I completed my goal of visiting every inhabited continent with my trip to Australia, as I had been to Africa before in 2007 or 2008.  At that time, I had secured an invitation to speak at a conference that was originally to be held in Morocco but got moved to Malta after I had already agreed.  Because going to Africa was my major motivation for speaking at the conference, I arranged a flight to Tunisia after the conference and arranged to meet Nigel there for a few days.  

I enjoyed Tunisia, and in my mind it is one of the most exotic and exciting trips I have taken.  This was prior to the events that led to the Arab Spring.  The news a number of years after my return that terrorists had stormed the Bardo Museum that Nigel and I had visited during our trip and killed approximately 20 people was sobering.  Ultimately, I felt like my travels to Africa weren’t complete without including a trip to sub-Saharan Africa in my catalog.

Africa doesn’t have the best reputation for safety in the United States.  There is an element of truth behind this reputation.  There is also an element of the western media reporting what they want to report about the continent, which is each and every war, coup d’etat and terrorist attack.  Nevertheless, there are a number of African countries where a traveler is at least as safe as in the United States, and arguably in some cases more so, at least from what one call tell from researching online, 

Of the available destinations in Africa, I selected Namibia.  This was partly the allure of fishing for bronze whaler sharks, the desert scenery, and partly because I wanted to include a safari in my itinerary.  

Early in planning the trip, I determined that to get to Namibia I would need to either connect through South Africa or the Middle East.  South Africa has one of the less great reputations for safety in Africa, and so I was not interested in passing though there though I ultimately ended up having to.  I decided to route through Jordan because in 3 or 4 days I could hit the high points of the Dead Sea, Wadi Rum, and Petra.  Nigel agreed to meet me there, and we booked a tour along with one of his friends, and were set to go.

Then, on October 7, 2023 Hamas began firing rockets from Gaza into Israel.  We watched the news for several weeks, and eventually decided that while there appeared to be no direct effect on Jordan, it was still early and we weren’t sure how it would play out, and Jordan just wasn’t quite far enough away from the fighting to take the chance.  And so, after some discussions we decided to change plans for the few days we had planned in Jordan.

While I had never been to Spain before, it has always held a special allure for me.  This partly comes from having studied classical guitar for a period in my youth, and having been exposed to the compositions of composers like Tarrega and Albeniz, and the performances of Segovia.  I had also applied for a job at a summer camp in Spain for the summer after my year in England, but had received my acceptance too late when I had already assumed I would be rejected and so purchased a rail pass and planned to travel the continent.  Spanish is my best foreign language.  I have adequate proficiency for travel and can carry on a conversation with some difficulty.  

La Alhambra is one of the few specific sights I had ever targeted as a must see for me, and so we settled on traveling to Sevilla, and taking a day trip to Granada to see the La Alhambra.

Sevilla did not disappoint.

And neither did La Alhambra.  If Iguazu Falls is the most impressive natural wonder I have ever seen, La Alhambra is the most impressive architectural wonder.

My brief visit to Spain placed it as one of the countries I have enjoyed the most, and it is a place I hope to see more of in the near future.

I continued on to Namibia solo, flying into Windhoek.  I don’t remember all the circumstances now, but my flight out of Sevilla was delayed, causing me to miss my connection in Johannesburg.  While I ultimately determined that I had been booked on the next available flight to Windhoek, the people in the Johannesburg airport were not helpful at all.  I believe I was half-jokingly asked for a bribe by the customs official to which I simply played dumb and was sent on my way.  My checked bag was also lost.  Fortunately, on business travels years before I had learned the lesson to always travel with a complete change of clothes in your carry on.   I spent the first two thirds of my time in Nambia alternating two sets of clothes and washing them in the sink every evening and leaving them to hang dry in the hotel room during the day, but it was better than wearing the same clothes soaked in sweat from the desert sun every day for six days.

A lot of tours in Namibia are self drive, but running around unfamiliar countryside alone driving on the opposite side of the road from what I am used to in a country not known for high quality roads struck me as a bad idea.  I arranged two private tours that would cover what I wanted to see.  The first was through the Namib desert and to the coastal city of Swakopmund.  The second was a wildlife safari through Etosha.  

One observation in hindsight is that I saw so much wildlife driving through the Namib desert, that I am not sure the Etosha safari was really necessary.  Etosha did allow me to see 3 of the 4 members of the Big Five of African wildlife that can be found in Etosha (the elephant, lion, and rhino.  I did not see a leopard, as they are nocturnal, and I am not, and the Cape Buffalo is not present in Etosha.)  Distances in Namibia between sights can be very long, and the road quality varies from gravel to well paved and maintained highways.  Going tends to be slow, and there can be 4 or 5 hours from one sight to the next.  The wildlife you see does break it up a bit.  And there is a lot of it.

