Little Germany in South-West Africa

Hey ho! Merry 4th Advent to everyone – wherever you may be!

I am sitting in the very quaint and lovely little “Hansa Hotel”, which was state of the art, latest fashion and very chic – in 1905...We are in Swakopmund / Namibia. And this town is more German than most towns in rural Germany – fascinating! But first things first.

After our stay in Sabi Sands had come to an end, we said our Goodbyes to our new friends in the bush – amazing time in another paradise! I just love the bush.

Our plane from Nelspruit to Joburg was even smaller than the ones before, but I guess they will have even smaller planes waiting for us in Namibia...Bit of a flying odyssey we have ahead of us – 9 flights in 7 days.

After a couple of hours in Joburg we finally boarded our very crowded flight to Windhoek, which was refreshingly short and uneventful. Before the descent we were informed that an outside temperature of 43 degrees was awaiting us. My word...

From Windhoek Airport we were taken to the Olive Grove Guest House – which turned out to be the biggest surprise so far on our short journey. Our travel agent &beyond had booked us into the garden suite, which was just breathtakingly beautiful! The interior design was so African, so stylish – I hope the photos do somehow bring that across! In fact it was so beautiful, and we felt so at home there that we decided to stay in, and to give downtown Windhoek a miss, in benefit of a romantic dinner (Kudu – new favourite game!) on the terrace, a skinny dip in our private pool – and a good nights’ sleep.

After exactly that and a hearty breakfast we were once again collected and transferred to the small Eros (?!) Airport, to board our Air Scenic plane to Etosha. The Scenic guys were mildly shocked about the size of our big Rimowa suitcases, but luckily we were the only passengers so there was space in the plane. If one can talk about space in a six-seater Cessna 210... ;-)

The flight up North was just beautiful, and it was wonderful to see how the scenery changed, from sandy, to rocky, to low bushes, to finally just open plain.

Quick lecture about Etosha: Etosha is a National Wildlife and Game Park in Namibia, about 500km North of Windhoek, though still about 400km away from the Northern border to Angola. Etosha is popular for tourists, as it presents a plain, with its own flora and fauna – quite unique in the world! The plain changes colour, from a healthy sandy yellow, to a light alga green, as it gets completely covered by water when it rains, which in return leaves algae when the rain dries off. The vegetation is low, bushes and shrubs, with the odd Acacia tree in between. All in all very different to the Sabi Sand bush but very beautiful in its own way.

Our lodge “The Fort” was just outside the National Park, in the Onguma Game Reserve. The lodge was modelled after a North African fort, with beautiful Moroccan interior style, long curtains, big laterns and plush furniture. All open, no glass windows, with stunning pools, towers and its own watering hole. Again – I hope Silvias photos do stress the beauty of this place.

Our spacious and truly luxurious bungalow, once more with own viewing terrace, outside shower and stunning interior, left no desires – apart from some windows for Silvia...as the bungalow totally lacked any form of windows or doors – it had tent walls or doors, either rolled up - or down. Very cool in my eyes, not quite so comforting for my better half, in view of potential snake, spider and scorpion visits during the night. The aircon also battled badly against the combination of an open room and blistering outside heat. But – we survived uncooked and uneaten, maybe thanks to the mosquito net we had brought along from England? So well prepared - thank you, Nick.

In true African style we were showered with warm hospitality and amazing food, whilst Silvia became best friends with the all-men staff. Very nice guys who were superquick in fulfilling all our demands and desires.

We did two game drives, one in the smaller Onguma Game Reserve, with the classic ‘Out of Africa’ G&T sundowner in the wild bush, so very beautiful.

The other game drive went into the National Park, with lots of game, stunning scenery and amazing heat! The highlight was certainly to watch a pride of ten lions devour a freshly killed zebra – what a gory but real sighting!

Our last night there was made even more special, as after dinner every member of staff joined in for a singing and dancing performance in true bushmen style, very entertaining!

Our farewell was once more hard, but our journey continued – now towards the coast.

Meaning – another flight, another Scenic 6-seater Cessna, this time with Swedish pilot Jonas, another destination: Swakopmund.

Swakopmund was a special request of mine when I was discussing the travel itinerary with the travel agent. As a small boy my grandmother, at my bedside, had sung these fascinating songs about Ascari warriors, about a diamond rush and about brave German soldiers in Africa, songs she herself had learnt from her mother.

My grandmother told me many stories about how this country was bit by bit conquered and colonised by expedition battalions of the German navy, how gold-diggers and diamond hunters pushed further and further into this rough and wild country, faced with hostile climatic condition and even more hostile Herero tribesmen, and how in this country, far down in the South-West of the second biggest continent , 10,000km away, a second Germany was created. A country called German South-West Africa.

I do not approve of any colonisation in general, and certainly not of this one in particular – but believe me, from a historic and demographic point of view it is highly fascinating to discover all these historic traces in this town. Swakopmund was host to the most important harbour for German settlers and explorers, and the town really resembles a typical German settlement at the turn of the previous century.

Only 10 percent of the 30,000 people in Swakopmund are of German decent, but there is so much in the architecture, the street signs, the shop names, the general feel that makes this town so German. Plus it really is one of the the cleanest city I have ever seen! Overall a very pretty town, with a fascinating history, and a very strange feeling to it.

Upon arrival at some small airstrip we were taken into Swakopmund to our accommodation, the patriarchal and proud Hansa Hotel. Founded in 1905, with hardly any modernisation since, it proudly boasted back then “with radio reception every evening, running water, and salon for dance activities”. Telephone number of the Hansa Hotel in 1905 was “9”. Today the Hansa feels a little dated, but very quaint, with lots of explorer charm and interior that will be back in fashion, in some hopefully very distant future 

We strolled around town today, in some rather chilly weather for a change (we left Onguma at 38 degrees, here at the coasts it is a mere 20!), amazed by all that above-mentioned Germaness, and had a Schnitzelbrötchen (Schnitzel bread roll) and some Stollen for lunch. The Atlantic Ocean is very wild here, and ridiculously cold – unlike the calm and warm Indian Ocean we know from Mauritius.

Dinner was a good and solid Wiener Schnitzel in the “Lighthouse”, and now we enjoy the night in civilisation – before we will head into the true desert tomorrow. What an adventure!

Lots of pictures on facebook – and lots of love from room 101 of the Hansa Hotel in Swakopmund / Namibia