Signs

There are lots of interesting things about driving here in Namibia beside the fact that it's done on the opposite side of the road from the way it's done in America AND the fact that most all cars have a manual transmission AND Windhoek is about as hilly as San Francisco (so some of the streets and driveways actually appear to be vertical). I usually select the route to and from my destination based on the number of hills I'll have to ascend. Ole Bess (the Land Rover) and I are still in the acquaintanceship stage and so, I try not to push her since I don't quite know her limits.

Street signs here can be posted in a number of languages, so at the top of the street the sign might end with ...strasse, the German word for street. When you get to the bottom of the street, the suffix might have changed to ....straat, Africaans for street or it might very well be labeled with the English ..street. Additionally, many of the streets are named for some very "interesting" individuals. Of course there is Sam Nujoma Street named in honor of one of the native Nambians who led the revolution for Namibian independence, but there's also a couple of names of main thoroughfares that make many of us Americans cringe. For example, there's Fidel Castro Street that leads into the downtown area. There's also Robert Mugabe Street that leads out to the mall. The Zimbabweans in exile here, and there are many, must derive a certain amount of pleasure from rolling over Robert Mugabe, at least figuratively. I know I would if I were from Zimbabwe.

When one leaves the city, the wilderness begins almost immediately. Farms sometimes consist of thousands of hectares of "bush". The trees that grow are somewhat scrubby and almost all have thorns. This provides the perfect habitat for a variety of wildlife from the very small, like dassies (hydrax, see above photo) and wart hogs to the very large like oryx and kudu. Driving especially at night can prove to be a dangerous sport for the ill-equipped. Many vehicles come equipped with bull bars in the event that one should encounter a kudu which he can't avoid while travelling at a high rate of speed. Speaking of speed....the tarred roads tend to be treated like the Autobon. Even the gravel roads witness excessive rates of speed. One of the other Fulbrighters recounted that he was a passenger with his colleague who maintained a speed of 120 km (on gravel) for the 400 or so miles from the destination in the South back to Windhoek on a recent outing!

We especially like when we're given warning of possible crossings. We are obliged to take the kudu crossing signs very seriously, but we can't help but chuckle when we come across the ones announcing the wart hogs (see photo above). I guess a good sized male wart hog might cause considerable damage for a Toyota Tazz, but I don't think many of these 4X4s would be much phased if they ran over one. It is always a good idea to keep one's eyes peeled when presented with such a sign, nonetheless. Besides, wart hog babies are just about the cutest darn things we have ever seen.