Postcards form a Backpacker

20 Hours on a Coach

Posted in Africa, Namibia, Windhoek

Having come to the end of my overland tour with Umkulu in Swakomund I had to get back to Cape Town for my flight back to London in seven days time. Instead of heading straight back I decided to make my way over to Namibia’s capital Windhoek to see Kati and Therese who I had spent Christmas and New Year with in our dorm in Long Street Backpackers. Kati and Therese were working in a German school in the city where they put me up for the night. The first night we went out for a few drinks but it ended up being a much more sedate affair than some of our nights out in Cape Town.

In the morning the girls both had work so I went sightseeing in Windhoek for the day. It turns out there is not that much to see in Windhoek once you have seen the statue of the Kudu and some of the old traditional German architecture. I went back to the school and had a swim instead.

Now the end of the day it was time for me to go and catch my Interstate coach for the 20 or so hours travelling over night back to Cape Town. I was waved off and the coach pulled off. The coach was a large two-deck arrangement with coffee and tea being served throughout the journey. I had chosen a seat next to the window on the upstairs level. Seated next to me was a South African kid on his way back to his home after spending the holiday with relatives in Namibia. Despite my efforts to sleep and have a quiet night drive he persisted in waking me up every ten minutes to ask me a question or something. A few hours into the drive he work me up to point out a pub on the side of the road that was swamped in flames and burning to the ground.

At 2am the coach reached the boarder and everyone got out and passed though immigration a process I was now quite familiar with. The routine involves being stamped out of the country you are leaving and driving a short distance to the immigration office of the county you wished to enter, having another stamp put in you passport. Back on the coach and a chance to try and sleep for a few more hours.

Finally at about lunch time we pulled into Cape Town and I collected my backpack and to save some money thought it would be a good idea to walk to the backpackers I was planning on staying at called Ashanti Lodge. Ashanti is where the Umkulu tour had departed from just over a week before. By the time I reached Ashanti I was exhausted and after checking-in spent the rest of the day chilling out by the pool happy to be back in Cape Town.

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