We have been on home leave for almost exactly ten months: what was originally planned as a normal travel break of four months for finca renovation, skiing, seeing friends, etc. dragged on from month to month due to corona. A permanent up and down of feelings, case numbers in Namibia and its neighboring countries, entry regulations, etc.
In the last few days, Namibia’s “Tourism Revival Initiative”, which was discussed for a long time and then announced with a lot of publicity, has been made a little more practical. Officially you can visit Namibia as a tourist since September 1st, but there were a few technical flaws in implementation: no flight connections, but a seven-day quarantine, second PCR test in the country, etc. The result was, instead of the economically urgently needed new bookings, the opposite: lots of more cancellations for the months of September and October. So, the quarantine regulation was taken out but the need for pre-booked, “corona-certified” accommodation and a second PCR test on the fifth day in the country remained. This is exactly how we imagined our return to our self-determined overlanding life 😉.
Tomorrow we will be sitting on the second plane that flies from Europe to Namibia and we are a bit nervous. In addition to the usual worries about the health of Shujaa and Shujoo (after such a long absence and little encouragement and care) there are many corona-specific uncertainties this time: will the corona protocol (whatever it will look like at the moment of arrival) be implemented reasonably chaos-free upon arrival in Windhoek, what happens if the required second corona test in the country is suddenly positive, how are the border crossings in the neighboring countries (we want to travel to Zambia soon and then onwards to Malawi). Question after question.
So why are we boarding one of the very first planes to Namibia? The pros and cons are also passionately discussed within the adventure-tested Overland community and amongst good travel friends of ours. Ultimately, everyone must know for himself how to weight the arguments and what to expect. The risk of corona infection with our type of self-sufficient travel is certainly not higher than in Europe, the first plane to Namibia was only 15% occupied (no comparison with the cramped Mallorca planes this summer), but the problems with local health care infrastructure in a worst-case scenario cannot be overseen. There are also many worries about increased crime due to increasing poverty – as well as about an inadequate infrastructural supply of food, petrol, etc. On the other hand, the animal experiences in the national parks apparently are indescribable due to the lack of tourists. Also, the local people apparently are very happy about the few tourists and interpret this as the first glimmer of hope.
“Apparently are”… well … We want to get an idea of the situation first hand. Our travel route will be more flexible than ever before. If everything goes fine according to our original plan, we will travel via East Africa, Ethiopia, Sudan to the Arabian Peninsula and from there via Jordan and Israel back to Europe. If things go bad, we have to stay in Namibia: driving around a bit with Shujaa and Shujoo so that they will not become rusty and then, come back (hopefully without problems) to Mallorca and start waiting agin. Of course, all shades between these two extremes are conceivable.
In any case, we are extremely excited about what to expect!!!
