While in Namibia we have become part of the worldwide couch surfing community. Couch Surfing is a social networking internet site aimed at giving people the opportunity to travel, meet new people from different cultures and backgrounds and expand their experiences within the global community. They state their vision to be ‘a world where everyone can explore and create meaningful connections with the people and places they encounter.
It works by people joining the community and offering others a ‘couch’ to stay on at their house, although there is no obligation to do so. You can just offer to show people around the town you live in or make yourself available for a coffee. You can even just surf other peoples couches. We have had a great time both hosting and surfing, meeting lots of interesting and friendly people.
On our couch surfing travels we have met an ultra-hospitable Namibian braai master whose purpose in life is to make the circle bigger, had sand boarding lessons from a German guy in the Swakopmund dunes, and been treated to the best Cape Malay curried meatballs in the Western Cape by a South African nurse.
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| Mastering the dunes on a snowboard |
Otjiwarongo is proving a popular destination with fellow surfers on their way through to Etosha or back from the north and we have hosted some great people. As we do not have a couch, sofa or spare bed and our house isn’t exactly spacious all we can offer is our front garden to pitch a tent. However we have been known to provide extra bedding on particularly cold nights. A home cooked meal, cold beer and tour guide advice also come into the package.
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| Steve and Nyomi with their laden bikes |
Our first visitors were two British cyclists making their way from Cairo to Cape Town. Actually Nyomi, an architecture student, was cycling the length of Africa. However Steve, a doctor, had taken 5 years off work to cycle around the world and cover 6 continents. He had already cycled through Europe and after reaching Cape Town he was heading for South America. You can follow his trip on his blog cyclingthe6.blogspot.com. Nyomi and Steve were great guests and repaid us with dinner and PDF versions of Lonely Planet guides for every country and city in the world that Steve had acquired from a couch surfer in Israel.
Also making use of our ’campsite’ have been a German guy, his Polish wife and their 3 year old daughter Julia. They were taking a break from volunteering with a kindergarden project in Kwazulu-Natal province, South Africa. Julia had adapted remarkably to African life and as well as being fluent (for a 3 year old) in English and German she had now picked up Zulu from her kindergarden friends.
Our most recent guests were an American teacher and her Ecuadorian husband. They had lived in Ecuador before moving to California and learning about life in both places was extremely interesting. For example any teacher wanting to make their fortune need only to head to the suburbs of Silicon City to tutor spoilt brats. Ecuador sounds like a fascinating country and South America is on the list for future couch surfing travels.
