Africa 12 in my eyes——Namibia A

Oralized by Tracy/written by Kaibin

Namibia is located in southwest Africa, with a coastline of 1,600 kilometers along the Atlantic Ocean. The country has a total population of more than 2.4 million, of which 8% are white. The country with the largest white population outside South Africa has been ruled by the Netherlands, Portugal, Britain and Germany since the 15th century. It became independent in 1990 and was the last country on the African continent to gain national independence.

Namibia has a subtropical arid and semi-arid climate, with an average of 300 sunny days per year. It is one of the driest countries south of the Sahara and one of the countries with the lowest population density in the world.

On October 24, we passed the Namibia border and marched deeper into Namibia. The road was deserted and there were no wild animals. The termite nests everywhere became the protagonist here. The end of October is the driest season before the rainy season. Livestock scattered by local tribesmen often die in the desert due to hunger, thirst and heat. Sitting in the car driving on the potholed road, I felt empty. I looked at the carcasses of cattle, horses or donkeys that flashed from time to time and rotted in the endless wilderness. I felt very depressed. The wilderness was deathly silent, and I seemed to feel like I was walking on an uncertain road.

I don’t know whether it was a physiological reaction of my body reaching the limit of exertion, or the pity and sympathy for those domestic animals that died of hunger, thirst or heat, but I cried sadly all the way. I kept imagining: "The desperate scene of those dead animals unable to survive before death. If I encountered such despair, would I die miserably?" The more I thought about it, the more scared I became, "Hurry up and escape from this place." A desolate land filled with the smell of death!" I told myself in fear, hoping that an oasis would soon appear in front of me. However, after driving for a day, I still couldn't get rid of this wilderness.

Ten hours later, it was getting dark and we had to rest at a deserted parking spot. Everyone came together and said one thing: "It's really hard work!" Looking at my precious RV, almost all the screws were loose, and the items in the car were bumped around so much that not a single thing was in its original place.

Three months have passed since this RV trip to Africa. The group members have concluded a common understanding, that is: what you get + what you pay = about 0. Looking back, I have been worried all along the way, worried about being infected with diseases, worried about being besieged and begging, worried about being robbed by the police, and the most worried thing was that the RV broke down. In addition, they also have to endure the hot climate, mosquito bites, food shortages, and the most unbearable thing is the uneven road surface.

Due to the psychological pressure and the inability to eat well and sleep, my throat always felt blocked and my neck felt like someone was pinching it with both hands. My husband also suffered from hemorrhoids, so we took turns. I can’t remember how many times I have had fevers, colds, vomiting and diarrhea. All of this was supported by the “motto” that “if you survive a catastrophe, you will be blessed later.” "Oh! I won't talk anymore, it's all tears! We have to leave early tomorrow and go straight to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia."

On October 25, we finally walked out of the desert and saw the oasis. Extremely comfortable! Maybe it’s because I’ve passed through the emptiness of the desert, or maybe I’ve seen too much of the sorrow of death. The green grass and birds on the green branches that I didn’t take seriously in the past now seem more beautiful and joyful. Looking around, there are everywhere. Full of life.

Strangely enough, humans are the most sensitive creatures to nature. Desert and oasis, death and survival, are actually a kind of spiritual feeling, which produces the inner reaction of emptiness and exuberance, which is expressed as sadness than emotion and joy as color.

The next day, we visited the National Museum of Namibia. The tour guide told us: "This building was designed and built by the Koreans. The exhibits inside are mainly about "red" history, and they all talk about how white people plundered The land of black people, how they were enslaved, how they fought against white rule, and finally gained freedom, etc., are all nonsense, and we won’t go into it.”

“Oh! What do you say from all this way? Why don’t you go in if you don’t want to go in?” This aroused my curiosity. First, I was curious that North Koreans actually came to Africa to engage in construction. The second is to be curious about the angry reactions of tour guides and tour group members to the “red” history. I decided to go back and check the relevant information.

According to records, these grand and majestic buildings and sculptures were produced by the Mansudae Studio in North Korea. Mansudae Studio is a state-owned enterprise in North Korea. It is not only North Korea's officially designated sculpture studio, but also North Korea's "lucky cat" overseas. American North Korea expert Griffith said: "Mansudae Studio has independently contracted large-scale construction projects in at least 14 African countries. These overseas projects have earned North Korea at least tens of millions of dollars in foreign exchange." However, since the end of 2016, , North Korea’s Mansudae overseas activities were included in the scope of sanctions by the United Nations.

Namibia can be said to be a "strong fan" of "Mansudae". From the National Museum to the Ministry of Defense to the presidential residence, everything is designed and built by Mansudae. The large statue of founding president Sam Nujoma in front of the museum was also built by Mansudae. The museum displays a rich history of Namibia's independence, including many photos from the colonial period and souvenirs from the War of Independence, documenting the country's people's struggle for freedom. In addition to this, there are some interesting displays of ancient rock art and Aboriginal art.

According to another record, in 1884, Germany began to rule most of Namibia. As a protectorate, Germany began to develop Namibia's infrastructure and agriculture, bringing civilization and stability here, and Remained in power until 1915.

Such records are completely different from the above statement. This should be the reason why they did not go in, because they are all Germans, and they do not want to hear about the history of the excellent German nation. This is understandable. But I lost an opportunity to visit and learn about Namibia.

On October 27, I left from the capital Windhoek and passed several parking spots, all of which were green grass and picturesque places. Although the weather was very hot, fortunately, there were high-end swimming pools and hot spring baths at several parking spots. It was quite comfortable to soak in them all day long to relieve the heat. After all, the most troublesome things were on the road.

On October 29, on the way to Etosha National Park, we began to enter the pure desert of the Kalahari. As far as I know, the Kalahari Desert is a very large basin plain in the interior plateau of southern Africa. It is about 1,600 kilometers long from north to south and 960 kilometers long from east to west. Its area is about 930,000 square kilometers. The terrain in the basin is not undulating. Occasionally, isolated island mountains appear, blending into the coastal desert of Namibia on the Atlantic side.

On October 31, we drove for 3 hours on the washboard-shaped desert and finally arrived at Etosha National Park. The car was almost falling apart, the windows were knocked out, and the wash basin collapsed. I held the tools in hand and hurriedly repaired this and that, and tightened all the loose threads. This trip really taught me a lesson, and I want to tell those self-driving travel enthusiasts that if you don’t have a high-power four-wheel-drive off-road vehicle, don’t go on a self-driving trip to Africa.

The next day, we drove from east to west across Etosha National Park, a rare place with water in Namibia. Next to a small pond, I saw a group of elephants drinking water and taking a shower. Not far away, a small sika deer waited for a long time but did not see the elephants leaving, so it impatiently approached the pond. One of the elephants I was already prepared, filled my nose with water, and sprayed the little sika deer away very unceremoniously. The elephant that I thought had a very docile personality turned out to be so domineering!

In Namibia's Etosha National Park, various wild animals thrive along the lake, living a free life away from humans.

(To be continued)