Cheap Flights & Boredom – Windhoek, Namibia

Hi there! My week’s schedule has been messed up completely & I had hoped to write about something current, but that will have to wait. In the meantime, I’ll tell you about a day I had a few months ago.

Windhoek, the capital & largest city of Namibia, has a number of interesting aspects. The population is only a few hundred thousand which is tiny in comparison to other capital cities, but makes sense considering Namibia’s population. The city’s main airport is located 40-50 kilometers outside the city which means when you arrive you have quite a long drive & there is nothing to see – almost as if you are in the middle of nowhere. Another thing that I found to be quite strange is that a number of the streets are named after dictators; I say this because Namibia is not & has never been a dictatorship.

Anyway, Windhoek is not high up on any travel “must see” lists & almost all travelers visiting are merely passing through, just like I was. I saw cheap flights available so I booked them, but the minor detail was a 20-something hour stop over in Windhoek. Naturally, I saw this as an opportunity to see a bit of the city.

The thing is, there isn’t all that much to do there & even less if you are there on the weekend like I was. After I had been to Christuskirche, an old Lutheran church & probably the most iconic building in Windhoek, I went to the crafts centre & had a good walk around. I went back to my accommodation & found myself feeling something I had never felt while traveling. I was bored.

I decided to go to a place called Joe’s Beerhouse to kill some time before my flight out. I also thought this would be the perfect opportunity to drink a Windhoek Lager in Windhoek. Before that drink arrived, a local man joined me & started telling me his life story. He went on for almost an hour about how his mistress was pregnant & how he really loved his wife, but this was all a big mistake. I think in that time, I had the opportunity to say 5 words. As entertaining awkward as that was for me, I said goodbye & made my way to the airport very early for my flight.

To sum this up, Windhoek is a very beautiful & peaceful city. However, if you are passing through the sleepy capital, maybe limit your stay to just a few hours.

Keep traveling, keep safe.

DanVenture Travels