FUELING UP ON OUR “VITAMIN HOME” IN NAMIBIA - PART 1: WINDHOEK
The build-up, planning and reason for this trip.
T and I decided to become ex-pats around four years ago. At the time, the world seemed fairly small with just a flight between where we now stayed (Dubai) and home (South Africa). With the arrival of 2020 and covid, this all changed.
After plenty of changes, we were planning to at last go back and visit home, only to have another obstacle in the way. Dubai requires a two week stay outside of South Africa before returning. As a last resort to seeing our families, we decided to meet them in Namibia.
This was one of the easiest decisions we made for two reasons:
We always crave a bit of silence and a lot of nature since we live in a big city.
Namibia and mostly Etosha have been a big must-do for both T and me.
The last part was organizing the logistics of meeting up with our families.
We decided that we would go to a game lodge just outside Windhoek for a stay with T’s mom. My parents would then fly in the same day as she went back to SA. After exchanging parents at the airport, we would head up to Etosha National Park. Ending our trip in Windhoek for the last two days as we all had to do our covid tests.
Transit and arrival at Windhoek.
I met up with T’s mom in Johannesburg to assist with the flight since she had a knee replacement shortly before the trip. Our flight landed about 30 minutes before T, which made that logistics easy. Flying into Windhoek was once again that burst of excitement for me. According to a friend of ours’s Janke (born and raised in Namibia), it was super green after all the rain they experienced.
The passport control was a bit tedious, but little did we know, this was the start of a long wait. Without all the boring detail, we ended up waiting more than three hours for our car rental. This resulted in a campout session outside of the airport, which lead to a semi photo walk, sudoku, and picnic.
Windhoek
Windhoek Game Camp
We initially booked our stay at Windhoek Game Camp for the stay with T’s mom. As the trip planning came to a close, we decided to end the trip there as well. This was perfect as we were so close to the town but still outside the bustle and intertwined with nature.
It’s not a very big game farm, with only a handful of game grazing around. Non of the game is dangerous and fairly tame. We would be visited by the giraffes every afternoon during nap-time. We really had the opportunity to spend some quality time with our loved ones.
Carla and dad (owners) are incredibly friendly, down-to-earth, and chatty people who make you feel right at home. Breakfast was prepared by Carla every morning, with the utmost love.
The rooms are permanent tents, with an outside kitchen and a built bathroom at the back. The inside has been decorated beautifully, with luxury linen and the most fluffy and cosy robes waiting for you. Afternoon naps were lovely, with a breeze passing through the netted windows, but mornings and evenings could get very chilly.
Another favourite had to be “Kuifie”, their loving golden retriever. Although I’m not much of a dog person, Kuifie managed to steal a part of my heart without being intrusive
Durbanville Hills MCC
Durbanville Hills’ MCC 2015 was crowned the world’s best bottle Fermented Sparkling Wine in 2020. After quite a search, we finely managed to purchase a box and got it delivered to my parent’s house. This meant that since we didn’t go to SA, they had to each tag a bottle along for us to enjoy. We enjoyed them to celebrate seeing our family again, and in such a beautiful surrounding.
Windhoek Town Visit
We had to go into town for my mother in law’s covid test again. This allowed us to do a bit of exploring. She wanted a book as a souvenir of the trip, and I always enjoy the countries crafts. The first thing we did after the lab went for breakfast.
Olivia’s
Olivia’s was a recommendation of Janke’s family living in Windhoek, and what a gem it was. Funky and hip, with the most amazing menu. The Prop & Pan is a bakery inside of Olivia’s. During the course of our breakfast, we were kept in suspense with the smells coming out of the ovens. Peeking every few minutes what’s coming out next, we decided on cinnamon swirls for our tea-time that afternoon. They were definitely the unexpected highlight of the day.
Windhoek Book and Craft store.
With a quick google search, we came across the answer to a book and craft store. The bookstore was quite nice, with a wide variety of topics. While I was busy studying some amazing wildlife photographer’s books, she decided on a book best suited for her.
The craft store was highly recommended, but sadly a huge disappointment. Although there were a few odd desirable items, they were extremely overpriced. We ended up taking a quick look around and headed back home.
Coming up…
Sadly our first leg and time with T’s mom came to an end much too soon. We had a lovely time and really did cram in as much family time as possible. If it’s up to us, there will another get together sooner rather than later.
Luckily for the two of us, we still have a second leg to the trip. Etosha, here we come!
Wandering off now…
T & Me + Family
