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Namibia is a big but very sparsely populated country in Southern Africa, it's actually the 2nd most sparsely populated country in the world, with only [[Mongolia]] having less inhabitants per square kilometer. Hitchhiking is pretty common simply because the public transport network is not very efficient and many places (such as [[Luderitz]] are accessible almost exclusively by thumb or your own vehicle. Having that said many hitchhikers hitchhiking here actually hitchhiking as buses often includes paying for the ride, or to quote one local [[Keetmanshoop]] hitchhiker - ''pretty often people are nice and don't ask me to pay for , but normally they want a little compensation '' . Being non-namibian might change the ridesituation. So bear in mind that some drivers might expect money but a quick question such as "is this lift for free" clarifies things. Normally most people will take you anyway, especially if you look like a western backpacker.

When hitchhiking in Namibia the distances are huge and towns aswell as well as villages are generally small and very far in between which means that getting a short lift is very rare and a "average" lift is going to be something like 150-300-400 kilometers(depending on the road of course). Sometimes places are marked as a village on a map while actually having only 2 houses, especially in Southern Namibia.

 ==Cities = Get in =* [[Windhoek]]* [[Keetmanshoop]]* [[Luderitz]]{{IsIn|Southern Africa}} == Places == [[Sossusvlei]][[Category:Africa]][[Category:Namibia]] == Border crossing ==

Generally In general most nationalities are allowed a 90 day visa to the country upon arrival to any landborder but bear in mind that at some border (such as the border zith with South Africa close to [[Upington]]) they will actually ask you for how long you intend to stay in Namibia and then give you a visa valid for the nu,ber number of days you request. Just say your intending to stay for longer than your actually intending to stay so you have the oppertunity opportunity to prolong your stay if you would like to later.Saying 90 days works. Generally a lot of the traffic at the border is heading to [[Windhoek]] or past [[Windhoek]] en-route to the unofficial German colony of [[Swakupmund]] so you are likely to get a long and direct lift from the border.   === South Africa ===

Generally a lot of the traffic at the border is heading to * [[Windhoek]Vioolsdrif border crossing] or past [[Windhoek]] en-route to the un-official german colony of [[Swakupmund]] so you are likely to get a long and direct lift from the border. === Get around ===

* '''B'''-roads are good quality asphalt roads.* '''C'''-roads are well-maintained gravel roads where many locals will go in up to 130 kilometers per hours (although tourists tend to go slower)/* '''M'''-roads are sometimes as good as ''C''-roads although sometimes a bit bumpy. On some gravel roads there is quite a steady amount of traffic and people always seem to stop on those roads while some asphalt roads (such as the ''B4'') has very little traffic so just because it's asphalt does not mean that its easy. However Namibian roads have the advantage of having '''very few intersections''' which makes hitchhiking signs redundant unless you want go a short distance (anything shorter than 100 kilometers) as people who are going short distances generally dont stop for hitchhikers unless they think you'll be going short distance as well. == Language == The country may only have 2 million inhabitants but there is a vast range of languages being spoken and a lot of them uses clicking-sounds. However English is the most commonly used '''lingua franca''' in most of the country with Afrikaans (which is very similiar to dutch) being spoken primarily in the south. Some people in [[Windhoek]] and a lot of people on the touristy coast (from [[Swakopmund]] to [[Walvis Bay]] a lot of people also speak German.

¤ Almost no conveniant hitchhikingChief -spots have A respectful way to refer to any shadowperson who stops for you initially.

¤ Dankie - Pronounced 'Donkey' and meaning Thanks. if you wanna say thanks a lot you just say 'Buy a donkey'. It's afrikaans and not Namibian english though. Robot - Traffic light (not that they are common outside [[Windhoek]]) Biltong - Dehydrated meat. It's cheap and extremely good food on the road provided that you're not a vegetarian. Circle - Roundabout == Health and Safety ==* Distances are big* It's sunny and warm 300 days per year* A lot of the country is on high altitude and winter nights can be cold* Almost no conveniant hitchhiking-spots have any shadow* Sometimes there seems like there are no vehicles

Hitchhiking in [[Namibia]] is fairly safe in comparison to the neighbouring countries and people tend to be very friendly and helpful. Bear in mind that there are quite a lot of trafic accidents though. == Cities Sleeping ==* [[Windhoek]]* Generally you can camp pretty much anywhere without encountering problems because '''its so sparsely populated''. Your biggest obstacle is probably going to be the fence which is always on both sides of the road. Even on small gravel roads a lot of the time.  You can either climb the fence and camp on the other side. Which is recommended on the main roads as there can be some traffic however on gravel roads it's simpler just to camp by the side of the road as there are generally no or very few cars there after darkness.  You're likely to have some encounters with animals though. [[KeetmanshoopTheo]]found himself being surrounded by a gang of 10 or so baboons in the middle of nowhere. * [[Luderitz]]{{IsIn|Southern Africa}}If you don't feel secure with wilderness camping going to pretty much any lodge and asking if you an camp for the night works pretty well. Some will let you camp for free (normally if they are unaccustomed to people coming to camp there) while others will charge 50 to 100 namibian dollars a night.