Windhoek

Advantages: Pleasant and relaxing city, gateway to wonderful Namibian attractions
Disadvantages: No "essential" sights in the city.

...The Namibian capital of Windhoek is a really pleasant and compact city that can easily be explored on foot. It's a very relaxed, almost European type of place packed full of colonial German architecture. Although it has no really major attractions, it is well worth spending some time strolling around the city. A brief tour should include a walk down Independence Avenue (Windhoek's main street) noting the Kudu Memorial statue built in 1960 and should take in the Railway Station with the 'Poor Old Joe' locomotive. Then head for the centre of town and the Post Street Mall with its colourful Clock Tower. The mall is the city centre's major business and shopping district. This is a modern area of wide pavements, shopping malls and continental style cafeterias. It is here that the largest known collection of meteors in the world stands...

stuartmelvin 20.03.2001 · Read review
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Review of Windhoek (Namibia)

Windhoek - Cosmopolitan Melting Pot

Advantages: Centrally Located, Good shops and restaurants
Disadvantages: Lack of public transportation

...Windhoek (pronounced Vint-Hook) which means "Windy Corner" in Afrikaans, is the capital city of Namibia, South-West Africa. A cosmopolitan melting-pot of cultures, it makes an interesting base to tour the country from, being centrally located on a high plateau. With a good street market of African art and pedestrianised walkways with fine German cafes, you can take your time in the relaxed atmosphere that the city exudes. Featuring an excellent road system and traffic flow, you'll not find driving around this city of 190,000 people much of a problem. Downtown, the majority of shops and mall entrances connect with "Independence Avenue" (formerly Kaiser Strasse - prior to Independence), which is the main thoroughfare connecting the more affluent housing zones with the township of Katutura on the outskirts. The old German fort...

Johnny_B 26.07.2000 · Read review
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Review of Windhoek (Namibia)

My safari base camp

Advantages: courteous and helpful staff, close to Joe's Beer House,
Disadvantages: Internet is very slow!

...During my recent trip to Southern Africa, which took in a trip to Namibia, I was recommended the Roof of Africa by the company that organised my trip around the Sossusvlei. I wanted to stay somewhere comfortable, and the Roof of Africa was, they assured me a very comfortable place to stay. And for my needs for the two nights (either end of my safari) it was. I expect I got a discounted rate since it was booked through the tour group and I paid NAD 590 (approx GBP 50) per night including breakfast. I headed to the hotel straight from the airport by taxi - I could have ordered a taxi collection service from them but decided not to. The hotel is a little way out of the centre of Windhoek, although fortunately only a stone's through away from Joe's Beer House. Whilst it is generally not recommended in most of Sub-Saharan Africa to walk...

Morgenhund 21.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Roof Of Africa Lodge&Travel Centre, Windhoek

Safari Court Hotel

Advantages: Comfortable, international full service hotel
Disadvantages: Busy front desk

...I have stayed at the Safari Court twice. Both times it was very busy and appears to be one of the most popular hotels in Windhoek for international travelers and businessmen. Everything was very professionally done. The rooms were well appointed with two double beds. The AC worked well. The bathrooms were fairly spacious. The reception area got very busy at times and one might have a wait to get their key. The lounge was comfortable with plenty of open seating areas for reading the local paper. The restaurant has excellent a la carte selections that were surprising for their quality. A buffet was available for breakfast and dinner with typical breakfast fare. The dinner buffet offered many selections including local game such as oryx and lots of different appetizers. My father liked the buffet best and I liked the a la carte...

sessid01 27.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Safari Court Hotel, Windhoek

Arebbusch Travel Lodge

Advantages: Ideal base in Windhoek, very easy access to the centre of town, lovely chalets and friendly service. Campsites can be dusty, but plenty of shade.
Disadvantages: Busy road outside the gates, but you can't have everything!

...South of the city, but within easy distance to the centre of Windhoek, this charming travel lodge is an ideal base for both families and independent travellers. We much preferred here to anywhere in the centre of town, mainly due to being able to come through the manned gates and shut ourselves away in our lovely chalet. These are clean, spacious and quiet, the kitchens are moderate, but the showers are a godsend. And a double bed goes down a treat after weeks of camping! The staff are friendly and professional in reception and the restaurant . Be patient with Namibian time however - it's far slower than anywhere back in the UK and anyway, why rush in a country of such awesome landscapes - things will get done and happen....eventually! I have also camped here and found the sites lovely, as anywhere in Namibia they can get...

artebeest 25.01.2007 · Read review
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Review of Arebbusch Travel Lodge , Windhoek

Are You a Cat Person?

