The cheapest bus ride in Africa

It’s that holiday time of the year, when many people take their annual leave and travel home to spend the holidays with their families.

Two weeks before Christmas people working in areas like Windhoek, Walvis Bay, Lüderitz and Oranjemund start to make their way home to the rural areas. As the largest percentage of Namibians hail from the Owambo regions, buses and minibuses are usually full as they carry passengers to the North.

I found this photo from 1980 in an old magazine with the caption ‘The cheapest bus ride in Africa – Katutura to Owambo for only R10’. In those days FP du Toit Transport provided passenger services in double-decker buses with a seating capacity of 172 passengers (a capacity that would no longer be allowed today). The passenger service was especially introduced for Owambo workers employed elsewhere in the country. It ran between Windhoek and Oshakati, leaving Windhoek on Friday evenings and returning on the Sunday. FP du Toit Transport no longer runs passenger lines, but is one of the biggest cargo transport carriers in Namibia today.

A trip to the North on a minibus now costs around N$400 and there has been an increase in the price in the last few months due to the escalating cost of fuel.

The photo takes us not only on a trip to the North, but on a trip down memory lane.

To all our readers travelling home for the season we wish you ‘Safe & happy travels’.