Baboons.  My guide said generally they are not dangerous, as they are shy and will run if humans approach.

Oryx, a type of antelope.  You see a lot of these.  Supposedly those in the desert can be aggressive if approached.

A warthog in one of the lodges I stayed in.

One of many ostriches seen.

Black backed jackal.

Gnu/wildebeest.

Zebra in Etosha.

Rhino.  We saw two in Etosha, one just a few meters from the jeep.  They have been known to charge vehicles with little warning.

Female lion.  I believe there was a second in the same shot, but can only see the one.

Spotted hyena.  The tour guide said these are among the most dangerous animals in Etosha, along with lion and leopard.

Giraffe.  You see a lot of these.

Elephant.  We also saw a group of half a dozen together, but they are partly obscured by plant life, so this is the best shot I have of a single elephant.  They have also been known to charge vehicles, but they apparently give warnings before they do so.

We also saw a number of species of antelope including damara dik-dik, springbok, steenbok, and kudu.  As we were approaching the entrance to Etosha a damara dik-dik charged out in front of our car.  The driver fortunately had the presence of mind to respond as he should, and slow down but not swerve to miss the dik-dik.  The only damage was to his bumper and everyone was okay.  Well, everyone except the dik-dik.  A passing car stopped and took the dik-dik and I imagine ate well later that day.

In addition to the wildlife, there is plenty of desert scenery worth a view.  This is Sossussvlei, which features prominently in tourist information from Namibia.  I have mixed feelings about this one…on one hand it is beautiful in its own way.  On the other hand, it is really a bunch of dead trees, though admittedly dead trees that have stood for 900 years.  

I personally found turning around and looking in the opposite direction from the top of the dune (I think it was called Big Daddy) gave an even more impressive view of the desert.

The original idea for this trip that got me thinking about Namibia as a destination was fishing for bronze whaler sharks.  I did arrange with the help of the tour company an experience fishing for sharks from Swakopmund.  There was a screw up with the company who was supposed to arrange the fishing and they did not tell the fishing guide I was booked, so we got a late start. The guide, whose name was Mossi if memory serves, was awesome, and did a full barbeque on the braai for us.  I did not catch a bronze whaler, but did catch this, a spotted gully shark, and so I considered the experience a success in spite of it all.

Windhoek is the capital city of Namibia.  Depending on what information you rely on or who you ask, assessments of it range from one of the most dangerous cities in Africa to overall pretty safe.  Regardless, to me it did not feel like a terribly welcoming place and there was little reason to go there, except that if you are entering Namibia by air you will likely have to fly there before proceeding to other destinations.  I found little of interest in Windhoek, but I did take a city tour to catch the main sights including Kristuskirche.

Namibian National Museum.

I had mixed feeling about going to Katatura, which is a township on the outskirts of Windhoek where black and colored Namibians were forced to move to under the apartheid system implemented during the period of South African control.  Poverty tourism is a bit tacky, but basically all the city tours included Katatura, so I guess I was going to go.  

The tin shacks and unorganized mass of humanity are somewhat shocking to American eyes, as even the colonias on the US-Mexico border I had done some work in decades before were well-developed in comparison.  During parts of the visit to Katatura I was somewhat uncomfortable.  The actual level of danger I faced was probably nearly zero, as I had taken the commonly given advice to go with a guide that knew the area and go during the daytime.

I just had several one night stays in Windhoek as I passed in and out and caught tours.  The hotel I stayed at, the Weinberg was a wonderful establishment, and one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed at.

I have mixed feeling about my trip to Namibia.  If I were to do it again, I would do it differently, and maybe either do the safari first or not at all, and instead head to the Caprivi strip to spend some time on one of the river barges on the Zambezi River to do some wildlife watching (and yes, probably some more fishing).  The trip was somewhat over two weeks, which was starting to feel long.  The long drives detracted from the experience, and in my opinion a few of the sights are stretching things a bit to make them real tourist attractions (Sossussvlei, the Desert Moonscape, which I did not picture).  I absolutely loved my brief experience in Spain, and look forward to visiting more of that country again.

One other note, is that I am a pescetarian.  I was aware that this would be a challenge in Namibia.  I stuck with this diet relatively strictly for a couple days before deciding that while I could continue with it the entire trip by eating fish where available and whatever strictly vegetarian food is available, I would be eating a lot of meals I did not really enjoy and decided to put it on hold for the trip.  I am pescetarian primarily for health, not as a result of a moral issue with eating animals.  The beef and game meats available in Namibia are truly outstanding, and I recommend giving them a try. 

Sometimes one of the best parts of traveling is returning home, and knowing that you were missed.