Windhoek, Namibia:

the controversial Equestrian Monument in front of the Alte Feste in Windhoek

In February 2007, I traveled to Namibia together with my parents. In the coming three weeks, we had a fantastic road trip covering almost the entire country.

We reached Namibia’s capital Windhoek comfortably with Air Namibia and after organizing our rental car we visited some parts of the city. Windhoek is a comparatively small town which had about 300,000 inhabitants during the time of our journey. We first went to the beautiful Christ Church which was built from 1907 to 1910 close to the Old Fortress (Alte Feste) once inhabited by the German colonial forces. The Equestrian Monument (Reiterdenkmal) was erected in 1912 to remember the German victims during the war against the Herero and Nama people – a campaign of racial extermination and generally considered one of the first genocides of the 20th century. Due to its colonial history, the statue is/was controversial and has been removed in the meantime. From the Christ Church, it is just a short stroll to the Post Street Mall where a number of fragments of the Gibeon Meteorite are on display.

flying Air Namibia

approach for landing

approach for landing

countryside around Windhoek

arrival in Windhoek

Christ Church

view across Windhoek

fragments of the Gibeon Meteorite

We left Windhoek early next morning and drove through the wide countryside of Namibia to the Brandberg.