A Year and a bit later in Namibia

I have been living in Namibia now for little over a year, a year and two months to be exact. In this time I have learnt quite a few things about this little country that is South Africa’s Mexico. Some of annoyances, but most are just observations and my opinion.

  • If something goes “Viral” in Namibia, it means its been shared more than 432 times across the 43000 whatsapp groups. It will never reach youtube.
  • The internet according to the average Namibian is Facebook, possibly a small bit of google, mostly used to find Facebook.
  • Biltong is addictive.
  • If you don’t have a vehicle that can take at least high terrain tyres, 70% of Namibia is off limits to you, unless you enjoy having your kidneys dislodged from your body and changing your tyre every 100 km’s.
  • Rain is something that is always falling somewhere else, never in the town you are in, because that town hasn’t had rain for months.
  • having a 4×4 is not something special, in fact you would be kind of dumb to buy a 2×4.
  • biltong is addictive, seriously addictive.
  • Camping is the preferred thing to do as a weekend away, and its brilliant.
  • Namibia is one of the best countries to go on a road trip, the landscapes are constantly changing, and you guaranteed to see something majestic. Yes Majestic, its that damn pretty here( except Windhoek, that a ugly ass city, but the surrounding areas are pretty).
  • Luderitz has wind, you have a light breeze, yes I’m talking to you Cape Town, your Southeaster is afternoon breeze compared to the wind in Luderitz. When you driving 60 km/h on a gravel road and your own dust is over taking you, Welcome to Luderitz.
  • People don’t have leashes for their dogs, either they don’t know how the things work, or there is a potential market here for dog collars and leads.
  • The Internet Service Providers here are dumb, well maybe not all of them, but one of the bigger ones, that rhymes with ntc, they are pathetic. Thats a story for another time though.
  • Seriously, you can never have just one piece of biltong, its either none or the entire bag.
  • At the Dome restaurant serves the best steaks ever, as in I’m drooling just thinking about it.
  • Seeing Springbok, Gemsbok and other wildlife is not a special experience reserved for family holidays in the Kruger National Park, its 10 km’s outside of town in the open plains.
  • Namibia has HONEY BADGERS!!! and they don’t give a shit.
  • The coast has a weather event called Oosweer( Eastwind/east weather). Everyone has their own theories and “tells” for when its coming. Its mostly just guessing.
  • When the Oosweer does come though, you do not go outside until 4pm otherwise you get your skin sandblasted off your body. The upside is that the sunsets are some of the best you will ever see.
  • While you are in SA, and say you live in Namibia, immediately they ask if you know Jannie, or Sannie or Pietie. Namibia is not a town people, its a country.

So that it, those are a few things I thought I should share with you all regarding Namibia. For all the quirks and small town mentality of Namibia, it remains a great place to live. No you may not come live here as well, we have enough people now. We don’t want traffic jams and load shedding.