- Sossusvlei Dunes
So we've been back for a while, but no Namibia. What gives? Eh, work mainly. And those photos. But with no further delay, let the Namibia blogging begin!
So after spending 16 nights in the country, what are my impressions of Namibia?
1. Namibia is not as exotic as you'd think. Everyone speaks English. All the towns have grocery stores and ATMs, and vaguely reminded me of mid-sized mid-west towns in the US. The government is stable and the country is safe. Driving on the left was about as strange as it got.
2. Namibia has more than its fair share of nothing. With a population density the second least in the world (Mongolia, I know you're asking), the exotic is just how much in the middle of nowhere you can be. There are state-sized areas in Namibia that have no villages -- only tourists. And for good reason, there's no water. We drove for hours on a main road and saw, maybe, 10 cars total. Great place to visit, bad place to run out of gas.
3. It ain't cheap. I knew this before we went. The flight is pricy. Rental car is not cheap. And since the government restricts the number of beds in regions of the country (so to not over-commercialize it) the lodging can be expensive, too. Mind you, it's not more expensive than the US, but it's not much cheaper either. Food, however, can be a bargain.
4. The people are pleasant. I say this on just about every trip out of the country -- and it probably says more about my expectations about other people than anything else. The Namibians we encountered were warm and engaging. A surprize of the trip was the fellow travelers we met. I suppose the if you choose a relatively obscure place like Namibia, right off the bat you have something in common. And sure enough, we hit it off with a number of the other travellers we met.
5. There's more to do and see in Namibia than you can do or see. Although we were there for 16 nights, we could have easily spent a week more just in the places we stayed. You could spend three weeks in the places we didn't go. If you decide to visit Namibia, be prepared to increase the amount of time you'll spend there. And also be prepared to make some hard decisions about places you read about and would love to see, like Koakoland in the northwest, that won't easily fit in a limited-time visit.
