The morning air in Khorixas is cool enough to see your breath, and the dust from the gravel roads hangs low over the town until the sun climbs. I woke before light today, not for any particular reason, just the habit of these dry-season days, and stood on the guesthouse veranda watching the sky turn from charcoal to pale gold. The water truck was already making its rounds, that familiar groan of the engine echoing off the tin roofs, and I thought about how central that sound has become to this town. It is day six here, and I am beginning to understand Khorixas not as a stopover but as a place with its own rhythms, its own struggles, its own quiet dignities.
The water situation is the thing that keeps pressing itself into every conversation. I walked down to Donkerhoek yesterday afternoon, past the rows of shacks and the empty standpipes, and the dust was thick enough to taste. Residents told me they have had no reliable piped water since December, and the council's twice-weekly deliveries are barely enough for drinking, let alone washing or cooking. Private sellers are charging about twenty Namibian dollars for a five-litre container, which adds up fast when you are trying to feed a family. I met a woman who had queued for two hours with a yellow jerry can, and she laughed when I asked if the water was clean. It is what it is, she said. That phrase has stayed with me.
Today I decided to stay closer to town, to give myself a slower day before the drive north to Etosha. I had breakfast at Dodo's Cafe, which has become a kind of anchor for me here — a simple place with plastic tables and strong coffee, where the owners know the regulars by name. A cappuccino runs about thirty Namibian dollars, and a full breakfast with eggs and toast is maybe eighty, around four or five dollars for the coffee. It is not fancy, but it is honest, and the morning light comes in through the windows and makes the dust motes dance. I sat there for a long time, watching the town wake up, and I thought about how much of life here is about making do with what you have.
After breakfast I walked to the craft market, which sets up along the main road near the shopping centre. The stalls are mostly run by Damara women, and they sell ostrich-shell beadwork, woven baskets, and carved wooden animals. I bought a small bracelet for about fifty Namibian dollars, mostly because the woman who made it told me she had been up since five finishing orders for a tour group. The beadwork is extraordinary — tiny white and brown beads strung into intricate patterns that take days to complete. I have been to this market a few times now, and I am starting to recognise the faces, the way you do in a small town. There is a man who sells hand-carved walking sticks, and he always greets me with a slow nod and a smile, as if we are old friends.
The craft market is one of the few places in Khorixas where the economy feels alive. The town itself is struggling — unemployment is around seventy percent, and many young people have left for Windhoek or the coast. The shops along the main road are mostly empty, and the Khorixas Shopping Centre has a tired, weathered look. But the market has a pulse, a kind of stubborn vitality. I talked to a young woman who sells woven baskets, and she told me that tourism is the only thing keeping her going. She had been to the Damara Living Museum, about ten kilometres south of Twyfelfontein, and she said it was one of the best experiences of her life — not just the crafts, but the way the community tells its own story. I have been meaning to go, but the days have a way of filling up.
In the early afternoon, I drove out to the Khorixas Rest Camp, which is run by Namibia Wildlife Resorts and sits on the edge of town with views over the dry landscape. A bush chalet there costs about six hundred and twenty to eight hundred and fifty Namibian dollars per person sharing, which is around forty dollars, and it is one of the few places where you can sit quietly and watch the sun go down over the mountains. I had a cold drink at their bar and looked at the map on the wall, tracing the road north to Etosha. The camp is a popular stop for self-drive travellers, and I met a couple from Germany who had just come from Twyfelfontein, full of stories about the rock engravings. They asked me about the water situation, and I told them what I knew — the broken pipes, the council deliveries, the twenty-dollar containers. They looked shocked, and I realised how easy it is to drive through this landscape without seeing the struggle underneath.
