Africa for Beginners

“Namibia is Africa for beginners,” declared a European I’d met on my horseback ride. He’d flown in on a cheap LTU flight from Frankfurt. Air Namibia also flies direct—Windhoek to Munich, twice a week.

I knew exactly what he meant. Swakopmund didn’t even feel like Africa. It felt like Germany.

I hunted for some breakfast this morning. First I stopped by the butcher—the Fleischerei-- which has a small restaurant attached.

HEUTE:
Gulasch mit Nudeln und Salat
Kudu-Salami

Inside, the Fruhstuck included Weissbier and Wiesswurst. Were I Bavarian, I might have some desire for beer and wurst in the morning. Being an American, I beat a hasty retreat, mumbling danke and tschuss to the surprised waitress.


I continued on, passing the Swakopmund Oktoberfest gearing up for an afternoon of beer and music, then walked by a woman selling frische Spargel.
The supermarket had spargel as well. Perhaps a ship had come into nearby Walvis Bay, straight from Germany. Or could someone possibly grow asparagus in Namibia?

I got scrambled eggs and bacon at the atmospheric coffee shop and then paid four dollars to join the twice-monthly uranium mine tour.

Ten other tourists and I were loaded onto a minibus—instructed to wear our seatbelts, which might be part of the demonstration that safety is a mine priority—and driven 65 kilometers out into the desert to view a massive hole in the ground.

It was far more engaging than it sounds, although the sights at the mine were limited to giant conveyor belts, massive trucks, the outsides of buildings, industrial landscapes, and of course, the largest uranium pit mine in the world.

I was admiring the giant granite pit, when another tourist approached me.

“Do you have an interest in mining?” He asked me.

I confessed that I did not, but that I wanted to get out of the house and everything else in Swakopmund cost at least fifty U.S. dollars. My new pal was a friendly older man from Northern Wales who had a science background and knew about energy production. We had a nice chat about an energy center near his home; his departure left me painfully aware that my laptop was not giving me the social interaction I required and that I needed to speak with other human beings.

Unfortunately, as people throughout history have done, I was reduced to paying for human contact.

No, not that way. I decided to cough up the dough for desert quad-biking. I went over to the Adventure Centre and booked a trip for tomorrow morning.