By Frank Meke
Namibia is just about 32 years old.The founding president , late Dr Sam Nujomo, is all I could possibly remember of this nation , sharing borders with South Africa , Angola, Botswana and the Atlantic waters.
Its national airline, Air Namibia, collapsed years ago, and the government sees no need to revive it, at least for the sake of tourism, to which God gifted them endlessly.
Well, Air Angola feasts on the growing traffic, even though the onboard service begs for overhauling. From lagos to Luanda, Angola, it is three hours and another three hours to windhoek, capital of Namibia.
Significantly one must brace for flight delays in Luanda, gradually wearing the face of a hub, connecting Portugal, Dubai, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Maputo, and many other countries, getting to windhoek with its very modest but hugely clean and attractive airport, gives a sense of joy.
Windhoek is like a beautiful lady. She’s very shy but flirtingly inviting, and at a point, I wondered where the people were. Five hours drive to the Atlantic frontiers of Swakopmund, leaving me breathless. Can one fall in love at the first meeting with an eternal city ? With nature, all things are possible.
It was five o’clock in the evening, and our guide to the city of Swakopmund knew I was up to a mission. The mountainous formations reminded me of the same protective hold of the mountains stretching through Taraba , Benue to Obudu in cross Rivers state of Nigeria.
The hilly rock formations here are muscular, arrogant, black, and unending. From the sky, the desert ecosystem is unmistakable and deceptive. I had thought that the weather was going to fry me, so geography and weather reports lied to me ?.
No, I was just overconfident like Mongo Park and had thought earthly terrains were easy wins. No need to tell you that my research was poor or that I had taken South Africa, so Namibia will follow me easily to the marriage altar of travel.
The well paved roads were romantic. I was tempted to change seating position with the driver, but I was handicapped by law and the driving ecosystem. The cars came with left steerings . I sneered to no one in particular.
Did I tell you the cold was my first challenge just as mosquitoes dealt with early european explorers of Africa? The merciless cold chopped up my enthusiasm.
I went dead silence, gripped my body in self consolatory evangelism, yet with one eye taking up breathtaking sceneries before me.
I did click over 50 photo shots of the roads and the Edenic desert shrubs, the growing farming communities, and luxury estates in the middle of nowhere.
In Swakopmund at last, I had thought my bed would provide me comfort. The bed was cold, and a hot shower was not hot enough to restore my blood flow. A lot of things went through my mind, and I remembered never to have given up in the face of travel challenges.
The fifth Africa Youths in Tourism Innovation Summit took place here, in Swakopmund, and Nigeria has three brilliant youthful tec entrepreneurs on the list.
Susan Akporiaye, President National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies and ceo Topaz Travels, invested in this dream and the thoughts of why we were here, puts the cold to flight.
After two days of intensive conferencing on the future of African youths in tourism, the Nigerian team led by Susan Akporiaye decided to discover Swakopmund.
Before now, I was wondering where the people of Namib are, even as the cold became annoyingly furious and ferocious. Swakopmund looks like a beautiful garrison, a heavenly prison resort with inmates buffeted by nature yet illusionaryly confounding.
And until we went out to hunt for authentic local African food, then I knew that Swakopmund was a home for the living and comes to life, in its own cultural definition.
Signs that the Germans once ran the place abounds significantly. Some people who are in politics would frown at certain notorious historical separatism enthroned in the eighteen century when the Germans discovered and ruled namib region, the shadows of that partition still left a scare.
At Heninrich Hafeni restaurant in Swakopmund, African food and culture tell a story, an expression and experience that will possible take back Swakopmund and make it a home for all that loves Africa, the Namibian people and their very interesting but untold history.
Hafeni restaurant is a combo of cultural tourism realities shaped to accommodate a food bay ,a small theatre and also an intellectual hub where you can immerse yourself in tons of publications, books written by Namibians, particularly the women.
Trust me, the book worm in me opened the flood gate to engage Victoria Haihambo, whose book, “Before the Narcissist strikes,” speaks of the Creativeness of Namib people. A group from France, who came for food and live cultural show at Hafeni, joined and lucky author made some good sales.
