My Winter Break Adventure – Solo Traveling 🇳🇦

Kamrin Hooks
1 day ago
2 min read

The end of the second quarter means one very exciting thing for Education Peace Corps volunteers in Lesotho…

A two-month winter vacation where we’re free to travel!

I decided to spend part of mine solo traveling through the beautiful country of Namibia, and I had an absolute blast.

Truly a hidden gem.

Now, my solo travel strategy was simple:

Talk to everyone.

My completely unscientific theory is that people are less likely to hurt someone they’ve just spent twenty minutes chatting with.

Is that actually true?

I have absolutely no idea.

But it meant I spent the entire trip collecting stories and telling stories.

One of the coolest things about Namibia is how incredibly diverse it is. The country is home to many different tribal groups and languages. English is one of the official languages and serves as the common language that allows everyone to communicate across those different communities.

Because of that, almost nothing about me immediately screamed “foreigner.”

My accent? Maybe she’s from somewhere else in the country.

My appearance? There are so many different ethnic groups that I didn’t immediately stand out.

I loved that feeling.

One of the highlights of my trip was being given an Ovaherero name:

Tjijandjeua (pronounced Shan-JAY-wa).

It means “the given” or “the gift,” and I thought that was incredibly special.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/3af2f3_55d3d7703c3a44838207405071504a83/file

One day I met a local who offered to show me around Katutura, one of Windhoek’s most well-known townships.

I’ll admit… my first thought was, Hmm… I’m going to end up on the news, omg.

So I asked important questions like, are you a killer? are you a kidnapper? trusted my instincts, prayed a lot and after thinking it through, decided to go.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE DOING THIS. Fun and stupid is still stupid.

Thankfully, it turned out to be one of my favorite days of the trip.

We visited the famous meat market, explored the museum, learned some cool stuff, and I got to experience a side of the city I wouldn’t have explored on my own.

After a few days in Windhoek, I took the shuttle to Swakopmund.

Somehow, I ended up with the entire shuttle to myself, which was exciting.

The coast was absolutely beautiful.

I went sandboarding down the dunes, spent time by the ocean, wandered around town, and continued my mission of eating everything I miss.

Sorry, Dad’s credit card.