mei 2017

Wednesday 14 June 2017

Ghanzi - Gobabis: 229km, 2,5 hrs

We rise at a quarter to seven and have breakfast at the hotel restaurant. No meat and cheese funny enough. At 8am after breakfast we drive to the border with Namibia. Shortly before the border in Charles Hill we spend our last Pula's on diesel and carry on to the Botswana border post. There we have to fill in a form again, we get an exit stamp. Then a piece of no-man's land and the Namibian border post. We fill in a form and get another stamp here in the passport. Then we can enter Namibia. The clock goes back one hour. We drive about 20 km until we arrive at Kalahari Bush Breaks. It's 10.15am. This is a small lodge in the Kalahari desert, which consists of a main building, some houses and a campsite. Our cottage is a good size and well furnished and we have unobstructed views of the Kalahari desert. We lunch at 12 o'clock and laze about  in the afternoon. At half past three we start a drive on the 4x4 trail. This is a trail takes us around the lodge via unpaved tracks with many stones, potholes and sandpits. It is 22km long and takes up to 2 hours. We leave some air out of the tires for more grip on the sandy part of the route. We bring the pressure to 1.8 bar. By the end of the trail we see zebras, kudus, waterbucks, warthogs, ostriches and oryxes.
Back in the lodge we take an aperitif for dinner starting at 6.30pm. The lodge also has a waterhole, which is lit in the evening. It attracts many antelope species that come to drink. Dinner is an excellent buffet with stuffed impala shank, potatoes and vegetables. Apple pie for dessert. Then we go to bed because it gets pretty cold here in the Kalahari.

donderdag 15 juni 2017

Gobabis - Windhoek: 293km, 3 hrs

 

Breakfast is a bit chaotic. We get fruit and yoghurt first . The glasses for the orange juice are missing. Coffee is there, tea is not there yet. Then comes toast (3 slices for two people) and the scrambled eggs are left on the buffet with the sausages and tomatoes. Maybe this is due to the fact that the owner has already left for Windhoek for a hospital visit this morning.
After breakfast we bring back the tire pressure to 2 bar with our own pump. Then we are on our way to Windhoek. We leave at 9 o'clock and arrive at the Windhoek Hilton at 12 o'clock. The room is not ready yet, but we can have lunch. The car is taken away. After lunch we rest and later we going  to have a haircut. We get an extensive treatment: cut, shave, wash, powder, massage. N$ 400 we for the both of us.
We go back to the hotel and have some drinks in the skybar on the roof by the pool. We take a cocktail and enjoy the sunshine and the city view. Next to the Hilton, a Hilton Garden Inn is being built. Booking a restaurant for the evening is not an easy matter. All Bradt Guidebook suggestions are full or gone bankrupt. The front desk recommends Joe’s Beer house, so we'll do that.
We have reserved a table there for 6pm. It is some drive (3km) there. Joe's a German beer garden. Very large with (shared) tables in various corners, holes and tents. The menu is a mix of German cuisine and African specialties. I take an Oryx fillet, Erik a pasta. Washed down by a Weißbier. It is extremely popular and booking is absolutely necessary. Back in the hotel, we have a drink at the bar.

Weather: morning 11 ° C, during the day it becomes 21 ° C.

Friday 16 June 2017

We start the morning with coffee at the Weck & Voigt Kaffee bar. It is a good coffee joint in a German department store a few hundred meters from the hotel on Independence Avenue. After the coffee we explore the city. We start at the Post Street Mall, where a number of meteorites are on display, which landed thousands of years ago during a meteorite storm on Earth. They were found one hundred and fifty years ago at the village of Gideon. Many of the stones are in museums around the world, but these are here on the streets. From there it is a few hundred meters to the clock tower on Independence Ave, built in 1904 for the Deutsch-Afrikanische Bank. On Independence Ave there are a number of old shop buildings of German origin from the early 20th century. The Eckrath building dates from 1910. The Gathemann next to 1913 was designed for Heinrich Gathemann, the mayor of Klein Windhoek. It's a European design with a steep roof to prevent snow accumulation! Next to it is the Kronprinz hotel dating from 1902.
Opposite is the Zoo park, where there is a pillar with an elephant skull on it and a memorial for the German soldiers who have been killed in protecting the peace between the African tribes. It is the lame excuse  for the German occupation here between 1889 and 1916. We walk on and go uphill to the Lutheran Christus church. Windhoek's most famous building. It is a Lutheran church built between 1907 and 1910 in Art Nouveau. The stained glass windows are a gift from Emperor Wilhelm II and the bible from the Empress Augusta. The church is simple of decor. Opposite is the former Kaiserliche Realschule, now part of the national museum. We walk a little further along the building of the national bank and arrive at the former German supreme judge's residence.
We cross over and walk back to Die Feste. Windhoek's oldest building from 1889. Here was the barracks of German garrison. Now it fronted by a memorial to the heroes of the struggle for independence. The building is on a hill overlooking the valley. We walk on and come to the museum for independence. A 40 meter high building with a giant statue of Sam Nujoma, the leader of the SWAPO independence movement and the country's first president in 1990 in front. The building was designed and developed by a North Korean company, and that clearly visible. We enter the museum and first have a coffee in the restaurant on the 4th floor. From there, you have a nice view of Windhoek in 4 directions. Then we go down the other three floors, covering the history of colonialism, through the struggle for independence to liberation. There is unbelievable attention to Nujoma's role and the suffering of the population among Germans and South Africans, which certainly should not be underestimated. The murals that represent the heroic and the victory of the independence struggle are evidently in a communist tradition. Probably the North Korean influence has also been made visible here. We also see uniforms of United Nations troops safe guarding the power transition. Including some Dutch too.
After that we walk back to the hotel. We have lunch there and go to the railway museum in the afternoon. That is on the top floor of the old Windhoek station. It is not a big deal. Many rooms with railway paraphernalia such as uniforms, ticket machines, timetables, time / road diagrams and photos. Outside are some locomotives. The station itself is also a sight of interest and is still in use.
We refuel the car, go back to the hotel to rent another car. We bring the Hilux back to Asco. Otherwise, we should do this at 9 o'clock in the morning and then spend half the day at the airport. Handing over the Hilux gets us comments on scratches, but it is no big deal in the end.
Back in the hotel we enjoy a cocktail and the view. In the evening we eat at NICE (Namibian Institute for Culinary Education). We have really a great meal here . After that another drink in the hotel bar, where a band is playing.

Weather: Sun, 21 degrees

Saturday 17 June 2017

After breakfast we take a walk in the area. We drink coffee and see some stores. We hang around in the hotel lobby and around 12 o'clock we go by car to the airport. It is a 40-minute drive outside the city. We return the car and check in for the plane. That is a little strange. KLM builds a wooden counter in front of the check-in desk. Apparently, they do not fully trust the facilities of the airport. After the check-in we need to go through the security check, but that does not amount to much. In the departure hall there is a cafeteria and a few shops. The food in the cafeteria is very bad. At 15.30 we begin with the boarding. Here too, things are different from other flights. KLM puts up two tables at the gate and brings in its own security company, which checks the hand luggage. There is a very long line. I get picked out together with a number of other passengers and can board the plane without being checked. The flight leaves at 4.30 am . There is stop of 1.5 hours in Luanda and a change of staff.
At 6 o'clock in the morning we arrive at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. IC Direct does not run this weekend so we need to take the intercity via The Hague. At 10 o'clock we are home.

 

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