Let's Talk about Airline Connections!

Welcome to my blog about travel to Namibia!

Lion at the break of day in Etosha National Park in Namibia.
He was annoyed that we woke him with the click-click of our cameras and our oohhs and ahhs!
We got the hint and left this brotha' alone very quickly.

To get to Namibia, you need to fly here .... duh-uh.. right. 

What I mean is that air access is a major issue for travellers.  People want speedy, safe, convenient air flights.  And that is a reasonable expectation; I get it.

For Namibia, down in the southern tip of Africa, that expectation presents a geographical challenge for those coming from North America, Europe or Asia.  BUT....

Never fear, Air Namibia is here!  Google them and check out their website! 

When you book your air ticket to come here, tell your travel agent you want to fly on Air Namibia; leave something permanent behind in Namibia when you have your tourism experience with us.  Flying on our national airline is one good way to do a bit of that!

Air Namibia flies every day of the week to and from Frankfurt in Germany.  That link is a doorway to the world for Namibia.  The German authorities rennovated that airport in Frankfurt and it is quite nice now; it was a bit dirty and tacky before.  I have passed several times per year over the past 20 years, so I can see the changes.

Me (on the left!), with friends on a game drive through Etosha. 

 

Coming from the USA out of Philly on US Air, I transit via Frankfurt.  The US Air flight from Philly arrives in the early morning of the next day.  Lufthansa also flies in and out of Philly, but their ticket is TWICE the cost of the US Air ticket.  Go figure.

The reality is that the Air Namibia connecting flight to Windhoek doesn't leave Frankfurt until around 8 that evening.  This is better... back in the day, it used to leave around 10 or even 11 in the evening!  No worries about that long layover. You can book your luggage direct so that you don't have to worry about claiming it when you are hanging out in Frankfurt.  US Air had a nasty, short-tempered agent on the desk the last time I flew out of Philly and she forced me to claim my luggage in Frankfurt and schlep it around for 14 hours, but usually, you can get a human being rather than a monster at US Air's international flight counter and you can check you luggage through.

The good news is that in Frankfurt, there is a Sheraton Hotel connected directly to the Airport!  You don't even have to go outside!  Americans don't need visas for Germany, but others may have to look into that if you want to get to the Sheraton.  Check with the German Embassy about this point.

It is best to book your Day Room at the Sheraton in advance and go there, have a shower, get a nice rest, change your small clothes and then return to the airport a bit earlier than the flight boarding time and shop a bit.  I like the shoe stores in the airport... ok, I plead guilty to being a female shoe hog! 

If you are anywhere in Europe, you can easily connect to Air Namibia via Frankfurt. 

Other good air connection news is that Air Namibia now has a flight to Accra, Ghana where Delta Airlines also connects out of Atlanta in the USA.  I haven't taken that route yet, but when I next go home to see Mom, I will take it and let you know how that goes.  Air Namibia also flies to Luanda in Angola (I think I saw a flight to Houston from Luanda???) and there is an Air Namibia flight to Lusaka in Zambia.  Connections to London can come from there.

Air Namibia, of course, goes to Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa several times per week.  There is a South African Airlines flight to the States... I think it goes to Washington and New York, direct (it stops to fuel somewhere in West Africa)  Google SAA and that should tell you more about that flight. 

Air Namibia is now negotiating with Kenya Airways to hopefully get a flight to Nairobi soon.  There is a direct flight from Quangzhou, China into Nairobi.  That means we can link Namibia to our Chinese potential tourists a bit better.  Also, there are flights to and from Jo'burg from Dubai which is a hub from many Asian countries. 

Flying from the States to Windhoek is long, no doubt.  About 8 hours from Philly to Frankfurt and then another 9 hours (after a 12-14 hour lay over!) to Windhoek... but then, you are here!  Returning to the States from WHK is better, with only a 4-5 hour layover in Frankfurt - you arrive early morning at 6 or so and depart on an early afternoon USA-bound flight between 12 - 2 from Frankfurt. 

C'mon... give us a try for your holiday in Namibia... Your travel agent will have more flight connection info.  Find something that works for you.... You'll love it!

Tell 'em Jackie sent you.

PS - my Labs had pups a while back and I couldn't resist adding these cutie faces to my blog.  Aw... shucks!  My little boo-boos and I welcome you to Namibia!

Sunsets Over Namibia are Beautiful!

