Sussman Rewind: Kalahari Sands Gluttony

09 May 2006




En route to London, I flew on Air Namibia and had a 9 hour stop over at the airport. On my plane to Windhoek, I sat next to a Mr. Francois Uys, a big businessman in Namibia, my jovial, polite discussions aided me in saving R150 in taxis fees, as the affable businessman dragged me along with him to Windhoek. I had 9 hours to spend in the capital and I wondered if it would be enough...

I did not know what to expect of the town or city-I did not know whether it would be a satellite city of SA, or a 3rd world mess, besides less than 230 000 people inhabit this city in a country of less than 2 million souls!

In less than 2 hours, I had covered all the historic sites, which are mostly of German architectural origin. It was kind of boring. The Owela Natural History Museum was old and dank, although there was an interesting exhibit on Uzbekistani nomadic dwellers, but the history of the SWAPO movement was well told at the National Museum.

Before 11:00 I had nothing to do, it was going to be a long day….

However, I made certain observations, and obviously I can’t judge the whole country but only Windhoek

1) Public Transport does not exist- there are no inner city busses, trams or trains but only sedan taxis which take you every where for between $N6 or$N12. All the locals just use it.

2) The Windhoekers- Friendlier people you wont meet, genuinely helpful, genuinely not trying to screw you over, genuinely friendly, genuinely proudly of their city. Howevr, with a national population of less than Cape Town, one wonders whether the impressive Windhoek and Namibian folk will ever be able to integrated in the global economy, or whether they will always be South Africa's little brother.

Given that what ever people may say, South Africa has a long way to go before we reach Windhoek's racial harmony, race is not an issue here, whites hanging out with blacks, blacks with coloureds and coloureds with whites, Germans with Hereros, Afrikaners with Namas.

3) The Food- On my first day in London I went out for lunch to this moorish restaurant, with an avante garde menu with dishes costing approximately 16 Pounds, however, in Windhoek, I ate the biggest meal of my life, after eating this meal at the lavish Kalahari Sands Hotel, my heart started beating so fast that I thought I would faint and drop dead from stuffing my face. I would have been content, because at least I would have had a smile on my face… For the equivalent of R80, I pigged out on Beef Steak, Kudu Steak, Carpaccio, Ox Tongue Stew, Lamb Curry, Roti's, samoosas, lamb chops, Venison Pie, Spring rolls, cooked veggies, roasted veggies,

I could not even attempt to eat the fresh fish, stir fry, cold meats. It was pure gluttony. I wanted to sample everything, it irked me that I was not able to eat the fish.

The dessert was crazy which was all washed down with the fine Tafel Lager.

This was one of the best meals I ever ate all for less than R100. I was too full for supper and breakfast. I swaggered out of the hotel following my stomach which was on the verge of exploding.

Even though I could not even look at any more food, I knew that if I did not go get biltong, it would be like visiting London and not going on the Tube.

The Biltong-It is ridiculous how good it was, it is like the national snack in Namibia. Namibians take their meat very seriously and believe that with meat and beer they are much better than SA. It is good and cheep.

The Beer- Namibian Breweries is the pride of the country, everyone drinks beer from Namibian breweries, however soft drinks, juices and sweets are all imported from South Africa.

I had to hire an expensive taxi from nearby Robert Mugabe Street and get back to the Hosea Kutako Airport. There were a lot of young South Africans there who had spent the whole day at this airport, I am very sure that Ben Gurion' airport is like Heathrow compared to this airport. I had gone through the entire duty free in about 6 minutes.

It would be unfair to judge Namibia on a few hours in the capital city, I need to return and explore the game reserves and the dunes, but before I do that, I know I have to make an indulgent return to the Kalahari Sands Hotel….



I stopped in Windhoek when flying to London in May this year.