Travelers

I have spent a few days here in Windhoek going to museums, learning about the local plants, animals, geography, geology, and people. I've also been busy collecting maps and made a trip to the national archives to look for information on the guys who hid in Kuiseb canyon (one went on to direct the Geologic Survey of Namibia - which was then South West Africa).

While here I have stayed at a hostel and have seen and talked to many other people traveling. Many talk about Namibia by saying things like, "This isn't really Africa." This bothers me. It is as though unless people are living in mud huts, wearing loin cloths it isn't Africa. It often feels like people think that Africa must be poor black people and not a mix of people in a fairly well functioning city where English is the official language. Windhoek and Namibia are just as much Africa as those areas that meet peoples expectations for poverty or traditional lifestyles. In short, this is Africa - even with supermarkets and shopping malls.

If I were to apply the same standards some travelers apply in their judgment of Africa to the United States I would assume that only strip malls and McDonald's would be the U.S. But that's not right - Aspen, Colorado is just as much the United States as a Spanish speaking neighborhood in Tacoma, Washington.

While here I am trying to see a breadth of Africa and a depth - I am not trying to just check things off a list of places to see, nor am I only going to drive a car to a village of mud huts and loin cloths. Yes, I would like to explore some of these things, and yes, I too may be limited by my time in how I do so. But, I will have, in each case, seen Africa. Real Africa.