Hi Blog Readers:

You have to come to Namibia to see the greatest sunset beauties ever!  I have some friends who are photographers, Judy and Scott Hurd (judy@h4urd.co.uk) who have taken great shots of all kinds of things in Namibia.  You should contact them for better pix and wider varieties.  But, a few they have shared with me are so wonderful, I look at them every once and a while to get that peaceful, easy feeling!

Sunsets somehow calm me, maybe you too?  I had always thought that orange and black were colors of Halloween until I began living in Namibia and seeing these kinds of sunsets.  Wow.  I'll look for shots of the lavender and deep purples that also happen here.  Seeing these sunsets and knowing that the colors are not caused by pollution in the atmosphere like over some of the large super cities where I have lived and visited, makes it even more special.  It is naturally Namibian for sure!

The kinds of sunsets make me feel the day is done and done well and all is right.  The sun is saying goodbye to the day and night is taking over - but the power of the sun makes me feel hopeful that there will be a tomorrow.   Poetic?  Well, seeing Namibian sunsets make me poetic.  You should book your trip and come feel poetic too.

When you come, tell'em Jackie sent you.

Check it out:



Bird Brains

Hello Again,

People who travel to Namibia come for a variety of reasons.  One of the most active group of tourists that come to Namibia are birders. 

These are folks who focus on our feathered friends and enjoy naming them, observing them, tracking them or researching them.  I am no expert on birds, but when you are on a game drive in Etosha National Park or in other parts of Namibia, the 'game' that is most present, yet most unappreciated, are the birds.

My personal favourite bird in all of Namibia is the lilac breasted roller.

My friend Pauline took this photo....

This guy sits up on bear upper branches of trees. He east the usual bugs and insects.  He gets eaten by some eagles and falcons.  Sad to think of such a colorful and beautiful bird getting eaten, but that is the circle of life.

When he flies away his wings are just stunning!  He is turquoise and teal, with mauve, lavender and other shades of purple... His breast and underbelly are... of course... lilac.

When you come to Namibia, make sure to buy a birding book and/or have a guide who can tell you the name of various birds that you will see while here.

You don't have to be a birder, to learn a bit about birds, learn to appreciate them and start seeing them as a necessary part of any 'game drive.'

When you come.... Tell 'em Jackie sent you!

Devil's Claw and Hoodia Work!

Dear Readers!

As you begin planning your holiday in Namibia, consider that when you are here, your visit helps to finance communities all over our country who would have no other source of income other than revenue from professional hunting or revenues from tourism related activities.

One of the other income generators of our communities is our natural products.  This is all a part of Namibia's commitment to sustainable usage of ALL of our natural resources.  We are committed to making sure we plan the use of the commodities TODAY so that we have it for all of our tomorrows.

Two natural products with very popular usage in our today's world are found in Namibia. They are Hoodia and Devil's Claw. These indigenous products are harvested by local communities and black businessmen to be provided for worldwide consuption.  Many donor partners have invested in training, marketing access planning, commercialization with sustainable usage, community inclusive planning and other very important aspects of developing these naturally Namibian products for the world.  Again, these small plants benefit Namibian people. This is GREAT!

Devil's Claw

Hoodia

For those who may not know, the Devil's claw is useful for stiff bones, arthritis treatments, etc... As I have hit middle age with a blast, I know what it feels like to wake up on a cold winter morning and try to get out of bed and have your back and knees slap you in the face!  I find Devil's claw products are useful in helping me to slap all muscle pain right back in its face!  So there!  I take 3 capsules per day and it works for me.  Once I travelled and left the Devil's claw at home.  After a week, when I returned I felt the difference.  I am not in heavy muscle ache pain yet in my middle age, but the difference was still noticeable being on the devil's claw and then being off of it.

Hoodia got slammed by the US drug company Unilever.  That was curious?  For me, it works.  Folks I am round... yep.  I admit it.  When I run, I run as a group with all my parts moving in the same direction.  Ok.  That said...  Hoodia helps me control my eating.   You can even get Hoodia in a gel form so that you can rub it on your arm on directly on your belly!  I take it in tea usually and that goes down much smoother and doesn't leave an oil stain on your blouse.

