This title could easily be misunderstood! We are not talking here about opening up Africa to the Chinese, who snaffle here as well. For example, the contract for the new Windhoek airport in Namibia. Or the new police building in the same town. Or … (Let’s leave that because we might need a visa for China again in the future!)

Some days ago we sat on the sunny terrace of the Brewer and Butcher pub in Swakopmund Bay and enjoyed a drink. At the next table I watched a local who leafed through the pages in the Republikein. A newspaper that appears in Afrikaans; a language of which I only know a few words. But the headline on page 3 made my heart jump for joy. I also had enough imagination to translate it.

The headline said that Botswana is also opening its borders. It seems like we caught exactly the right moment to fly to southern Africa! One realizes here that it doesn’t work without tourism because far too many jobs depend on it! (We are happy that we can help to preserve or create jobs!)

Ps. To cross the borders into neighboring countries, you also need a negativ Covid 19 test! But we now know how to get it from experience…