Desert Nights, The Skeleton Coast And The Cry Of The Fish Eagle. Namibia With Angelina Kalahari

Hello travelers, I’m Jo Frances Penn and in today’s episode, I talk to Angelina Kalahari about Namibia in southwest Africa. We recorded the interview a few months back as I tend to batch my interviews and so it was well before the coronavirus changed our perspective on world travel. But perhaps in difficult times, it’s good to hear about interesting places and people and travel in our imaginations. Those of us with wanderlust are staying indoors under lockdown right now and I must admit to sitting down with my photo albums the other night, looking at past travels and wondering at how much I have taken for granted. Angelina is wonderfully enthusiastic about her beloved Namibia, a country that I have dreamed of ever since I heard about the Skeleton Coast, I think from Clive Cussler in the book of the same name. We talk about the landscape and how the deserts and ocean shore shape the country, as well as its history with Germany and how that impacted the people who live there. Angelina Kalahari is the author of Under A Namibian Sky, as well as other novels and nonfiction books about voice. A former operatic soprano, professional actress, and stage director, Angelina was born in Namibia and now lives in London. Show notes * Language origins in Namibia * The different ecological regions of the country including the Kalahari desert * Why the Namib desert sunsets are the best in the world * The Skeleton Coast where the sand roars * German influence on culture, language, and architecture as well as the darker times of colonialism * Food and drink including Namibian beer * Africa as a ‘possessive mistress’ You can find Angelina Kalahari at AngelinaKalahari.com and on Twitter @angelinakalhari Transcript of the interview Joanna: Angelina Kalahari is the author of Under A Namibian Sky, as well as other novels and nonfiction books about voice. A former operatic soprano, professional actress, and stage director, Angelina was born in Namibia and now lives in London. Welcome, Angelina. Angelina: Hi. It’s lovely to see you. Thank you for having me, and also talking about Namibia. Joanna: It’s great to have you on the show. First up, tell us about your background and also your travel background because you’ve moved around a lot. Angelina: I have yes. I was born in Namibia on a farm, which is probably the best place in the world to be born. Because it’s wide-open spaces and skies, and warm people and exotic animals. I was one of those people who I got to play with Bushman children and learn survival skills. So that was good. And then eventually, I went to Cape Town to school at Cape Town University. And you’re right, I worked as an operatic soprano for most of my life. I did training theater and as an actress and stage director as well. And I did use those skills eventually. But first and foremost, I sang. And I did travel all over the world. I was so lucky, I sang in the most amazing venues you can think of. I won’t bore you with the details because there are lots and lots of countries I can talk about, but we want to talk about Namibia, don’t we? But I will briefly say that I lived in Hong Kong for eight years and that allowed me to also travel in the Orient and to places I would never, ever have gone hadn’t I lived in Hong Kong. So that was amazing. So that’s my background. It was mostly work-related, my travel.