December 21-22
Hello everyone!
After a lovely and relatively relaxing week or so in Western
Cape, the time had come for me to leave South Africa. My next destination was
the country to the immediate north: Namibia. Definitely not Zimbabwe, in spite
of what you see below…
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| Mugabe: not Namibian |
A surprisingly-pleasant 23 hour bus journey took me from
Cape Town to Windhoek, Namibia’s capital and largest city. It was uneventful
apart from the Christian message being rammed down your throat by the TV every
couple of hours and the difficult gentlemen who searched my bags at the border.
The first kept complaining that my big backpack had too many pockets; the
second requested the receipt for my laptop which was bought in the UK a long
time ago, then demanded I take the laptop to customs for ‘registration’. The latter
kept asking, “Man, why you being so difficult?”
“Man, why are you not answering my questions?” was my
ever-so-diplomatic response.
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| Surprisingly comfortable for what turned out to be a 23 hour ride |
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| Bible quotes adorned the screens and blasted through the speakers, though this was later replaced by the film about Eddie the Eagle |
Sunrise brought a new frontier, one which resembled barren
wasteland. I will be exploring more of Namibia’s landscape later in the trip
but I can assure you that there is more spectacular scenery to see.
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| First sunrise in Namibia |
I had two days in Windhoek, most of which were spent trying
to organise the rest of my two weeks in Namibia. Normally one to plan in
advance, I’d been scuppered in my desire to rent a car by my lack of a credit
card (silly me for not spending beyond my means and getting into an unbreakable
spiral of debt).
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| Unless you're trying to rent a car... |
One interesting feature I did notice whilst walking from
place to place in the over-30°C heat (startling when you consider Windhoek is
1600m above sea level) are the city’s road signs. More specifically, the street
names.
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| Louis Pasteur: not much of a connection to this part of the world |
I know a lot of cities use street names to honour important
people but Windhoek has taken this to a new level. It reminded me of the
ludicrous number of statues in Skopje, Macedonia. Whoever had the
responsibility of naming these ways clearly had a penchant for classical music
in addition to including various politicians.
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| Lot of musical talent honoured in Windhoek |
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| Sam Nujoma was the first President of Namibia after independence |
…to the understandable…
…to the seemingly ridiculous.
I know enough about African history to appreciate that
Mugabe was – was – a very popular
leader in his younger years, banging the anti-colonial drum with gusto.
Zimbabwe is also quite close to Namibia. But Castro? Really?
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| Maybe Putinstrasse will be here soon too |
Actually, I need to clarify what I said in the previous
paragraph. I know enough about some aspects of African history, from my degree
module and reading travel books. However, I’ll be honest at this point. I knew
next to nothing about Namibia. For example, I knew it was a colony but wasn’t
aware that it spent most of the twentieth century as property of South Africa.
Yes, the South Africa which was also part of a greater empire used to have
colonies of its own.
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| South Africa saw Namibia as a 'fifth province' |
I thus decided to spend some of my limited free time in
Windhoek at the National Museum to learn more about the country. What I found
didn’t seem to offer much help…
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| The dilapidated nature of the shutters made it feel like a ghost town |
…until a security officer helpfully pointed out that this
was the former National Museum: the
new one was in a shiny Kazakh-esque building around the corner. Why she decided
to withhold this information until I’d spent five minutes peeking around the
decrepit building is beyond me.
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| The actual museum |
The actual museum is fascinating, if a little nationalistic
and possibly one-sided. I wonder if they learnt that from some of the leaders
their future president fraternised with when in exile…
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| Language and imagery I would associate with communism... |
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| Sam Nujoma, future Namibian president, with Kim Il-Sung of North Korea |
The patriotic tone is unsurprising, considering the country
is younger than me. Namibia got its independence in 1990.
It may also be due to its recent harrowing past. The
previous hundred years were characterised by overseas control (firstly the
Germans, then the South Africans), racial discrimination and the destruction of
the numerous tribes spread across this vast swathe of land.
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| A photo of Luderitz, a settlement in the south-west, in the late nineteenth century |
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| A painting depicting a German attack |
Even genocide. Widely accepted to be the first case of mass
murder of a race with intent to exterminate, the Germans decimated the local
Herero tribe in the Namibian War of 1904-8, interning and slaughtering many
both on the battlefield and in concentration camps. The pictures are horrific
but I haven’t included the worst ones on the blog. The statistics are damning
(see the book). I don’t know whether it was done on purpose but that section of
the museum was pitch black; it certainly conveyed the black mood and thoughts
associated with it.
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| Many Herero were initially kept as prisoners of war |
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| The German general surrounded by Herero bodies |
The South Africans won control of South West Africa in 1915
and were soon to implement the apartheid way of life which suppressed so many
in their own country. They committed their own atrocities in Namibia as well,
leading anti-government rebels (the SWAPO) to undertake guerrilla resistance
attacks from the other side of the Angolan border. It transpires that this is the Fidel Castro link; Cuba sent soldiers to assist SWAPO's fight in the late 1970s.
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| An artist's impression of the aftermath of a South African military air strike |
Aside from the museum, there isn’t too much to explore in
Windhoek. The architecture varies wildly, highlighting the German and differing
African influences on the city. The crafts are interesting but probably pricier
than other places in the country.
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| The Christuskirche |
Windhoek hasn’t left much of an impression on me. There’s a
reason people come here to stock up on supplies and then head away as soon as
possible. But the museum is worth a visit to gain an understanding of what this
relatively new country has suffered through to claim its independence. Maybe
I’m being too harsh on Windhoek here as a place to visit. I guess if I’d
written a loving eulogy about the capital, I’d probably have a street named
after me in due course…
Love you all
Matt
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