Making Great Camping Affordable
COVID-19 update
We are still under lock down. Namibia currently only had 16 confirmed cases, 8 of which have recovered. The rest of the world is nearing 3 million cases, with almost 3 hundred thousand deaths…. So, we are hoping that the lock down will end on May the 4th. Yes, I get the Star Trek reference. 😉
We are all hoping that the lock down will be eased a bit. If there are no new cases in Namibia despite wider testing, it only makes sense to allow Namibians to travel in Namibia. With the above mentioned millions of COVID-19 still ravaging the rest of the world and a vaccine months away, we are not likely to see international tourists soon.
There are a few air lines that do a proper quick test to ensure that no COVID-19 positive person gets on to a plane, symptoms or no. If those flights could make it to Namibia, we could get some much needed international visitors. What they would get in return is a holiday in a country where you can travel freely, and not have to worry about contracting the disease.
I’m sure that’s an attractive prospect.
Tour operator impact
Anyways, what’s a tour operator to do with no international clients? The last few years the international clients with a favorable exchange rate created a large enough pie so that everyone could eat as much as they could handle, and not finish the thing.
The Namibian locals have just gone through years of drought and don’t have a lot of disposable income. Of course, since the good times in the tour industry for the last few years, the whole tourism industry is eyeing the same, much smaller pie of just the locals. What is undeniable is that we all will have to take much smaller bites, and be really creative in what we offer.
Camping
We used to go camping a LOT while I was in the oil and gas industry. There is another industry that has seen a sharp downturn in the last few years. Looks like I have a habit of jumping on to sinking ships, but I digress. Back to camping. Camping equipment is really expensive, and that makes camping expensive. Someone once said that camping is rich people spending a lot of money to live like poor people.
It has also been said that the very rich and the very poor have the best views. The case in point on the right is the view of the Spitzkoppe mountain, as seen from the community that formed close to Spitzkoppe.
There is a really expensive luxurious lodge on the other side of Spitzkoppe. I suspect that they will be offering quite a few cheap deals during the lock down, but it will still be out of reach of the common folk. Eyeing that little crusty pie, the Namibians now have the power in their hands now to demand low prices, and good service. The tour industry is over a barrel and we will just have to take it.
Baking a little pie to the side, there are not a lot of people offering camping tours. I have a feeling that just one night out in the wilderness might just be in the reach of a lot of Namibians that could not previously afford it. Awesome Chapters also has the gear already to make this a possibility, and no one can compete on price. My challenge now is to get this offering out to the people of Walvis Bay.
Thing is, we only have one shot at it before the other hungry wolves cotton on, and join the fray. Not that I mind a little competition… I would just like a little head start.
😀
So, we have been doing the math and working on the site to make camping tours a reality. This is the camping page on the Awesome Chapters page. It’s still a work in progress, and what I will be returning to once I have finished procrastinating here.
Until next week!