The upcoming Heroes' Day on the twenty-sixth has been on my mind. It is a public holiday here, a day to remember those who fought for independence, and there is a gravity to it that I am still learning to feel. In Khorixas, the political history runs deep — this was the capital of the Damaraland bantustan during the apartheid era, and the United Democratic Front has strong roots here. I have been reading about the town's history, about how it was a kind of administrative centre for a people who were never given a real homeland, and I think about that legacy every time I walk past the old government buildings. The mayoral gala dinner was held recently, and I heard the patron urged residents to unite ahead of the local elections. There is a sense of anticipation in the air, a feeling that something is shifting.
The water crisis is not just an inconvenience; it is a political issue, a daily reminder of the inequalities that persist long after independence. I spoke to a man at the petrol station on the C35, and he told me that he had been without water for three weeks, that he was buying it from a private seller at prices that left him with almost nothing for food. He was not angry, exactly, but there was a weariness in his voice that I have heard in many places across Namibia. The renovations at the Khorixas State Hospital are also dragging on, I am told, with patients sharing wards and the work nowhere near complete. It is easy to see why people feel let down, why the UDF won the last local election here, and why the roadworks on the Kamanjab–Khorixas road feel like a kind of progress, even if they cause delays.
Tomorrow I am planning to drive out to the Petrified Forest, about forty kilometres from town, to spend some proper time there. The guided walks take you through fossilised trees that are millions of years old, and there is something humbling about standing next to a trunk that has been stone for longer than humans have existed. The entrance fee is around a hundred and fifty to two hundred Namibian dollars for foreign visitors, about ten dollars, and it is worth every cent. I have been once already, but I want to go back with a slower pace, to sit in the shade and listen to the wind in the dry grass. There is a calm in those ancient places that I find hard to describe, a sense of time stretching out beyond human memory.
The lunar eclipse on the twenty-eighth has been on my mind too, a partial eclipse that will be visible from Khorixas in the early morning, with maximum concealment around six-thirteen. I have been checking the sky every night, looking for the moon. The forecast is clear, which is good, but I know these things can change. I think I will drive out to a quiet spot on the edge of town, away from the lights, and just watch. There is something about witnessing an eclipse in a place like this, where the stars are so bright they seem close enough to touch, that feels almost sacred. I have been telling everyone I meet about it, and I have heard a few other travellers planning to do the same.
The practicalities of living here are not always easy, but they are manageable if you plan. There is one bank in town, with an ATM that is apparently not consistently reliable, so I have been carrying cash from Outjo, where the ATMs are better. A basic guesthouse in the town centre costs about a hundred and fifty to four hundred Namibian dollars a night, roughly fifteen dollars, and a meal at an inexpensive local eatery runs about eighty-five to a hundred and fifty. It is not an expensive place to live, but the lack of services can be frustrating. There is no public bus, and the roads are gravel, so a car is essential. I have been careful about driving at night, because the animals and the dark make it dangerous, and I always carry extra water.
As the day cooled toward evening, I found myself back at Dodo's Cafe, sitting outside with a local draught beer, about twenty-five Namibian dollars, and watching the light change over the town. The street was quiet, a few bakkies rolling past, a dog sleeping in the shade. A woman I had seen at the craft market walked by and waved, and I waved back, feeling a small sense of belonging. Khorixas is not an easy town, but it has a way of getting under your skin. The dust, the heat, the water trucks, the stubborn resilience of its people — it all adds up to something real, something honest.
I have been thinking a lot about what it means to live in a place like this, to be a resident rather than a visitor. The water crisis is not a problem I can solve, but I can acknowledge it, carry my own jerry can, and listen to the stories of the people who have been here much longer than I have. That feels like a start. And as I finish this day, with the stars beginning to appear and the eclipse three mornings away, I am grateful for this slow, dusty education.
Everything I have mentioned today — the craft market, the Petrified Forest, the best places to get cash, and the eclipse viewing spots — is in the episode notes, along with links to book any of it ahead. I will be here for a couple more days, and then it is north to Etosha, but Khorixas will stay with me, I think, long after I have left.