Of course, healthy weight loss comes with work with my doctor, dietician and bio-keneticist (workout torture artists!).  Working together with this program, the Hoodia does keep me from having seconds.  It kills that afternoon crazy craving for a candy bar; it helps me not snack on unhealthy things between meals.  When I eat a bowl of vege soup (I make my own with fresh veggies boiled with a chicken bouillion cube) and I want to top it up with a nice ham sandwich, I am too full after the hoodia and soup to go any further.  So, I move on away from the table and do something else.   I stick to my dieticians' plan a lot better on Hoodia than off of it.  This is not scientific, it is just Jackie-talking.  For me, it works.  Maybe for those in Unilever's study it did not. 

Namibia has these and other natural products.  There are NGOs working here that are involved with these products.  You can probably find out more by contacting the Namibia Nature Foundation or the MCA- Namibia office and they can steer you into more informaton on indigenous products and their use for the benefit of Namibia.

Better still... come here on holiday and arrange with your tour operator a visit to one of the places where these and other natural products are grown! 

Tell 'em Jackie sent you!

Update: Namibia gives wildlife to a Zoo in Cuba

Hi there!

Namibia just finalized arrangements to send a huge amount of animals to Cuba so they can have a nicer zoo! 

When you come to Namibia on your holiday, you will see wildlife here, no question about that.  But, another part of conservation and wildlife appreciation in today's world are zoos. 

I have mixed feelings on this because whenever I go home to the States for holiday and to see my family or visit other cities in Europe, the one place I cannot stand to go is a zoo.  Now that I have seen animals in the wild, running free and living and dying in nature the way they are naturally meant to do, it is hard to see them in cages or enclosures.

Imagine seeing a Cheetah in a zoo enclosure!  They are made to run, run fast and run free - a better enclosure would have to be the size of three football fields!!  But, that's not practical in the cities of the world.

BUT.... zoos bring animals to the world.  Only a very small percentage of people around the world will ever get to come to places like Namibia and see these animals in the wild.  At least in humane and caring zoo atmospheres the animals can teach generations of new animal loves about wildlife and conservation.  That makes it worth it.

Also, zoos host breeding programs and keep species that are extinct or nearly extinct, alive.  Zoos trade animals with one another in order to diversity the gene pool of various species living in captivity.

Though I cannot visit a zoo or enjoy one after seeing Etosha here in Namibia, I am a zoo cheerleader for sure! 

Come to Namibia on holiday!  See those zoo animals how they are supposed to live!  C'mon... visit us. 

Tell'm Jackie sent you.

Tourism Expo in Namibia ROCKS THE HOUSE!


Hey there!

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog.  I was back on the road doing tourism stuff around Namibia and helping different small enterprises with advice and information.

Namibia just finished the 14th annual Namibia Tourism Expo!  What a hit!  It ran from June 6-9, here in Windhoek.

Congratulations to the entire team led by Glenda and Alta, the chief organizers and worker bees!  

The Republikein newspaper (Afrikaans language)  here in Namibia is the host and main sponsor.  They put a ton of money, staff and time into making Expo work.  I think they don't get the kudos necessary for doing this not just for their newspaper publishing company, but for the country!  Putting that Expo together is a maximum logistical triumph.  Namibia's toursim expo is much smaller than the international trade fairs in Berlin or Durban, but in terms of impact in Namibia, it is quite the hit.  There were over 400 exhibitors showing their tourism enterprises. 

The Expo is a great boost for domestic tourism, but also, there were some SADC regional partners exhibiting as well.  Since the South African INDABA in Durban is so overcrowded and SADC countries have been moved out into the backyard so that South African companies can have more prime locations, maybe Namibia should really think seriously about having the EXPO grow, get more overseas agents to come and focus on a forum specifically for SADC tourism companies edged out of the Indaba.  We could grow with this idea and then attract all kinds of travel journalists and agents to NAMIBIA!

A bit ambitious?  Yes... but why not consider it.

Expo mostly shows the people TOURISM in Namibia which is the third largest contributor to Namibia's GDP.  Decision-makers in Namibia need to see this so they understand that more investment in tourism and innovative focus for that investment is a good thing.  Expo shows that 'good thing!'

Google the "Republikein" newspaper for photos of the Expo. 

Jacks on adventure in Etosha!

Jacks on Adventure in Etosha!

Hi again. 

I returned from Etosha National Park in Namibian energized and WOW'd as always.  I have been there so many times, but still it never ceases to take my breath away.  Nothing is ever the same in a huge National Park like Etosha.

If you come to Namibia on Holiday you can see for yourself.

