NamibiaMapJune 26–30, 2013 Whoever picked out the colors for the directional highway signs in Namibia did a fantastic job. They look wonderful against the country’s desert backdrops.  Half the road signs are painted with black and yellow stripes on the back for some reason.  A «hidden side road entering the winding main road» sign.  A Namibian speed camera.  A bushpig.  A rest area sign.  And sure enough, there’s the rest area.  A «pavement ends» sign. The pavement ends immediately after it.  A cattle guard sign.  The cattle guard (like the ones in Iceland) appears immediately thereafter.  An extremely useful sign: blind crest (also like the ones in Iceland).  A digger.  A sign that means «turn on your headlights in foggy conditions.»  A «use lower gear» sign for trucks.  Train.  No taxis or hitchhiking.  Don’t drink and drive.  No loud partying.  Vehicle inspection stickers on a windshield.  Three kinds of hotel rating systems are in use here: the familiar star rating, the T (no idea what it stands for), and the Ys, which indicate whether the hotel has a restaurant and an alcohol license (Y—beer and wine are available, but only with food, YY—beer and wine are available, YYY—all types of booze are available).  The highways are lined with fences made of tensioned wire with staggered vertical sticks woven through it.  The country appears to consist primarily of empty desert.  WindhoekMapThe capital.  Buses.  A bus stop.  Traffic lights.  Pedestrian traffic light instructions.  A crosswalk button.  The city’s trash cans were originally manufactured with the intent of individually numbering each one, which is why they all have a stencil for four digits on them. But then everyone got lazy, so the segments were never colored in.  Payphones.  The streets downtown are all named after various dictators—Mugabe, Castro, and so on.  A post box (a rare occurrence).  Every cab has its number displayed in large type on the sides and rear window for safety reasons (like in Colombia, Bolivia, or Burundi). But it’s not the same number as the one on the license plate.  Walvis BayMapA seaport town.  People come here to see the lighthouse enveloped in fog.  The fur seals.  The flamingoes.  And other creatures.  Although they could just as well come here to see the trash can on a stick.  The traffic light.  The cellphone tower camouflaged as a palm tree.  And, of course, the fire hydrants sprouting from concrete yellow trapezoids. You won’t find trapezoids like this anywhere else.  SwakopmundMapIce-cold ocean currents meet the sweltering heat of the desert here.  This is why it’s always foggy in Swakopmund.  It’s a super-touristy city.  The Swakopmund trash can.  The Swakopmund traffic light.  A signpost with an ad.  A ship ran aground just outside the city some years ago.  There’s pretty much nothing to see here besides the desert.  So we travel onwards.  |
