Discover Windhoek, the capital of Namibia

The city of Windhoek It is still largely unknown to international tourism. However, this town, which is the capital of Namibia, is gradually joining the holiday circuits Africa.

With about four hundred thousand inhabitants, it is located in the center of the country and has numerous interesting monuments. But In Namibia you can also go on a safari like in other places in Africa. If you are staying in Windhoek, you can organize the one that suits you best. In any case, then we are going to talk to you about the history of the city and what you can see in it.

History of Windhoek

What we call Windhoek today is due to the German settlers, who founded the town in 1890 based on its military strength. However, the area was inhabited long before. Due to its hot springs, it was one of the main towns both the Herero and Nama people.

Later they settled there colonists africans. As you know, these are Europeans coming, above all, from the Netherlands, which began to arrive in southern Africa from the 17th century onwards. Precisely, one of the etymologies most accepted for the name of the city comes from its language, the afrikaans. According to this, Windhoek would mean "corner of the wind."

However, other scholars prefer to take as the origin of the name the Groot Winterhoek mountains from South Africa, where the Dutch settlers had lived. In any case, after the First World War, the region fell into the hands of the British until, in 1990, it achieved independence.

On the other hand, if you travel to Namibia, you should know that its currency is the namibian dollar and that one of its official languages ​​is English. Therefore, if you know this language, you will have no problem communicating with the inhabitants of Windhoek.

What to see in the capital of Namibia

After explaining a little about the history of the capital of Namibia, we are going to focus on monuments and places of interest What does it offer. Among them, you have beautiful gardens where its inhabitants go for picnics, but also interesting museums, churches and even fortresses from the colonial era. Likewise, in other cases, these are official buildings that serve as headquarters of the country's leading organizations. Below we show you some of these attractions.

Tintenpalast Gardens

Precisely, these gardens are one of the places where the citizens of Windhoek go to have picnics. They are found around the country's Parliament or Tinterpalast, which gives it its name. Likewise, there you have several statues dedicated to the heroes of independence Hosea Kutako, Hendrik Witbooi y Theophilus Hamutumbangela.

But you will also find in the gardens a beautiful olive grove and a bowling green surrounded by bougainvillea. For its part, the Parliament building, which is located north of Robert Mugabe Avenue, is a construction from the early 20th century. Its designer was the German architect Gottlieb Redecker and stands out for its neoclassical facade.

National Botanical Garden

Along with the Parliament Gardens, you have other beautiful green areas in Windhoek. It is the case of zoo park, where, apparently, a prehistoric elephant was found and which has a monument to german soldiers fallen in wars against the natives.

The National Botanical Garden, which you will find on Sam Nujoma Avenue and which has several exotic species. This is one of the great lungs of the city thanks to its twelve hectares and, in many parts, it is in its natural, undeveloped state. Anyway, about two kilometers from Windhoek you have the Avis Dam Nature Reserve, where you can enjoy the countryside while watching birds.

Windhoek Christuskirche

With this name, the church of Christ, which is the most important Lutheran temple in Windhoek. You will find it in front of the Tintenpalast and it is also the work of the aforementioned Gottlieb Redecker. It is an original construction in which its colorful stained glass windows stand out, which were a gift from the emperor. William II.

The building It combines neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque elements with other art deco style elements.. Its tower, almost twenty-five meters high, and its portico made of Carrara marble also attract attention.

On the other hand, you can visit other beautiful churches in Windhoek. It is the case of the Cathedral of Santa María, which stands out for its neoclassical shapes, its two symmetrical towers and the unique ocher color of its façade.

Independence Avenue

It is the main artery of Windhoek and runs through it from north to south. As you walk through it, you will see many colonial style houses, as well as one of its most unique constructions. It is a small tower whose highest part there is a clock. It is also home to the zoo that we have already told you about and the Sanlam Center, where several embassies have been installed.

Another of the main streets in Windhoek is Robert Mugabe Avenue, already mentioned and where are, among other places of interest, the aforementioned Tintenpalast and Alte Feste, which we will talk to you about later. But first we are going to show you the main museums in Windhoek.

Train Station Museum

The city's elegant railway station is a beautiful building built by the Germans in 1912. It is located on the Bahnhof street and, in addition to performing its function, it houses an interesting Train museum. It has a wide variety of maps, documents and even objects such as tableware used in dining cars.

But its star piece is a Zwillinge steam locomotive 1900. Equipped with twin tanks, it toured the country until the end of the XNUMXs, covering some six hundred thousand kilometers. On the other hand, the station leaves Desert Express, which reaches the South Atlantic coast and even stops for passengers to see a safari.

Namibia Craft Center

This center has a very different character where you can appreciate, like nowhere else, the local art. Not only that, it has about forty stalls where you can buy it and bring back a souvenir of your stay in Windhoek.

For example, you have the option to purchase Bushman and Himba crafts, which is made up of pieces such as leather bags with colorful beads or jewelry made from ostrich eggshells. But also pieces of upholstery and textiles from the nama tribes or basketry and embroidery the owambo. All this without forgetting the precious stones and woodwork from the regions of Okavango and the Zambezi.

National Museum of Namibia

In this case, to visit it, you will have to go to several places in Windhoek. One of them is the Owela Exhibition Center, located on Lüderitz Street, which houses the scientific part of the museum. Another is the National Museum Library, which is located on Robert Mugabe Avenue. Precisely, it is located in front of the Alte Feste, which includes the third installation of the museum and which we will talk to you about below.

You will also be interested to know that it is the oldest museum in the country, since it was installed by the Germans in 1907. And that, among its sections, you can see the dedicated to zoology, history and archeology, but, above all, it has a important ethnographic heritage about the native tribes of Namibia.

Windhoek Festival

The Alte Feste is the original fortress from which the modern city of Windhoek was created and which we told you about at the beginning. Its construction was due to the captain Curt von Francois, who designed it to house his colonial army. Construction began in 1890, but was not finished until 1915.

Therefore, it is the oldest construction in the city and consists of a central courtyard around which the soldiers' homes are located. Finally, high walls and four watchtowers were responsible for protecting the fortification.

Once stripped of its military use, it became a hostel for the town's secondary school. And, after undergoing extensive restoration in 1963, today it is another of the headquarters of the National Museum of Namibia.

Independence Memorial Museum

You will find this other exhibition center on the aforementioned Robert Mugabe Avenue, precisely located between the Alte Feste and the Christuskirche. It has an unmistakable design due to the architectural company Mansudae Overseas Project which has earned it the nicknames "coffee maker" and "molar tooth." Likewise, two monuments flank it, the one dedicated to the country's first president, Sam Nujoma, and the one who remembers Genocide, both built by the same firm.

It is a five-story triangular structure with glass facades and an exterior elevator. As for its style, it fits into Typical North Korean socialist realism and, in its rooms, the history of Namibia is reviewed from the end of the First World War until the country's independence. A restaurant with views of the city completes the center.

In conclusion, we have shown you the highlights that you can see in Windhoek, Capital Namibia. As is the case with other countries in AfricaEg Burkina Faso o Madagascar, this is a great unknown for Europeans. Dare to discover it.