MORNING

6.43 am.

It’s a misty Sunday morning in November. I leave my travel partner Alice asleep at Atlantic Villa in Swakop and stroll down to the beach, barely 200 m away. We got a good deal at the villa, splashing out on creature comforts after a week of camping in Damaraland.

7.07 am.

The beach is empty except for a big dog that pauses its patrol when it reaches a dead seal, washed up on the high-water mark. Then I see people, and stroll over. Pieter and Christelle Kruger lived in Gauteng for 13 years, but they tell me they’ve returned to “heaven”. Swakopmund is indeed many a Namibian’s idea of heaven: cool weather, access to a variety of shops and restaurants, good schools… It offers a very good standard of living.