I was a part of a wonderful team hosting one of the site inspectors from the Adventure Travel Tourism Association  ATTA).  Our Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) along with the Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR) staff showed their stuff!  The Rangers and scientific students and staff in the Park are amazing!  They did a good hosting job.  ATTA is considering Namibia as a host of their World Summit in 2013.  Namibia is shortlisted (top three finalists!) and they came to check us out! 

We took one of the site inspectors to Etosha to show that part of what Namibia will offer to the delegates once they arrive and do pre-post trips or their two days of adventure during the Summit.

We did a lot of stuff in Etosha.  We did a sunrise game drive, sundowners on the pan on top of a pad of SALT!  Yep... we bent down to touch the white crunchy 'sand' below us and it was all SALT.  I tasted it. In my husband's culture (Oshikwambi) way back, the young men used to have to walk to Etosha just to get a bag of thsi salt for their mothers.  This was a manhood passage rite.  Imagine scared 14-18 year olds trekking 100 kilometers or more from the North into the Pan with only traditional weapons for protection, (lions, snakes, rhinos, elephants, leopards and all!) to get this salt and bring it back. Wow.

This is me with our ATTA guest outside of the Ecological Institute inside Etosha National Park on the grounds of the Okaukuejo Resort of the Namibian Wildlife Resorts.  We are posing next to a elephant skull that has been there for decades.  In that Institute they do fantastic research about all the different animals in the park and the diverse flora, migration patterns, wildfire threats, health issues for the animals, predation statistics, and other amazing and informative things. 

We got a rare opportunity to walk on the rim of the Etosha Pan.  This is what Namibia will offer to the ATTA guests if they choose us as the venue.  Look at the fabulous blue of the sky and the white, chalk of the pan itself.  Distance is a trick on such a flat landscape.  We walked only 20 minutes away from our vehicles out onto the flat pan and looking back, our cars were barely visible!  Just specks on the horizon.  

In the rainy season, where we  are standing is under water and the bottom is a sticky clay.  Many animals have tried to cross at the wrong time and gotten stuck.. sometimes fatally so.  The sun was so bright that day and all was so 'right' with the world.  Seeing such beauty, just calms the soul. 

Thanks to NWR, we had a wonderful lunch right on the Pan.  The food was great! I particularly liked the gemsbok filet wrapped in bacon, but veggie spring rolls and  the tossed salad with fresh Namibian asparagus, various salad greens, walnuts, apple bits and thinly sliced carots was the bomb!  Yummy.

If the ATTA chooses Namibia for the Summit, these are the things the delegates can enjoy too, courtesy of NWR and MET!

Of course, we aren't the only folk in the Park to cross the Pan.  We saw bones of various animals that contributed to the eco system of the Park.  I didn't get a photo, but we saw the bones of a giraffe in a pile, white and picked clean.  The remants of a bit of hide with the giraffe brown spotted colors was all that was left.  Amazing.  Come to Namibia.  But, stay in your car inside the wild areas.  There be lions here....

On our final day in the Park, we went out in the early morning to another waterhole to see what was up.  We found this young man catching the sunrise rays.  He was a bit annoyed at our arrival, but he soon slumped down, dangerously blending into the brush around him (he is the same color!) and went to sleep.  He totally chilled out.  I imagined him wiping his mouth with is paw after having a nice Tafel Lager (Namibian Beer!) and giving a loud belch as he slipped away into slumber.

We saw tons of birds in Etosha.  The one we laughed about the most was called a COREY BUSTER.  I kept saying COREY 'BASTARD' becuase I didn't hear the guide very well over the roar of the game vehcile's engine.  Sorry.. I didn't get a photo of the Corey B bird, but he is a big sucker!  I would guess he is the size of a medium brown dog... yet, he still flies... awkwardly... but he runs for take-off and flies.   

Yet, still, I prefer the delicate birds.  The colorful and beautiful ones are my choice.  My all time favorite is the lilac breasted roller below: 

My friend Pauline took all of these photos and I thank her for this!  I really do love this bird. 

When he spreads his wings he shows the most lovely blues, turquoise, teal, lilac, green and touches of lavender.  He sits in the top branches like this and checks out the world.  The blue of the Namibian sky go so well with his feather colors!

Come to Namibia on holiday and you will see these sights too!

Tell 'em Jackie Sent you.

Until next time....

Jackie