Air Namibia
I was one of the two media personnel that accompanied travel agents who embarked on a familiarization tour of Namibia. The trip was sponsored by Air Namibia, the Namibian national carrier. It was my first trip to that country and the first time I travelled with Air Namibia.
As usual, I was a bit apprehensive, but the flight on the Air Namibia Airbus 310, one of the three new aircraft the airline purchased, was so smooth that at a point I could not believe that I was flying through the air.
The journey from the Kotoka International Airport in Ghana to the Hosea Kutako Airport in Windhoek, Namibia lasted four hours forty minutes. I felt the flight should have been extended. The service on board was perfect, the savouries were nice and the disposition of the cabin crews perfect. It was a journey I will never forget.
Situated just north of South Africa on the south west coast of Africa, Namibia is a vast country. The total surface area of 864,269 square kilometers consists mainly of desert and semi-desert environment with tropical swamplands in the far north-eastern corner of the country. It has a population of 2.3 million lovely people.
From the Hosea Kutako airport, we were shuttled to the capital Windhoek.
The quietness of the city, emptiness of the pavements, not to talk of its neatness, were in sharp contrast to conditions in Ghana, my home country. The pavements were obviously empty; no beggars and excuse me to say, no mad men or visibly impaired adults clinging on to the young shoulders of children. That is how clean Namibia is! I quickly realized that the country’s laws were effective, and the citizens were cooperative.
The streets are well tarred and marked. The vehicles travel on the left side of the road unlike my home country where we travel on the right side of the road. Most of the streets are empty possibly due to the low population.
We initially travelled to some prominent hotels in the city. We visited Hilton Hotel, where we later lodged for the night, Protea Hotel Thuringerhof, where we had our breakfast and Protea Hotel Furstenhof. The reception at all these places was very warm and friendly. You will always be welcomed with a warm friendly smile that makes you feel instantly at home. The women are beautiful and very independent. I came to this conclusion after interacting with some of them. My attempt to ‘shoot’ one however did not succeed. She politely told me” she had been engaged” accompanied with the normal girlish giggling. Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to reinforce my attack because we quickly moved to another place. Painful!
In the afternoon, we visited the Country Club Hotel, a 152 roomed hotel with golf park, swimming pool and waterfall which gave the place an aesthetic feature. We learnt legendary Michael Jackson lodged there. The Deputy Manager Raymond Kodisang showed us the room.
The following day we travelled to Swakopmund and we stopped at Okahandjah artists’ village to have a look at their beautiful carvings. Tourists in Namibia usually buy their beautiful carvings at this location.
At Swakopmund, you will instantly notice the overbearing influence of the German culture by the architectural designs. Namibia was a German colony.
We visited the Swakopmund Hotel and Entertainment Centre, an old railway station that was turned into a hospitable home. The state-of-the art hotel has 88 rooms and two presidential suites. It was a very attractive place to be.
We spent a few hours at the beach and later on check in at the Seaside Hotel & Spa, a hotel situated directly at the beachfront. We visited the Namib Desert afterwards, the oldest desert in the world to look at the beautifully formed sand dunes. It was really astonishing to imagine the wind rolling the sand into such artistic shapes.
We went to Walvis Bay in the evening for supper and entered a popular eatery to quench our hunger. We were welcomed by tobacco smoke and a lot of clamour.
We could not interpret the cuisine. I glanced through and picked a familiar menu- Soup of the Day. I began to salivate and thought I was going to be served with a good hot soup (Ghanaian type) to activate my alimentary canal for the real supper.
I waited for a while and when I saw the waiter carrying plates instead of bowls my heart missed a beat. The waiter came straight and placed a brownish porridge-like-substance before me with something like a folded brown paper stuck in it. I could not believe my eyes. Was this the soup I was waiting for? My colleagues noticed the confusion in my eyes and burst out with laughter. I could not help but join them. The baffled waiter, who did not know what was happening, grinned a little and tried to explain but our laughter drowned his explanations. I politely asked him to take the Soup of the Day away and the laughter increased. We however returned to our hotel in good spirits after all it was a night of wonderful experiences
We had a cruise on the ocean at Walvis Bay the following day. We saw the seal colony and one of them, which the boat attendant told us was 4 years old jumped onto the boat for some fresh fish which the boy carried along. Soon another big one, which the boy called Saki also jumped in. The boy rubbed its head and said, “Saki shake me” and wonderfully the seal lifted its webby fins into the boys palms as was done in a handshake! I could not believe it! A seal shaking hands with man! And it even understood English Language! That act brought all of us to the friendly seal who after a few fish feeds bid us good bye.
We left Walvis Bay after the cruise to Windhoek. On our way, we stumbled on a hail. We thought it was snow. We learnt it happens once in a year in the country. Unfortunately, the weathermen cannot predict where and when it would occur. We played at the location for a while before landing at Windhoek.
The following day we returned to Ghana full of gratitude for Air Namibia.
By Michael Kofi Avickson
