#Joe´s Beerhouse

[logi1974]

Joe’s Beerhouse is a must visit place for a hearty dinner in Windhoek. Lanterns illuminate the partially open-air dining area. Locals and foreigners mingle and drink craft Camelthorn Brewing Company beers while sat around picnic tables and makeshift barrel tables with wooden tops. A patchwork roof covers some of the boma encircles the dining area and the crowd is always a lively. Being a former Namibian colony, German cuisine influences many of the dishes in Namibia. Coupled with a strong focus on meat, Joe’s Beerhouse is a meat lover’s paradise. Anything from ribs, steaks, schnitzels and kebabs can be found on the menu. This restaurant is the perfect place to celebrate the start or finish of a great safari adventure.

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Joe’s Beerhouse ist ein Muss für ein herzhaftes Abendessen in Windhoek. Laternen beleuchten den teilweise offenen Essbereich. Einheimische und Ausländer mischen sich und trinken Craft-Biere der Camelthorn Brewing Company, während sie an Picknicktischen und provisorischen Fasstischen mit Holzplatten sitzen. Mit Strohdächern gedeckte Bomas umgeben den Essbereich und das Publikum ist immer lebhaft. Als ehemalige namibische Kolonie beeinflusst die deutsche Küche viele Gerichte in Namibia. Gepaart mit einem starken Fokus auf Fleisch ist Joe’s Beerhouse ein Paradies für Fleischliebhaber. Auf der Speisekarte findet sich alles von Rippchen, Steaks, Schnitzel und Kebab. Das Restaurant ist der perfekte Ort, um den Beginn oder das Ende eines großartigen Safari-Abenteuers zu feiern.

[lyonfamilyinafrica]

Final blog entry for trip

Well that’s the end of our African safari adventure.

Some stats and Q&A to wrap things up.

We drove a bit over 3,400 kilometres whilst in our 4WD hire car driving across two countries - Namibia and Botswana.

We visited 5 African countries (Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa) and saw the banks of another (Angola). We also visited Singapore for 3 nights on our way home.

We experienced temperatures ranging from -5.0 to 28 degrees in Africa.

We visited many reserves and the following National Parks:

Namib-Naukluft National Park

Etosha NP

Moremi NP

Chobe NP

Victoria Falls NP

We saw hundreds of different wildlife including the Big 5 - Lion, Leopard, African Buffalo, Rhinoceros (Black & White), Elephant.

A big thank you to our friends Greg & Jasmine for inspiring us to do this trip and providing an itinerary to follow and many chats and tips to make this trip possible. I think we would have been hesitant to book everything for the trip on our own without your guidance.

Thank you to my Mum Rhonda for looking after our little Lyon of the canine variety, Zoe, for the past month.

Q&A time.

Favourite location in Africa we visited & why:

Shanaugh- Third Bridge (Moremi NP), for the animals and fancy tented accommodation

Jarod - Moremi NP most wildlife

Max - Etosha (Okaukuejo) for animals at waterhole at night

Finlay - Etosha at the water hole because it was one of our first times seeing a lot of the animals and there was so many to watch

Favourite shower:

S - Mobola Island guesthouse

J - Kasane guesthouse

M - Mobola Island

F - Mobola island lodge

Funniest moment:

S - Pedalling on the 6 person cyclo to go across border from Zimbabwe to Zambia.

J - my Tame Impala joke every time I saw an Impala

M - When the Baboon was holding its willy. I thought it was a hot dog

F - pedalling on 6 person bike

When were you the most scared:

S - First night at Third Bridge as was first night in unfenced campsite

J - lion in camp

M - When Jarod farted in the car

F - when the lion walked past our camp and we all had to jump in the car

Best bargain:

S - Two loads of washing done and expertly folded for $10 - so worth it

J - a large painting, two wooden monkeys and a bracelet for $20

M - big hippo for free and apple for $1

F - ‘Free’ trip to Africa

Biggest rip off:

S - 50 Billion Zimbabwe dollar note for $2.50

J - Singapore sling for $39

M - nothing because Mum & Dad paid

F - nothing because Mum & Dad paid

Best tour guide:

S - Kay - Soweto tour

J - Greg

M - Mobola Island river tour and Khwai game drive tour guides

F - the guy at Mobola Island river tour

Favourite African animal:

S - Giraffe

J - Giraffe

M - Warthog

F - Elephants and all the baby animals especially the monkeys

Favourite meal:

S - South African shared meal or Otijiwa Lodge

J - Oryx (Gemsbok) from the restaurant at Otijiwa Lodge

M - Gemsbok steak at Joes Beerhouse Windhoek

F - either the fancy dinner at Otijiwa Lodge or the home cooked one at Victoria Falls

Favourite Spotify song from Africa playlist:

S - Africa by Toto of course

J - Africa by Toto

M - Pata Pata (about dance in Johannesburg)

F - Africa by Toto

Least Favourite part of trip:

S - Jarod’s farts in the car

J - South Africans

M - Dads farts

F - Dads Tame Impala jokes

3 things most looking forward to when home (apart from seeing Zoe):

