The Charm Of Namibia

Voetspore’s Johan Badenhorst has a soft spot for Namibia. Still, there are a myriad reasons why tourists probably should not head to this barren, deserted place. Yet so many do. Johan explains why.

- Johan Badenhorst

What is it about Namibia? It is an arid land with 2.5 million people. Its sea is too cold to swim, the distance between towns is often hundreds of kilometres on mostly gravel roads and its infrastructure may be adequate, yet very much Third World.

Visitors to Namibia visit the country over and over again. Namibia is one of the few countries in the world where tourism is responsible for the creation of one fifth of the country’s jobs.

There is something special about the wide-open spaces in Namibia. Even though tourism contributes more than 15% of the country’s GDP, you often find yourself as the only person visiting a so-called tourist attraction. This, combined with the scenic beauty of the harsh and simple landscapes, are perhaps the key to its attraction.

The feral horses of the Namib, near Aus on the road to Lüderitz, is an excellent example. These horses, with their mysterious history, draw many a visitor. Yet, often, when you sit and wait for them to come and have a drink at the waterhole at Garub Pan, you are the only person, looking through your camera lens, taking a photograph of these animals with their incredible ability to have survived against all odds.

At Kolmanskop, just outside Lüderitz, it is much the same. At times a tour bus with a group of 45 people or more parks outside the ghost town. This is the exception, not the rule. Often, I have had the whole of the town, the origin of Namibia’s massive diamond industry, all to myself.

The same can be said about Diaz Point where Bartolomeu Dias landed on 25 July 1488, and where a red and white striped lighthouse was erected in 1915.