It’s forbidden!

From Walvisbay all combis lead to Windhoek. From there, I can return to the coast, at Luderitz. I thought you might find these instructions for getting there useful:
1. Wait 7 hours for combi to fill up
2.  Head south for around 500 km
3. Turn right, and continue for almost 350 km
4. Stop. You’ve arrived.
We pass the most un-Namibian-like landscapes at first, rocky hills of grasses and trees. Eventually the land becomes flat, dry plains.
5. Don’t get to Luderitz after 10pm. It will be closed. As the combi pulled into town at 12.45 there was no-one about, no lights on. Hotels are either closed for the night or full. It gets to the stage where I think I might have to find a doorway out of the harsh wind. A security at one hotel I tried takes me on a tour of the town, and eventually we find somewhere.
6. Turn around and head in the opposite direction. If you’re lucky you might catch sight of a German era building from the 1910s, now converted into a quick-loans centre. A new waterfront complex is all but abandoned. A few outlets hang on for dear life; the only coffee shop has a desperate reading note in the window asking interested buyers to call Angela. Its incredibly dreary and very depressing.
South of Luderitz is the Sperrgebeit, a forbidden zone, due to the high quantities of diamonds found there. Sticking to the law, and public transport, means heading to Keetmanshoop more-or-less in the middle quadrant of the country, to reach the South African border and country number 19.
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About Ian M Packham

Ian is a freelance travel writer, adventurer and after-dinner speaker. The author of two travelogues, he specialises in Africa and has spent a total of two years travelling around the continent, largely by locally-available transport.
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