I have two weeks in Namibia coming up and thought it would be easy to just
'pop' down to Cape Town for two or three nights, but flight and rail
connections don't seem to be make it easy or economical. Are there any cheap
flights – just who is the easyJet of Africa? Chris Littlewood,
Lincolnshire
Sunday Times travel expert Richard Green responds: Owing to the vast
distances involved in getting out of Namibia, and a low population density,
there are no budget airlines offering flights on the 780-mile trip from
Windhoek to Cape Town. The cheapest fares that you will find are about £200
return, with either SAA (0870 747 1111)
or Air Namibia (870 774 0965).
Incidentally, it is pretty much the same story to Johannesburg.
The current economic downturn and soaring price of oil has cut the number of
airlines in South Africa, with Nationwide the latest to go bankrupt. The
equivalent of easyJet in the region is Kulula,
which has some great low fares in and around South Africa, but unfortunately
doesn’t fly to Namibia. The same goes for the smaller 1time
and Fly Mango, which both operate low
cost flights within South Africa.
If you have a few days to spare and feel like some relaxation, I’d say that
you are best off heading to Swakopmund, 110 miles west of Windhoek, and the
nearest thing that Namibia has to a holiday town. There are some good
beaches, plus plenty of great places in which to stay, eat, and drink.
There is a friendly and buzzing atmosphere to the place, which is famed for
it’s German style architecture (leftover from the days when Namibia was a
German colony). However, it’s not for lazing or architecture-gazing that
people come here, but to push themselves to the limits doing one, or more
like several, of the many adrenaline sports that are on offer – from scenic
flights over the dunes and surf, to ballooning, camel or horse riding, quad
biking, sand boarding, or even skydiving.
For more information, see www.swakopmundnamibia.com,
or www.namibiatourism.com.na
The Intercape bus line can get you there fore cheap, and they have a Sleepliner that is pretty comfortable.
Bill, Washington,