AN INTENSIVE investigative journalism course is what I had always wanted to do.
And when the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) and the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), formerly the Polytechnic of Namibia, announced the call for applications for the 2016 Journalism Summer School (JSS) earlier this year, I applied.
On June 1, I received an email that I had been accepted to participate in the course from the June 20 to July 1, in Swakopmund, Namibia. It was an all-expense-paid for trip.
The journey started with a bag of suspense and surprise and I was not hoping for anything less. Indeed, it did not disappoint, as I later found out that Swakopmund is nothing short of the unpredictable.
Transiting through Johannesburg to Walvis Bay, we arrived in Swakopmund on June 19. The weather was far from friendly. It was definitely something we are not used to in Zambia as temperatures ranged between six and 15 degrees Celsius.
The country of Namibia boasts one of most remarkable landscapes in Africa, and indeed the world.
Swakopmund is Namibia’s second largest city and a more relaxed place than the capital, Windhoek. It is located on the Atlantic ocean coast with the Namib Desert to its North. The city’s roads are well tarred and they seemed to end where the desert and the great sand dunes start.
The two weeks’ stay in Swakopmund will greatly be remembered for not only the extensive knowledge I acquired after the 14-day training but also because of a number of visits to Walvis Bay, the beach, the Dune 7, a drive in the Namib Desert on our way to Gobabeb Training and Research Centre and the life around Swakopmund town.
The city’s German origins are clearly visible, with its many distinct old German colonial buildings standing vividly in contrast to the Namib Desert on the city’s outskirts.
Known as Swakop to the locals, the city has a discernible Germanic flavour and design, dating back to Namibia’s colonial days as German Southwest Africa. Today, the trappings of a beach resort are mixed with that Old World charm. Imagine Bavaria by the sea. There is even an Oktoberfest.
The city is neat and clean. Its orderly buildings and streets are a marvel. Having visited Bonn in Germany, I thought I was back in Europe because Swakopmund looks similar to Bonn.
Unlike what one would probably have expected of a city in a country located in a desert region, Swakopmund’s air is surprisingly cold with a constant wind blowing from the Atlantic Ocean, as someone jokingly said, the city is a competing ground for the desert and the ocean. It seems the ocean won.
The sand dunes in close proximity to the town facilitate various activities including sandboarding, horse riding and quad biking.
My stay would not have been complete without a visit to the dunes and on the day allocated for the excursion, we found ourselves heading to the Dune 7. Dune 7 is approximately 7km east of Walvis Bay and 30 km south of Swakopmund.
It is the highest dune in the coastal region, and is a popular spot for various activities including sand boarding and the simple challenge and pleasure of climbing it.
The majestic dunes of the Namib were formed as a result of the sand being carried by the wind from the coast. The sand, estimated to be five million years old, comprises predominantly small grains encased in a thin layer of iron oxide. It is this coating that gives Namib a characteristic red colour.
I attempted to climb the majestic Dune 7 twice but I failed. I was mentally and physically exhausted. I simply threw my body under a palm tree, out of breath as I tried to nurse my aching hands and legs and compose myself.
And I was not the only one. Two colleagues from Malawi and Lesotho equally failed to ‘conquer’ Dune 7.
Usually, a taxi around the city to any destination costs only N$7 (7 Namibian dollars) which is equivalent to US$1.
One day, I got a taxi and asked the driver named Bambo why Swakopmund still has a Western touch to it. The answer from Bambo was not different from what I read and observed about the city.
“The city is different from the rest of the country in many ways, not just with regards to climate. And Swakopmund has lots of historical sites and has developed relatively more than Walvis Bay,” Bambo said.
Hollywood film stars Brad Pitt and wife Angelina’s daughter, Shiloh was born in Swakopmund in 2006. Swakopmund was also the location of the filming of the remake of the famous 1960s British television series ‘The Prisoner’.
A trip across its beautiful terrain can easily be regarded as one of life’s great adventures. THE ARICLE WAS PUCLISHED IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL ON JULY 10, 2016-https://www.daily-mail.co.zm/?p=72403
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