Whether you’re stepping off at Windhoek’s airport, or travelling along the skeletal coast, or trudging through the Fish River Canyon, or dying of heat up north, Namibia is an enchanting place.
It’s like South Africa’s smaller brother.
Not the better-looking brother, per se, although Namibia is breathtaking in its own right.
It’s just smaller.
Namibia is not home to nearly as many people as South Africa, but it’s by far superior.
It’s run by a government the members of which are able to see past their noses to the wisdom of standing together.
Ironically, South Africans are always fluffing on about the spirit of ubuntu, or as the Zulus say, Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu (a person is a person through other people), but this “powerful and meaningful philosophy” is reduced to nothing more than a bromide in the mouth of a South African, since a closer look at the country’s internal conflict clearly displays a lack of the discipline required to show ubuntu.
With that said, skip South Africa.
Rather visit Namibia.
It’s quieter, cleaner and safer.
You’ll love it.