Real Namibia: Budget Tours

“But there are ways that you can cut down on costs. For instance, check your allowances before you come in. Bring in a couple of bottles of brandy, some instant coffee and a thermos, so that you don’t have to spend money on local alcohol and coffee.”

Although apparently an unbeatable bargain as far as accommodation is concerned, these picturesque ruins are one of the more expensive Namibian sights.

Travel has grown to become one of the major global industries. The diminishing costs of flights and accommodation have guaranteed that a significant part of the world’s population can travel from place to place in search of new sights, interesting people and et food that disagrees with them. Even extreme poverty seems no barrier: the poor regularly acquire refugee status or take to the sea in dangerously leaky boats in search of new places to find comfort and futures. Budget travel is the ‘in thing’.

Budget tourism has eluded Namibia though. There are a number of reasons for this.

In the first place, Namibia is far away from everything. Australia is far away from Northern Europe or Alaska, but a lot of people go there. The same applies to New Zealand. On the other hand, not a lot of people travel to Namibia. So there aren’t cheap, full flights. Nor are there the large numbers of guests to keep all the rooms full all the time. So the owners of hotels and bed and breakfasts have to charge more to keep up with the bank payments.

In the second place, everything in Namibia is far away from everything else, for instance, in the middle of the desert, in the middle of the bush, or just in the middle of nowhere, generally. What this boils down to is that everything has to be taken from somewhere to somewhere else, far, far away. This involves transport costs. Fresh fish can be ruinously expensive. Water, carted in on trucks, can be expensive. And how much do you think it costs to get the rubbish to the nearest rubbish tip a couple of hundred kilometers away.

In the third place, animals are expensive. Take the example of a cow. A cow eats grass, drinks water, requires some veterinary bills, but can also be sold for steaks or be milked for milk, earning a profit. A lion, on the other hand, cannot be milked, fights back when anything attempts to eat it, and requires a menu that consists of expensive, profitable cows.

So the simple fact of the matter is that a budget tour of Namibia starts out expensive.

But there are ways that you can cut down on costs. For instance, check your allowances before you come in. Bring in a couple of bottles of brandy, some instant coffee and a thermos, so that you don’t have to spend money on local alcohol and coffee. Don’t spend money on expensive restaurant dinners when you can buy fast food. It’s your holiday. If you want to be a cheapskate, we won’t complain, as long as you pay the bills that you have to.

The cheapest way to visit Namibia is to stay with a friend. Once you have moved into the room on offer, claim that you have been struck down by a virus and don’t leave the room. As you are ‘allegedly’ sick, the family won’t be too eager to go out to restaurants with you, so you won’t run the risk of having to contribute to the bill. When you get back, download some pictures of Namibia from the internet and superimpose your own picture on them. If you do it well, people will believe you.

Realistically speaking and somewhat generally, the more remote the destination, the more expensive. If you want to see Namibia inexpensively, stay away from places that are off the beaten path.

Be prepared to stay in campsites in the various parks and run by municipalities. None of these offer the comforts of a decent hotel, and some may even euphemistically be described as ‘rustic’ but they will cost less.

You will see almost as much as the traveler who is prepared to pay more, just with a little bit less comfort, and the meals won’t be as great either. You may also have to share ablution facilities as well.

What will you be missing, aside from a toilet of your very own? Many of the lodges that are located in more inaccessible places, are there for a good reason. They have relatively ‘unique’ scenery, offer fairly high levels of service and a good deal of peace and tranquility.

You may also be missing the services of a local tour company and a guide, so you will need to solve your own problems, which may be rally problematic, especially if you get lost and there is nobody to worry about why you didn’t arrive at the next expensive destination.

You can experience Namibia on a low budget, but the more you put in, the more you get out.