Journey Impressions: Ondangwa

Ondangwa: approx. 0.09 m inhabitants (2009)
Namibia: approx. 2.1 m inhabitants
Population growth (2008): 1.9%
People per km²: 2.6
Gross national income per person in 2008 PPP: 6,270 USD


06.02.2011 Ondangwa: We only spent one afternoon and one night in Ondangwa. However, there were many pleasant aspects to our stay. First of all, the fuel attendant had already been instructed by the handling agent and so a declaration of who would pay for the avgas was unnecessary. All the tanks were quickly filled. The policeman present knew Magdeburg, Berlin, Lübeck and Hannover because he had spent three years training in Germany.

The driver we had ordered from Hotel Protea did not turn up and so the policeman offered to drive us from the airfield to the hotel. Ondangwa has about 15,000 inhabitants and is the main town in Ovango Land. It's not unlike the small desert towns in western USA, or, as we had discovered for ourselves, Maun in Botswana - in other words, plenty of off-road vehicles. It seemed to us as if it was even louder here - and even more 'monochrome': we saw not one single white person on the streets, instead, hordes of taxi drivers who offered me their services with loud blasts on their horns. From our hotel room and elsewhere in the town we could hear typical African rhythms, coming from different corners and without a break. The Ovambos seem to be a lively bunch.

In the hotel there was a Greek salad with Calamata olives for lunch. Afterwards, I went down to the town centre in order to change US dollars into Namibian dollars. A security guard from the hotel entrance accompanied me because his boss was certain I would not find the bureau de change. However, the guard spoke only Ovambo and a few little snippets of English and German. But his boss had been right - I exchanged my dollars in a liquor store and not at the petrol station as I had been told earlier! Nevertheless, I did get my Namibian dollars and the security guards their tips of course.

On the other hand, Internet access was not up to much. But you can't have everything, certainly not at the same time. Tomorrow, we're off to Pointe-Noire in Congo.