walk in city to find some groceries (we have a kitchen) (again) when we found a shopping centre we bought some food. When we got it, we then went back to the apartment to put it away, then back to the streets to wander again. We were going to go to a museum about the history of Windhoek, on the way there we ran into another museum it was called the museum of independence, here’s a bit of history on Namibia. Namibia got colonised by the Germans in 1884 and the region became known by the Germans as Southwest Africa, the people tried to get out of being colonised but sadly their efforts ended up in a genocide. The genocide took place between 1904 and 1907 when the German killed the local people. Not long after in 1939 when World War 2 started Namibia got captured by south Africa (yes there is a country named south Africa). Sadly, Namibia only gained independence from South Africa in 1990, only 35 years ago. When we went into the museum it was about the stuff that’s happened to Namibia. It was sad but interesting, when we left we went to an art gallery, when we got there the artwork turned out it was pretty cool, none of the art work looked the same, it was beautiful though. There was jewellery and paintings, it was very cool, when we left we went to a shopping centre to try to find good not so expensive shoes because mum’s shoes were broken. When we found a good pair of shoes they were pretty expensive so we didn’t buy it and we went home. When we got home we made dinner and went to sleep.
On the 23rd we didn’t do much we just stayed in the room doing schoolwork and blog and research and blog and schoolwork and research and plainly just more WORK. Near the end of the day we went out to a place where they have live music and some drinks, when we got there, mum and dad got a beer and I got a soft drink. The music was pretty nice so we stayed for a bit, when it got late we went home and went to sleep.
On the 24th we went to the shopping centre to try to get a sim card because the e-sim wasn’t working, when we got to the place there was loads of people there so we waited for twenty minutes but nothing really happened, it was going very slow. So we left and decided to go to a botanical garden, when we got there, the gates to it were closed, which meant the whole thing was closed, why close it on the weekend if they want people to come. When came back to the hotel we did blog and schoolwork, this is our last day here, tomorrow we are renting a car and we are going to drive around for three weeks. When we finished we had dinner then went to sleep.
This is the end of my blog so clap and clap and clap and clap and clap and clap and clap and clap and clap and clap and clap and clap and clap and clap and clap and clap and clap and clap. Now cheer and cheer and cheer and cheer and cheer and cheer and cheer and cheer and cheer and cheer and cheer and cheer and cheer. This is it, the big finish, the tremendous end, the crazy stop, it is…
The end
Andrew (10 year old)

On the 21st we took a flight from Zimbabwe to Namibia. We took a taxi to our new flat. We saw lots of grass fields and lots of plants.
On the 22nd we walked in the city. Lots of buildings, lots of people, lots of things to visit. Then we went to the museum of independence. Early in the 20th century Namibia was a German colony. After the first world war south Africa occupied Namibia and extended their apartheid system to Namibia as well. Namibia gained independence from south Africa in 1990.
After that we went to the art gallery. My favourite piece was the stained glass. There was stained glass that when light was on it would make a rainbow. There were lots of paintings but there was also other stuff like fabric and oil pastel paintings. Then we went to the shopping centre. Bought some stuff and headed back home to do schoolwork.
On the 23rd we did blog and planning.
On the 24th we slept in. had breakfast (I had scrambled eggs on toast.) and headed for the mall. We were looking for a sim card. (The place had a bunch of desks that had chairs in front of them.) We found the place, but it was packed. People would walk in when there was a line. So, we gave up on it. went back home, did packing and blog.
Tomorrow we are renting a car for three weeks.
Emma (8 and a half years old)En savoir plus