Namibia - The second time around

 

The first time I went to Namibia was in 2014 with my girlfriends. It was a beautiful experience and of course I’ve already written about it. From the day we left Namibia, I never stopped telling my husband about how beautiful this country is and that we must visit together some time in the future. Fast forward to 5yrs down the line, my dream and wish came true, but not without a little drama at first!  

Before the drama unfolded, my husband and I were booked on a weekend of some off-road adventure with fellow Jeep drivers. We were all going to drive to Namibia together from a meeting point in Gauteng. The trip promised to be full of adventure and I was mighty excited knowing that I will finally be able to explore Namibia with my husband, just like I had wished, for the past 5 years. This trip would also potentially be the most adventurous exploit on our part, considering this would have been the first time we did this kind of an off road experience, driving up sand dunes, with no prior experience.

Sadly, just a couple of weeks ahead of the trip, some logistics regarding the trip were changed in a way that no longer suited us and so we decided to pull out. Although pulling out was a good decision for us at the time, it didn’t change how devastated I was! My husband couldn’t believe I would be so heartbroken about something that was seemingly insignificant. Let’s just say, he didn’t understand until he went to Namibia himself, and this is how that happened: After seeing how disappointed (read DISTRAUGHT) I was about the cancelled trip, my husband decided to make it up to me by planning a weekend away to one of our favorite spots in Mpumalanga (Read about this experience here). After this impromptu getaway, I felt healed. The pain of having that trip to Namibia cancelled had somewhat ‘disappeared’  Little did I know that ‘behind the scenes’ my husband was trying to book us a holiday to Namibia over the same weekend that the original off-road trip was going to take place.

Now, a little insight into my husband’s way of doing things. He’s different from me in that he doesn’t get bogged down with details like I do. He takes things at face value and as much as I often say he’s indecisive, he can sometimes make decisions that are not very well thought out. That’s where I usually come in…to interrogate, rationalize, unpack..etc. So, when my husband was planning the trip to Namibia (behind the scenes), he didn’t have me to interrogate, rationalize, unpack etc. And so what basically happened was, we were booked for a 3-night stay in Swakopmund, checking in on Friday and checking out on Monday. It all sounds great except we were booked on a flight from Johannesburg to Windhoek on Friday afternoon, which meant we would only get to Windhoek in the evening after a long drive. The best thing to do would have been to fly out from Johannesburg to Walvis Bay and then drive from Walvis Bay to Swakopmund, which is under 45 minutes away. The drive from Windhoek to Swakopmund on the other hand, is a little over 3 hours!

The beautiful sights created by nature

When I learned about the trip I was super excited, of course, until my husband started sharing with me the blunders he had made in the logistics. So, the flight choice was the first debacle but I thought it was still manageable because our flight was due to land in Windhoek around 3pm on Friday. Meaning, we could still drive out to Swakopmund comfortably. Little did we know that our flight would be delayed by nearly 3 hours! So, instead of arriving in Windhoek at 3pm, we arrived at about 6pm and by the time we were done with our airport admin, it was nearly 7pm and already getting dark outside. It took 3 people to convince my husband not to drive out to Swakopmund at that hour due to dark roads and stray animals. I didn’t need convincing at all because I don’t enjoy driving long distances in the dark, period!

Pulling out of the airport, we had already made some calls to get accommodation in Windhoek for the night. My husband was apparently still not convinced and obviously upset that we would miss out on 1 night in Swakopmund. A night that was already paid for. Additionally, we would have to pay for another night in Windhoek. I truly understood his frustration but to drive on that dark road against all the advice we had been given would have been foolish. It took us driving into a rabbit shortly after leaving the airport for my husband to realise the seriousness of the danger we would be putting ourselves in. So, we accepted the mishaps as they were and spent our first night in Windhoek. It was an uneventful night because we were simply exhausted (mentally) from trying to figure things out and (physically) after waiting for our plane to take off for nearly 3 hours, then trying to navigate our way following all the repercussions! In any case, we had decided to sleep early so we could hit the road bright and early the next morning. By 10am we were in Swakopmund and ready to explore.

After checking into our studio-style room at Swakopmund beachfront lodge, we grabbed something to eat and were on our way to take in some Vitamin D. We spent Saturday out in the desert, taking in the views of the dunes, doing the grueling walk up Dune 7, taking lots of pictures, enjoying a few drinks while sitting under a shade at the base of Dune 7. The sun was shining so brilliantly, kids were rolling their little bodies down the sand dunes. The day was nothing short of perfect. We had forgotten all about the misery of delayed flights and the financial inconveniences that resulted from it all.

The day was so warm it was a complete surprise to see how cold it got as soon as the sun set. So we chose to be indoors and enjoy the bubbly that came as a gift from our host at the lodge after we shared our story with him. He even had his staff prepare dinner for us, on the house. It all made up for the drama that transpired the day prior.

First camel ride

 

Sunday was another beautiful day and we spent it all out in the sun again, riding on camels, navigating our way through the sand dunes on quad bikes. It was a day full of adventure and an experience I’ll cherish for many years to come.

Sadly, we had to cut our stay in Swakopmund short! You’d think that the woes I shared earlier were bad enough but guess what? Our flight out on Monday was super early - as in 6;30am early. This would mean us driving from Swakopmund to Windhoek at an ungodly hour to make it in time for our check in. Once again, this was not an option because dark roads and stray animals would still be a real risk factor. We had tried to change our flights to a later time but it would have cost us more than the cost of the additional night that we had to book in Windhoek. So, this meant we were going to lose out on another night in Swakopmund (also paid for and non-refundable). We had to book for another night in Windhoek so we wouldn’t have to drive before crack of dawn from Swakopmund. So, essentially, my husband had paid for 3 nights in Swakopmund but we only stayed for 1. Over and above this, we had to stay 2 nights in Windhoek on both ends of our trip, which was an unplanned expense. The realization was painful and hard to swallow but by this time, we had decided to accept the logistical blunders, learn from them and to put them to bed. The lesson for you perhaps is to check the details of your trip with a fine comb. I’m just grateful that we were both satisfied with how much we maximized on the 2 days that we had in Swakopmund and I was happy that my dream had finally come true. My husband fell in love with Namibia instantly and wants to go back soon!