Advantages: Not many tourists, easy to get around without being on a tour
Disadvantages: Wildlife is less abundant than in some parts of Africa

...destination for lovers of the natural world. When I went to Namibia I did a ten day self-drive holiday with my partner, starting and finishing in Windhoek. At each safari lodge I gave up my hire car in favour of being driven in a more suitable four-wheel drive vehicle with an experienced guide, although at the Etosha National Park it would have been possible to self-drive there too. I would however generally recommend taking the guide. I was hoping for a large 4x4 to drive myself through the dessert, as I had done in the outback in Australia recently, so I was bemused to be given a VW Polo to traverse the hostile landscape. It, however, had no problems are the roads were mostly quite good. We flew BA from London Heathrow via Johannesburg to Windhoek, where a driver arranged by Audley travel (www.audleytravel.com) who put together this taylor...

AndrewPo 11.07.2008 · Read review
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Review of General: Namibia

Heinekens little brother

Advantages: Smooth taste
Disadvantages: a little on the expensive side

...Being a big beer drinker (a big drinker in general) and working in the drinks industry , I have tried hundreds of lagers , and without a doubt , this is one of the best. On the taste side , it has a smooth , yet hoppy taste , reminicent of heineken or possibly san miguel. It has a reasonably low ABV (4,1%). Rather light , crisp texture with a great after taste. It is considered to be a premium lager , although its usually a bit cheaper than most of its premium brothers , yet a bit more expensive than your average lager. Its kind of a middle man between the two , but in my opinion , would fit in fine with other premium lagers such as Heineken , Grolsch or Carlsberg premium. On initial tasting it is comparable to Heieken , or more so towards Windhoek (Namibian Lager) , smooth , though not as smooth as Fosters or Red Stripe , it has more...

brettoi99 14.07.2006 · Read review
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Review of Amstel Premium Lager

Watch out for the honey badgers

Advantages: Not many tourists
Disadvantages: Getting eaten by a lion, hippo, hyena, leopard, honey badgers

...I went on a camping trip to Botswana a few years ago, on an organized tour with Explore (www.explore.co.uk) feeling that it was safer to have everything coordinated and someone at least knowing whom to contact if I was eaten by a hippopotamus or honey badger. It turned out to be a wise precaution (no I didn't get eaten by a honey badger) We flew from London to Windhoek in Namibia via Frankfurt. Our baggage flew to Frankfurt, where it decided to stay. We stayed the night in Windhoek after quite a hurried shopping trip to Woolworths, which is an African shop selling clothes and everything else, with the £50 each, that our travel agent representative had managed to get for us (possibly from the airline) This turned out to be plenty of money and were able to kit ourselves out with enough clothes for at least a week, and the local...

AndrewPo 17.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of General: Botswana

Swakopmund and the Skeleton Coast

Advantages: strange and atmospheric landscapes, sense of adventure
Disadvantages: isolated and remote, very few places to stay on coastline

...Swakopmund is Namibia's famous seaside resort and is located between the Namib Desert and the Atlantic coastline. The town is picturesque with many graceful turn-of-the century buildings and feels reminiscent of a small Bavarian village. The town has a number of curiosities such as the steam engine which arrived in 1896 to provide a rail link with Windhoek. After a few months it got bogged down on the spot where it still stands today as a national monument. It was named 'Martin Luther' after the evangelist's famous statement "here I stand, God help me, I cannot do otherwise". Swakopmund is a place where people from Windhoek will come for a short break or holiday by the ocean. There are many hotels and restaurants in the town. One of my favourites is Fagin's Restaurant. Near to Swakopmund, in the northern part of the Namib...

stuartmelvin 20.03.2001 · Read review
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Review of Skeleton Coast (Namibia)

Beer, Beer, Everywhere in the World!

Advantages: Good variety of international beers, great gift packs
Disadvantages: Slow delivery

..., Coopers Pale Ale, Coopers Sparkling Ale, Crowne Lager, Hahn Premium, James Boag's Premium, Toohey's Extra Dry, Toohey's New, Victoria Bitter Brazil - Brahma Canada - Moosehead China - Tsingtao Cuba - Cristal Cyprus - KEO Czech Republic - Budweiser Budvar France - Desperados Germany - Warsteiner Greece - Mythos Indonesia - Bintang Pils Italy - Nastro Azzuro Jamaica - Dragon Stout Japan - Orion Kenya - Tusker Mexico - Dos Equis Amber, Sol Morocco - Flag Speciale Mozambique - Laurentina Namibia - Windhoek Lager Netherlands - Heineken New Zealand - Macs Gold, Speights, Steinlager Peru - Cusquena Poland - Tyskie Singapore - Tiger South Africa - Castle, Savanna Sweden - Crocodile Thailand -- Singha Trinidad and Tobago - Carib Turkey - Efes United States - Chili Beer, Samuel Adams Vietnam - Hue Beer The beer of your...

K1ttyCat 04.01.2007 · Read review
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Review of foreignbeerimports.co.uk