INTRODUCTION - HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Namibia is, for most of us, the pure unknown, so going in a trip in this part of the world is just like you'd be ready for bungee jumping without a cord: you just hope to be all-right. In our scenario however, you most likely won't be OK, unless by bungee jumping you mean jumping off the closet on a couple of pillows.
Wondering how did this whole Namibia frenzy started for us? Well, if we're not wrong, it was November 2009 when the first idea popped into our heads: hey, have your ever heard about BMW's snow driving training that takes part in Sweden? We should give it a try sometimes, one of our colleagues ironically said...
After only two or three clicks, we reached BMW's website and, after some time spent searching for the German company's website, we finally discovered what it calls it the BMW X5 Namibia Adventure Trip. It was far beyond what we intended to do but, since Namibia was still an unexplored region for us, we got ourselves an invitation.
And the nightmare was about to begin... It was March when we first tried to book a flight with Air Namibia on the Frankfurt – Winhoek but, totally shocking, the November 14 flight was already full. What the hell? Why on Earth would you travel to Namibia?! OK, we said, we'll leave a day earlier, this can only be a good thing since the whole trip will be more than exhausting (keep in mind that the flight duration was somewhere around 14 hours).
It was the next day when we finally started thinking about the adventure we were going to experience in Namibia. Of course, spelling Africa isn't the smartest thing to do before leaving there, mostly because people usually think poverty, exotic diseases and hunger.
Namibia however is a very large country, but estimates of the local population don't exceed 2.1 million, which obviously makes the population density ratio pretty low (Namibia is the second from this point of view, after Mongolia).
We didn't like history too much, but we do know that Namibia is a former German colony and it is even nicknamed the "Little Germany" by some people. What's interesting is that the German influence is still noticeable all around the country, most residents speaking at least two languages, English and German.
And yes, Namibia is after all a little bit too exotic, but you shouldn't think about travel vaccination unless you're planning to go north, as the local conditions could very well give you a welcome present in the form of yellow fever or malaria. We tried to stay away from this part of the country, but you never know... Theoretically, we're still in the incubation period, so the only thing we have to do is wait, wait and wait...
Because we're here to talk about cars, it's worth mentioning that Namibia's infrastructure is mostly about straight and long roads, but most of the streets are actually "paved" with sand, although they are pretty well taken care of. Speedsters should avoid Namibia if they believe they could use the local roads as a circuit, especially because the Namibian police uses laser radars and every time they hand you a ticket they smile just like a kid does when he receives his Christmas presents. And, if you're breaking the limits too far, you could even spend some time in jail, and we guess it's pointless to discuss about the conditions you have to endure in such a prison...
If you're thinking Namibia is based on a well-developed industry sector, you would be terribly wrong, as the whole nation relies on tourism, hunting, farming and fishing.
Wondering how did this whole Namibia frenzy started for us? Well, if we're not wrong, it was November 2009 when the first idea popped into our heads: hey, have your ever heard about BMW's snow driving training that takes part in Sweden? We should give it a try sometimes, one of our colleagues ironically said...
After only two or three clicks, we reached BMW's website and, after some time spent searching for the German company's website, we finally discovered what it calls it the BMW X5 Namibia Adventure Trip. It was far beyond what we intended to do but, since Namibia was still an unexplored region for us, we got ourselves an invitation.
And the nightmare was about to begin... It was March when we first tried to book a flight with Air Namibia on the Frankfurt – Winhoek but, totally shocking, the November 14 flight was already full. What the hell? Why on Earth would you travel to Namibia?! OK, we said, we'll leave a day earlier, this can only be a good thing since the whole trip will be more than exhausting (keep in mind that the flight duration was somewhere around 14 hours).
It was the next day when we finally started thinking about the adventure we were going to experience in Namibia. Of course, spelling Africa isn't the smartest thing to do before leaving there, mostly because people usually think poverty, exotic diseases and hunger.
Namibia however is a very large country, but estimates of the local population don't exceed 2.1 million, which obviously makes the population density ratio pretty low (Namibia is the second from this point of view, after Mongolia).
We didn't like history too much, but we do know that Namibia is a former German colony and it is even nicknamed the "Little Germany" by some people. What's interesting is that the German influence is still noticeable all around the country, most residents speaking at least two languages, English and German.
And yes, Namibia is after all a little bit too exotic, but you shouldn't think about travel vaccination unless you're planning to go north, as the local conditions could very well give you a welcome present in the form of yellow fever or malaria. We tried to stay away from this part of the country, but you never know... Theoretically, we're still in the incubation period, so the only thing we have to do is wait, wait and wait...
Because we're here to talk about cars, it's worth mentioning that Namibia's infrastructure is mostly about straight and long roads, but most of the streets are actually "paved" with sand, although they are pretty well taken care of. Speedsters should avoid Namibia if they believe they could use the local roads as a circuit, especially because the Namibian police uses laser radars and every time they hand you a ticket they smile just like a kid does when he receives his Christmas presents. And, if you're breaking the limits too far, you could even spend some time in jail, and we guess it's pointless to discuss about the conditions you have to endure in such a prison...
If you're thinking Namibia is based on a well-developed industry sector, you would be terribly wrong, as the whole nation relies on tourism, hunting, farming and fishing.
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