Friday, March 8, 2024; Border Crossing: South Africa to Namibia

A long drive from Upington to the gritty town of Reitfontein.

Very easy exiting from South Africa.

Namibia wanted 371 Rands in cash; cards not accepted. All sedans crossing into Namibia must pay this fee for the construction of the roads. We did not have Rands or Namibian dollars in cash. We had US dollars in cash but the Namibians will not take it. What to do? Turn back. Go to Reitfontein and get cash from there. Do we have to reenter South Africa with another entry stamp? No. The South Africans understood our situation and let us go without a stamp. Exiting the SA border post, our status was undefined. We had exited South Africa but were still in South Africa. There were no ATMs in Reitfontein. The only gas station/convenience store people said they could not convert US dollars to ZAR or N$. It looked like we would have to go back to the slightly big town of Aksham and get the transaction done there. Can I purchase something from the store and they charge me for it and add the money we need? They talked to each other about it and agreed. And I did not have to buy anything from the store. They did a straight purchase transaction of 400 ZAR and gave me four 100 ZAR bills with Nelson Mandela on them.