Real
Namibia |
Staying with friends
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Fun with friends Bring a gift suitably matched to the duration of stay. At the bottom end of the scale a bottle of wine or something small, edible and / or decorative will do. At the top end of the scale, for a really long stay, consider an offer of marriage, though judiciously. Offer to help in the kitchen. Never offer to assist with cleaning the house. This can be misinterpreted. Find out what the family wants to do, before suggesting that they do what you want to do. Remember that most Namibians have seen all the wildlife, usually twice, and they may not share your enthusiasm. If you are staying with a family that has children, offers to baby-sit will almost always be welcome. Hospitality from friends has its costs. Sometimes, staying in a hotel can offer greater freedom. |
You should also
read
Getting around
The route
Offroad vehicles
Namibian roads
Gravel roads
Water
Fire
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“Childhood is regarded as a time of learning and exploration, not a time for protective clothing and attitudes. For instance, snakes, though now not common in the hands of a child, were regarded as acceptable pets for many years, provided they were not poisonous.”
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| The
perils of staying with friends, #48: the spare bed in the kids'
room. |
Amongst all the stories of perilous voyages, life-threatening encounters with wild creatures and getting lost in the trackless wilds of places which don’t have any fast-food joints, no travel story produces quite so much a thrill or attracts quite so much fascinated interest as the ones that involve staying with friends.
Of course there is always the element of finding out about people from different places but this is secondary to the soap opera sagas of the foreign household.
Namibians are generally hospitable. If a friendship exists, and if there is room, there will almost certainly be room for a visitor. The visitor will be welcomed into the family, fed and cared for.
A visitor is usually a welcome occurrence, provided that he or she leaves mutual acquaintances, other family members, troublesome allergies, life threatening conditions and communicable diseases behind, before departing for Namibia.
There will not be any question of payment, unless there is an extraordinary expense such as visiting a restaurant, renting a vehicle or equipment for a trip or paying for accommodation on a trip. In this case, the visitor will naturally be expected to pay for his or her share.
One of the huge benefits of visitors for Namibians is an opportunity to break the routine. The friend or family who welcomes the guest will, unless busy with work, use the opportunity to break the routine. This will involve gatherings of the family’s friends so that they can meet the guest, drinking sessions depending on the host, weekends away, and possible hunting or fishing trips.
Those who are sensitive to hunting and fishing are advised that this is a common recreation in Namibia. Not only is it regarded as fun, but it is also a fairly normal way to replenish the freezer, at least for a few months.
If you come from the northern hemisphere, the best time to visit Namibian friends, is definitely not during your summer holidays. Namibians usually take holidays during the Easter period when there are a number of public holidays and from about the middle of December to the first week of January.
If you visit outside of these times, do not expect to be entertained or enjoy the attention of your host unless you have checked in advance.
That being said, staying with a Namibian family may have its drawbacks. Namibians have their own culture, and will not take particularly well to being told ‘how it is done’ elsewhere.
Children, for instance, run around without shoes, shout, scream, take falls, tumble, get dirty and occasionally squabble without too much adult interference. Childhood is regarded as a time of learning and exploration, not a time for protective clothing and attitudes. For instance, snakes, though now not common in the hands of a child, were regarded as acceptable pets for many years, provided they were not poisonous. A scrape is usually treated with a piece of plaster, not a trip to hospital. Whatever the case, expect things to be very different.
Life is usually easy going and relaxed. Children are a welcome part of life. A family meal may be taken in front of a television or in the back garden, around a fire. Dining rooms are not the rule.
Sport is very much a part of Namibian life, and will interrupt everything. It is not unusual for a family to stay up late and wake up well before daybreak in order to catch a rugby or cricket match between South Africa and Australia or New Zealand. Soccer matches are usually broadcast from the African continent or Europe and so fall into more normal time zones.
All that being said, enjoy your stay, and your glimpse into the lives of Namibians if you have a Namibian friend. Although it is possible to outstay your welcome, Namibians will generally be happy if you stay longer than in most other countries.