Minen Hotel

You stay at Minen Hotel in Tsumeb, a mining town in northern Namibia. The hotel has stood for a hundred years, with air-conditioned rooms, a pool, and a beer garden under the trees. Tsumeb is the nearest town to Etosha National Park, one hundred kilometres northwest — close enough for a day trip to see the wildlife, far enough to sleep without park gates closing behind you.

The rooms have mosquito nets and refrigerators. The restaurant serves German dishes, a legacy of the colonial mining companies that once ran the town. The beer garden is shaded, with tables set out where you can sit with a drink after the heat of the day.

Tsumeb itself is small, with fifteen thousand people. The mine that gave the town its name closed when the ore ran out, then reopened under local ownership to work the upper levels. The smelter still operates, and the town holds a copper festival each year. The hotel is on Omeg Street, named for the original mining company.

Etosha National Park covers twenty-two thousand square kilometres. The pan at its centre is dry for most of the year, drawing animals to the waterholes where you can watch them drink.