And the food, we ordered moped worms, rice , cow offals ( shaki), and soured vegetables with authentic local pepper sauce. It was a kill, and we even had leftovers to take home. Trust Susan Akporiaye, she noised Hafeni restaurant to the conference delegates, and the rest is left to your imagination .
And talking about imagination, Swakopmund is a nature trove, and if you can creatively imagine, image, and follow me through this exciting expressive virtual excursion, then pack your bags and head here for your holiday.
Flamingo colony
Simao of Sandwich Dunes Adventures is one great tour guide whom I won’t forget anytime soon. Simao is friendly, not just because he has got a job to do but because people, relationships matter to him. He’s detailed, professional, and understands his brief. It was, as usual, a chilly freezing cold morning when Simao drove up to pick us up. Susan Akporiaye, Cornelius Ugwunwa, Mustapha Tijjani, Ibukunoluwa Salau, and myself.
At the flamingo colony, Simao simply allowed us to ask questions to get answers, and that is from the unknown to the known, if you can connect to the gist. Ask questions and answer it directly through imaginative engagements.
Nature is indeed a school, a university where you will never doubt that God is unpredictable, a solution driver, and universal. Through nature and its many silent beings, God is science and the creative creator.
At the Swakopmund flamingo colony, these pinky beings are graciously beautiful. Their long, graceful S shaped necks and stilt like legs leave a touch of enthusiastic intuitiveness .
Certainly undisturbed by negatively disruptive tendencies by men, the flamingos first filter their food and turn heads upside down before eating.
Heads upside down to eat? Could the flamingos eating ecosystem influence engineering in any way? The plant excavators, the fork lifts, any bearing? A mystery and even the artistic pink colours of this species of phoenicopteridae, influenced by its food, impacts global art painting activism. Nature is an artist, no doubt.
The Salt Mines of Swakopmund.
Massively connected to the Atlantic waters, the feat of extraction of the salty waters, flapping its waves to patches of compartments, makes Namibia a destination with showers of economic endpost. Too much salt in the soup and fries, surely it’s easy to connect the salt source, the aplentiveness, and export opportunities. Namibia is the salt of African soil.
It is not indeed farfetched to understand why Namibia drives its tourism industry through the environment and forestry ecosystem. Even at that instance, its huge emerging environmental power house, policied deliberately to unveil its vast tourism value chain, must be sensitive to disruptive travel adventure surge.
Sossusvile Dunes, Big Daddy , Dunes 7 and 45.
Let me warn you never to embark on the Swakopmund sand dunes adventure if you have troubles with your heart. The picturesque features of these dunes with the Atlantic waters, temptatiously inviting you to dive, make it a wonder nature offering.
Enclosed and encircled by Dorob National Park, these mountainous sand formations, some consolidated thousand of years ago and active young ones, were influenced by fogs and occupied about three million hectares of earth space. Big Daddy is about 200 meters high above sea level and nestled within Namib Naukulft Park. Dune 45 is the most photographed sand dune in Namibia, and this is where Simao gave us the biggest turbo charged desert sand dunes adventure.
We were gripped excitedly by the formations, their natural engineering precision, and the raving sound of a willing Toyota SUV, throttled to max by Simao.
The lunch on the cliff of the sand dunes, with champagne popped by Susan Akporiaye, was thrilling and the thriller. With Simao setting the table on the dune surface and the rule not to litter the space, the littoral fuzziness of the Atlantic frontiers added to our unforgettable memories.
Trust the devil in us, we craved to jump down the slopes and some kind of strange experience, mobid type that could tell an icing climax. The Swakopmund sand dunes are too real to be true, but it is true, a different safari adventure ecosystem that could power new tourism dollars to this land of the brave and beautiful.
Am not through with Swakopmund, Namibia in general. This Namibia, a complexity of nature, a desert, and the Atlantic waters, temptatiously inviting humanity to the awesomeness of creation, deserves my return, a second missionary journey to our discovery and our appreciation.
In Africa, possibly in the world, Namibia is waiting to shake hands with humanity, tourists who must love and respect nature, and to the management of Sandwich Dunes Adventures in Swakopmund, keep soaring. We shall be back to Namibia, to its virgin landscapes and the hospitable people.