Welcome to Windhoek! Capital city of Namibia. With a population of less than 500,000 people, it’s more of a small town than big city and pretty accessible by foot. As such, we start day by joining a couple of locals for a morning walking tour. And as luck would have it, the first stop was at the best coffee shop in town. We’d only walked less than ten minutes to get there, but decided that we ought to take a quick break to catch up on the local news before moving on!

Our guides were great, and talked us through a potted history of Namibia while we strolled slowly between key buildings, statues and landmarks.

After the tour we did a quick recce of the shopping mall as our next task was gathering provisions for the next week or so of desert camp life. No easy task while feeling somewhat bamboozled from lack of sleep, travel and general ‘new continent readjustment’. There were quite a few rules to be observed inside – including no guns!

It does feel pretty safe around here, although this is sign outside the front door of our hostel!

Shopping in a foreign country always takes a bit of time to get your head around. Prices, brands and what is considered edible all needs to be considered!…

Before making any purchases, we retreated back to bed for a post lunch nap. We had hoped to do the shop once we had the car, but having looked at timings for tomorrow, we may not have loads of time spare to get to our first campsite. Neither of us fancy driving in the dark where possible, so we spent the remainder of the afternoon filling our rucksacks in the nearby supermarket with enough provisions to see us through the first few days of desert life. Then it was back to our balcony for a brew in the hanging baskets.

Pizza and beer was being served for dinner at the hostel, so we were able to be fed without heading outside after sunset (which is at 18:00!) and be back in bed before it got too late. A mega first day ‘in country’. Everything is new. Our eyes are alive and we’re still only in the city! This time tomorrow, we should be camped up somewhere in the desert by the rocks of Erongo Mountains… Will update in due course when back in WiFi…