Visit to Namibia and Joe’s Beerhouse

Published July 10, 2006

We have just got back from running a Toastmasters training session in Windhoek, Namibia. Namibia is such a wonderfully friendly country. You are constantly surrounded by people greeting you, and doing it because it is polite, and not because they are trying to get something out of you.

You quickly learn to be friendly, because it is impossible to conduct any type of business without firstly greeting people, and then wishing them a good day afterwards. It also forces you to slow down for a few minutes and stop rushing all the time.

A typical example of the friendless occurred at the restaurant where we had supper one evening:

Patron: Can I please have the wine list?
Waiter: Good Evening
Patron: (obviously from Johannesburg or Cape Town) – blank stare
Waiter: Good Evening
Patron: (getting the message) Good Evening
Waiter: (smile) Would you like to see the wine list?

The waiter was clearly giving the patron a very quick lesson in the manner in which you conduct yourself in Windhoek.

The training session was great – we spent the afternoon at a game reserve, and the evening at the legendary Joe’s Beerhouse.

Joes can hold about 1000 people, however it still manages to maintain it’s intimate atmosphere. We had a table of about 10 people, and the service was excellent. The food was not cheap (well – I suppose that be Cape Town standards it was), but it was superb.
I was very proud that I managed to finish my Eisbein, but please don’t tell my doctor! I also tried a small piece of Zebra steak, which was very good.

We followed off the meal with a Jagermeister and schnapps, and then we stumbled off to bed (because we were tried after the training!)

If you get the chance, you must visit Namibia, it is a very friendly country, and well worth the visit. My only regret was that we were only there for the weekend. When we go up in January I hope to spend a few more days there.

PS: at night the temperature dropped to about -4, and went up to about 27 deg C in the day!

PPS: Thanks Stan for the above photo.