Namibia Rules & Etiquette

Rules & Etiquette

Namibians are very proud of their country. It is a well developed country (albeit still a developing nation) with all the modern amenities and technologies. Don't show up wearing khaki shorts and a safari hat; people will laugh. In fact, Namibians refer to this kind of tourist as The Khakis in a derogative manner. And if you ask where the 'real' Africa is (i.e. the Africa of Tarzan), Namibians may very well be offended. It is customary when greeting someone to ask them how they're doing. It's a simple exchange where each person asks "How are you?" (or the local version "Howzit?") and responds with a correspondingly short answer, and then proceed with whatever your business is about. It's a good idea to do this at tourist info booths, in markets, when getting into taxis, even in shops in Windhoek (though it's normally not done in some of the bigger stores in the malls).