I knew that transport was always going to be a problem out here. I knew that mainly because in my first week here the most common comment I got was “transport will be a problem”
Lets start at the beginning. Cars out here are ridiculously expensive. A 1986 VW golf with about 200,000 Km and ready for the scrapheap will still cost you between £1000-1500. Go for a 4x4 and you’re looking more at £4,000-6,000 for starters. Which is why my big red Jeep is soon to be on a ship and making its way to Africa. Oh yes.
So sorted then?
Not quite. Whilst the Jeep will be excellent for personal use, I still need to use work transport for, errm, work purposes. Schedules of Ministry of Health transport is a secret more closely guarded than nuclear codes of the US President. In fact, I think it’s that much of a secret, they’ve done away with a schedule and act on spontaneity. As I’m meant to be accessing far corners of the bush, I was due to getting rides with the hospital outreach car. The first two months, however, the car was being repaired in a garage. Celebrations occurred when the car eventually returned only for it to be driven for two days and meet its maker in the form of a donkey:
One regular transport is the daily ambulance which leaves for Oshakati (big town about 80km away) each day at one. Or so they say. If you arrive at one, it has usually gone ten minutes early. So it’s better to get there about quarter to. But of course on those days it leaves more like at two. You cannot win.
Public transport is available. Taxis have an interesting system throughout Namibia. You pay per person rather than for the taxi. If you are taking a taxi from Oshakati to Okahao, say, it costs N$ 21 for each person in the taxi. Which means the more people in, the more money for Ivor the Driver. My record stands at eight in a Toyota Corolla, but I’ve heard stories of more.
So may favoured method of transportation up until Tuesday was the bicycle. Its cheap, good for fitness, and reliable. Until Tuesday when brakes gears and tyres all decided to give up the ghost in one swift explosive moment. Arse. I think I can repair it, but not sure it will do me long term, especially now the rains are here and most places have turned into the Lake District rather then Savannah Desert.
So now back to square one. I guess the great thing about the whole complexity of transport is how it makes things so simple. No one really relies on transport; therefore no one is disappointed when you don’t arrive. It’s a bonus when you do. It’s quite nice when things get turned on their head like that.
That being said, I always welcome new solutions to my problems. So if anyone has a spare hovercraft or helicopter knocking around that they’re not using for a while, I’m game.
