Thursday 22 March 2012

Jamaicans Get Ready for Namibia




Kate and Lennox are planning a much needed break out of Francistown on a road trip to Namibia, wow, sounds exotic.  Gods willing we will be leaving just after Easter - April 10, 2012.  Being Jamaicans, you need a visa (Bob Marley never sang “Free Namibia”); which means copies of our passports, copies of residence permits, copies of “blue book” which is what we call the title of the car, hotel reservations and P331 per visa.  The first two have to be stamped and certified by the Jamaican Embassy (which is in South Africa) or the police, not by our good friend Francis Tilly “The Commissioner of Oaths” who has signed all our documents for over two years and these documents have been accepted everywhere.  And, the documents have to be signed this year!  So Kate remembers a police officer she met at one of those meetings she attended in the Molapo area, calls her, and she says not a problem, anything at all, just bring in everything.  So the documents are signed and we should have everything ready for the Namibian Embassy when we visit this Monday, travelling the five hours to Gabarone!  Only problem, it will take three days to process, which we do not have, we can send a courier service for the passports; we will pray that all goes well! 


We chose Namibia to visit before heading home to Jamaica because like Botswana it is knows as Africa's hidden secret.  Both Botswana and Namibia are no longer frontier territories, but modern, mineral rich economies and are the forefront of Africa's future.


Come with us Jamaicans as we journey the treacherous Skeleton Coast which is said to lure you in and we will see giant waves of red sand and ghost towns which will draw you in with stories untold.  It is said that Namibia's landscapes evoke the feeling of being on the cusp of time.



It is noted that Cuba was instrumental in helping Namibia gain its independence, sending hundreds of troops to fight against the South Africans and Namibia finally gained independence in 1988.  Namibia has a cosmopolitan history with Portuguese, Afrikaans, Germans, Cubans and African names everywhere.  We are really excited to be going on this journey.


Blessings from the Francis'
in Francistown