BEHIND THE SCENES In our new column “Letter from Windhoek” (p 144), Lloyd Zandberg tells us about life in the Namibian capital.

What’s your connection to Namibia? I took my first breath somewhere in Windhoek in 1991. My family later moved to Melkbosstrand, where I went to school and learnt to smoke, and I studied in Cape Town. Four years ago I returned to Namibia to test the waters here. How do you keep busy? I wrote a book of short stories in Afrikaans called Per Ongeluk ( Tafelberg, 2017) and I’m busy with a second book. I’ll also soon go on tour with my oneman show called “Ons is almal só”. During the week I’m the arts and entertainment editor at the newspaper Republikein, and on weekends I drink too much water and not enough wine. What makes Windhoek special? It’s not as cosmopolitan as Cape Town, for example, but it also has craft beer, gin specials, outdoor festivals, art galleries and hipsters. And we have less traffic. Not to mention the red meat! What differentiates a Namibian from a South African? Besides their taste in footwear (South Africans love Salomons, as if they all think they’re serious trail runners), I appreciate Namibians’ honest, almost naïve, approach to life. “Thank you” still means “thank you” and “how are you?” is a real question and not just a passing remark. Your favourite spot in Namibia? The Hartmann Valley in the north-western part of the country always moves me. It’s also the place that ignited my love of photography. And Epupa Falls, simply because it’s my grandfather Charles’s favourite place to write poetry. I like the way he thinks and it’s where many of his thoughts are born.