4 minute read
A day in Ondangwa
We arrived at Eros Airport at 6:30 to catch the morning FlyWestair flight to Ondangwa. Smoothly passing through check-in, we proceeded to the Sky Lounge where we enjoyed our free coffee from Deluxe Coffeeworks and watched as the aircrafts positioned themselves for passengers to board.
Camera bags ready, boarding passes in hand, and an excitement overload – I’ve never been to the north!
Ondangwa’s Toivo ya Toivo airport is on the smaller side but it is modern and very clean. Into the rental car and off we go. Our first stop is the Nakambale Museum in Olukonda and on our way there we each try to spot a shebeen with the most interesting name, but I think we lost track as there are so many! Shebeens and barbershops, there is no lack of them in and around Ondangwa.
On a question box we posted on Instagram, @__gmsile suggested that we should visit the Nakambale Museum. “You’ll never regret it”, and she was right. Martha is one of the lovely ladies who welcomed us onto the premises with the lodge, homestead and museum.
I wish we’d been at the lodge during the scheduled open hours because it has a selfbuilt, wood-fired oven for artisanal pizza! It’s quite the sight, a pizza oven with the words “Happy Pizza” in colourful paint, surrounded by palm trees and patches of grass.
The historic homestead is like a maze, a different hut around every corner of the path lined by long wooden poles, forming enclosures. We were allowed inside the huts: they were as if the former residents who lived there, had just left them a short while ago. Rooms where mahangu used to be ground, where it was stored, and which also served as a kitchen with the fireplace right outside. The baskets in which they store mahangu are big and beautiful. I found myself wondering what I could do with a basket like that in my home.
The well preserved building from the late 1870s, in which the museum is housed, was the home of Finnish missionary Martti Rautanen. His nickname was Nakambale, hence the name of the museum. A label on each door says what the respective room was used for when Rautanen and his family lived there. The museum is a treasure trove of antiques and historic mementos. With everything so well displayed and explained, you can almost imagine yourself transported into the past, and you find yourself having a great appreciation for every object, from the old foot-pedal sewing machine to the original pages of Rautanen’s translation of the Bible into the local Ndonga language.
You have to visit the museum yourself to really experience the slightly eerie atmosphere of bygone times.
Across the road from the Nakambale Museum is the mission church and a large graveyard. There are all types of tombstones, varying from old, unnamed, bare and falling-apart crosses to graves covered with a slab of marble engraved with details, and some even enclosed in locked cages.
The church is not very big. A stubborn wooden door is reluctant to let us in. Inside it is dark and desolate, with cobwebs in every corner and sand covering the floor. It sounds tragic, but something about it is so beautiful that I actually thought about getting married there.
After our visit to Nakambale we made our way to Ongula Village Homestead Lodge where we were greeted by very friendly staff with the tastiest homemade iced tea I’ve ever had before we were taken on a tour of the premises. At the start I was lucky enough to be taught how to play a traditional game, Owela. To tell you the truth, I can’t quite remember the complicated rules but I think it’s great fun once you actually understand them.
The lodge runs a passionate initiative to educate the community’s adolescents, to equip them with skills which will allow them to generate an income with dignifying work. We were taken to a large neat warehouse where sewing machines stand in rows, and here and there women are busy making face masks from different patterned materials. In a smaller room nearby is a learning facility with desks and a whiteboard in front. There are also communal rooms for the students who live on the premises. Each of them have tasks to contribute to the activities at the lodge and the homestead.
We didn’t visit in season, but the hostess said that when it rains they have a frog-catching competition. Guests also have the opportunity to braai their own kapana, a traditional meat dish. Before lunch, scented warm water was poured from a gold-coloured antique “tea” pot for us to wash our hands. We enjoyed the lodge’s kapana with a fresh batch of bread rolls – the perfect lunch on our trip to the north.
We also visited some of Ondangwa’s hospitality and cultural institutes, and would recommend booking a stay for two nights, visit the museum and homestead at Nakambale, and engage in some of the activities at Ongula Village Homestead Lodge.
A culturally enriching experience.
Ena Lingenfelder