S

My own space

Good bed mattress

Driving on smooth roads

J

Getting back to building outdoor room

Deer shooting in July

Yoghurt & protein powder for breaky

M

Riding bike with friends

Playing Forza on XBox

Listening to radio next to bed

F

Seeing friends

Knowing when can play soccer

My own bed

[sandjsbeachbumbonanza]

Day 150 – Bermuda gives us the finger

We had an unwelcome surprise this morning. We learned that we now cannot go to Bermuda, so we are scrambling to figure out what to do. The frontrunner is St Kitts & Nevis. We spent most of the day at the Sky Bar on the computer trying to look at options. We took a brief break to visit Joe’s Beerhouse for a late lunch. S had the bratwurst with sauerkraut and J had the roast chicken with barbecue sauce. We split an amazing dessert, vanilla ice cream with cherries cooked in a red wine sauce on top.

When we returned to the hotel, J immediately started out filling out the many forms we will need to get from here to the US.

We then went up to happy hour and got back on the case. After many hours of searching, we think we know where to go after the US. Sadly the UK entry requirements are draconian. Even if you return from a non-red list country, you have to quarantine in a residence or hotel for up to 10 days, during which you must take multiple COVID tests. But hey, the bright side is that you are allowed to leave your quarantine location to take the tests and this is still better than 10 days in an airport hotel room. S does not want to go back to the UK until the restrictions ease, but J has to return for work.

We were so full from our Joe’s Beerhouse lunch that we could only get down tomato soup for dinner. We are both exhausted from today’s last-minute travel upheaval.

[sandjsbeachbumbonanza]

Day 149 – back to Windhoek and COVID test number 16

We had a leisurely morning and popped down to the main area for a few Bloody Marys and some biltong to ready ourselves for our 1h40m light aircraft flight back to Windhoek. The lodge manager, Collin, took us to the air strip. When we got there, we were surprised to see that J’s bag didn’t make it. Apparently it fell out of the Landcruiser on the way to the air strip. That is how bumpy these roads are. Fortunately, the assistant lodge manager had somehow seen it and brought it to the air strip.

We were surprised to see a much larger Wilderness Air Cesna with two pilots to take us back to Windhoek. This was a 13-seater, not our usual 4-seater. Collin said this is the usual plane that is flown from Damaraland to Windhoek. We were happily surprised to see our favourite pilot, from our second flight, who gave us a very smooth ride from Sossuvlei to Walvis Bay. Oddly, he asked to see our tickets. We asked him if he was the same guy that flew us to Walvis Bay. He said yes and that he remembered giving us the tickets, but for administrative reasons he would have had to handwrite us new tickets if we couldn’t find them. After some digging, S managed to find the tickets.

The flight was shockingly smooth and comfortable. After landing, we headed back to the Hilton. The drive took 10 minutes and we were greeted by the same lady who had promised us an upgrade when we returned to the hotel. Sadly, we were stuck in the Diplomatic suite as someone had booked the Presidential suite. The Diplomatic suite has a giant sized bedroom, a large sitting area and two bathrooms, so we were not hard done by the lack of an upgrade. However, we are now really curious as to how massive the Presidential suite must be. S was disappointed that the only gift we received was a fruit bowl, and not another bottle of wine. He is, after all, a Diamond member now.

We asked the Hilton to help us set up our COVID test. After a few phone calls and a lot of faff, we found a place that was open today (Sunday) and had a 24-hour turnaround. There was even a 6-hour turnaround option, which was more double the price. The hotel organised a taxi driver, Daniel, to take us to the COVID testing site. When we arrived, the place was filled with South African travellers filling out forms. One of them was concerned that we were not taking the test within time for our return to the US. S assured him that S had done the maths and we were most certainly within time.

We filled out our forms and were ushered into the testing room. At first we were concerned as we saw a medical examination table and are still suffering from PTSD following our Dr Jellyfinger test. However, the technician just asked us whether we would prefer a swab in our mouth or our nose. We both chose mouth. The test was on the low end of the pain scale and very quick (maybe 3-5 seconds). We should receive our results by email tomorrow.

Daniel then took us to Joe’s Beerhouse. We were hoping to have a bratwurst and some beers. Instead, as soon as we walked in, J asked why the bar was blocked off. We were told that as it is Sunday, they are not allowed to serve alcohol. Unbeknownst to us, in Namibia, alcohol can only be sold between 9am-10pm Monday through Saturday due to COVID. We exited and called Daniel to pick us up and take us back to the hotel. Thankfully the Hilton has interpreted this restriction as not applying to their guests, so we were able to have a few nice drinks at the Sky Bar on the Hilton rooftop. The cocktails were pretty decent and we also shared a MASSIVE meat platter (biltong, droewors and a Polish dried sausage), which we could not finish.

At around 6pm, we headed down to the executive lounge happy hour. We negotiated for some snacks, had a few drinks and found out that dinner was included in the executive lounge. S had a tomato soup and J had a pizza. The food was decent.