We are here again!
In the three weeks we rented a car to tour Namibia, we have only one ... but this is all much more remote, uninhabited and disconnected that South Africa, so we thought to take this stop at one of the last "big people" we'll be playing by the end, to send news, because it will not return to arrive at least half a month (if not more).
As I say, Namibia is very different from South Africa. Although they have a very similar recent history (in fact, completely intertwined, and belonged to South Africa to Namibia until 1990), here the consequences of apartheid are almost nonexistent. The percentage of whites is also much smaller, which obviously must influence, but something else must have to here the "psychological normality" has recovered much more quickly. I think the European settlers here were not only less numerous but also less settled, the history of Namibia is very curious, and basically any country of several that have owned (this has sounded quasi-pornographic, Cuen ;-) I did it for over 70 years ... which are 2 TV news, come on. So, over these generations of foreign control, probably the only ones who felt this country as theirs were from here, so that when the political situation was not normalized but a reflection of majority sentiment towards this earth .. . including the feelings of whites in Namibia. For whites from South Africa that is his country as much or more than for blacks, there was apartheid so pure, while here was mixed with colonialism ... and finished second, was also completed first, and both have been forgotten and gone (to some extent of course) the general feeling.
Namibia is far less developed than South Africa. This is more of Africa, to get me. The infrastructures are light years away, and without going too far a majority percentage of kilometers we're doing is by gravel roads. In their defense it must be said, however, that although the lack of development is palpable, yet it is a very clean country (a difference of Tanzania, for instance close and we know where underdevelopment and filth went hand in hand). Also, for a country with one and a half the size of Spain, and only 2 million inhabitants, it is clear that much ground asphalt is a luxury. That if tourism is a powerful industry here, and in general everything is significantly more expensive than in South Africa.
Anyway, after a couple of days in the capital city (Windhoek) considering the alternatives on the ground, we decided to rent a car and tour on our own. Although it is a big boy car for what we are accustomed, has gotten out of money when renting a Car Rental ASCO .. which, of course, we hope not live up to its name :-) Also, to offset the cost, we have also rented a shop and do a lot of camping ... but here are some campsites total luxury with your private bathroom and barbecue!
In this first week we have soaked the most authentic Namibia: the desert. This site is very, very dry and the desert is as yours, that independence decided that their new country took its name from its most representative desert, the Namib. In one of the many tribal languages \u200b\u200bspoken here, Namib means "vast land and dry" ... Me'ca and that right! The names "Indians" (whether African, American, Asian) are always highly poetic, right? The Namib, the Serengeti (Endless Plains "), and many more ... clear that sometimes the muse abandons them, and then they come up with names such as Ngorongoro, as they remembered the sound of cow bells that the Masai had been there to graze =
:-) Anyway, I dispersed. As I say, mostly desert this week. Both of the picturesque, spectacular as could be (have been in the Namib and Kalahari, most photogenic sites out there, I think) and also the desert "brutal": 150-200 kms of road through anything, miles and miles of flat sand without a dunite to throw at the camera, and definitely no signs of civilization. It is difficult to convey the beauty of the desert with the "tower" that sticks except first and last hour of the day. But these sites and not just the dead silence and stillness that conveys the "absence of things" but as I say are so beautiful deserts, with their land and their oxidized deep red color (Kalahari)
In contrast with this, curiously, it is not desert is all very green, being rainy season, and much greener than what we will see all it travels north.
And besides deserts, has been a week especially prolific in "curious fauna." I am not referring to the typical African wildlife, which will see much in the north of the country, but we can not complain that we've seen quite interesting bugs: for example, the huge nests of so-called "sociable weaver birds, which real cities are mounted for the poor birds in trees (sometimes, of course, yield). Or that we have called lizard "I burn", who lives in the dunes of the Namib and in the heat of the day, when the sand burnt, is supported alternately on two of its four legs (strake is see change support legs!).
But no, actually I am talking animal characters are so unique that we have met this week, some very interesting ... and others, well, just that very peculiar :-) In Windhoek, we stayed at the house semi-Kristinn particular, a German architect, much of the world (5 years in Madrid, without going too far) and landed in Namibia on business and here is out, alternating architecture with tourist hostel and other tasks. And now is a Namibian couples, the Damara tribe, soon to be a star in Spain: watch the premiere of "Magic Tale" (a magical history), in 3D, a Catalan director and in which this type is the protagonist! Also in this particular hostel we met Martin, another young German and most turned out to be a real expert (almost a geek) in many natural parks in Spain, as Doñana, and soon to be part of the doctoral study at the University of Sevilla. In the Kalahari we met Peter, an Angolan who worked at the camp and whose story can only have if you were born in such countries: recruited by paramilitaries at age 12, he escapes and wanders without a job for several countries in southern Africa, until he finally found his place working first as a tour guide in South Africa, then in Zambia and now in Namibia, and now dreams of finally back to their country and start his own business tourism by the sea.
And make so many interesting people in the hostel where we are now we also met two German brothers (much German in Namibia, if), farmers of a micro-village in Bavaria that do not stop drinking beer and canutos smoking at all hours, and of course no one understands them when they "pretend" to speak ... and that there where you can see, the very champions managed to convey that they are completing a journey of 20 months in your own 4x4, having gone through Russia, from North to South America and now Africa. They are amazing these two, because they are totally antithetical to who I imagined doing a trip like this ... but it has also been enlightening to know, of course, and have given us many pearls on how we will feel as they progress during the months of travel, see how many hits! Short and close
from Namibia, part one.
Chao! Juan & Eva
0 comments:
Post a Comment