Whenever I tell anyone we’re flying to Asia or Africa, the first comment is always…”How can you stand flying so far? I would never do it.”… It is a very long and brutal trip but I’ve developed “travel amnesia” over the years. Everyone sits crammed into those small seats hour-after-hour, completely miserable, but once I’ve actually arrived, fallen into bed and awakened the next morning in a new exotic locale, all the misery is forgotten. It took over eight air hours just from Chicago to Frankfurt, and then more than 10 additional air hours to Johannesburg.

Splurged and took a dayroom at the Novotel Frankfurt Airport to collapse into a prone position until the very late evening flight to Johannesburg. In Johannesburg, a fast transfer over to South African Airways, finally arriving in Windhoek around 1:00 pm (who knows how many actual hours later)….missing….ex-Marine’s suitcase! Mine finally materialized on the baggage carousel but not his. At least we had another full day before the tour started. Filled out “missing baggage” papers and was assured it would be here in a day or so. Thanks, SAA.

An inexpensive taxi to the Safari Court Hotel, a short distance from Eros Airport. The Safari Court Hotel runs free bus transportation to and from Windhoek several times a day and that’s where we were headed after a fast unpack to sort out this mess with SAA. We always try to arrive a day early just in case something goes wrong with the flights. I’d hate to miss part of a tour because of weather-related or mechanical delays/cancellations. The group tour leader from Wild Dog Safaris wouldn’t be in the lobby until tomorrow night for the initial briefing.

old Windhoek mapNamibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, shares borders with Angola, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa. Originally part of South Africa, Namibia gained its independence in 1990. The most widely understood language is Afrikaans which developed from the 17th-century Dutch settlers. The official language is English but most of the white population speaks either Afrikaans or German.

No one makes the long journey to Namibia for its cities and Windhoek was no exception. A population of only 15,000 and this is the largest city in Namibia! Very, very hot and dry even though the altitude is 1650m/5,413′. I changed out of my hot and sticky bluejeans, loaned ex-Marine the biggest pair of underpants and t-shirt I owned, and set off for Windhoek. Airport personnel had advised us to visit the SAA office in downtown Windhoek and keep checking on his wayward suitcase. It was also necessary to scope out whatever inexpensive clothing possibilities there were if his suitcase didn’t arrive and buy him a hat. The temperature was upwards of 110 degrees F. Very, very hot and it gets even hotter as their summer goes on. Waiting for the hotel bus into Windhoek (pronounced “Vindhook”), we chatted with a few “older” Peace Corps volunteers who were in Windhoek for a little R&R.

Windhoek is very small and could easily be explored on foot. The city center lies on both sides of Independence Avenue and was rather provincial. The German history and influence was everywhere with Windhoek’s German restaurants and signs in the German language. The main historical sights were basically just “walk-on-bys” with nothing to visit. A partial mission accomplished at the SAA office. The extremely nice SAA personnnel assured us that his suitcase was currently sitting on the ground in Capetown (a good place for it) and would arrive in Windhoek tomorrow, the latest. SAA also gave ex-Marine (Steve) money to buy some necessities (like underwear) until his suitcase did arrive.

The next day both ex-Marine’s suitcase and the group arrived. A briefing by Francesco, our tour leader, and introductions all around. There were actually three other persons from the U.S. Holly from Vermont, and Poppy and Liz who taught school at an army base in the U.K. The other 11 were from the U.K. with everyone set to have fun in Namibia over the Christmas holidays.