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Tourists Under Fire at Otjiwarongo CampsiteJun 08, 2011 (The Namibian/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- AN armed attack on two tourists at an Otjiwarongo campsite has raised fears that crime in the town is spiralling out of control. Vincent Bosch and Karin Vogelaar, a couple from the Netherlands whose visit to Namibia formed part of a one-year Asia and Africa travel adventure, said the attack came as a nasty surprise. "We were very shocked. It is not good for Namibia. And not good for tourism here," Bosch said during a telephonic interview last week. The couple's dream of travelling through Asia and Africa in their yellow Land Cruiser, which started in September 2010, turned into a nightmare on May 27 after they decided to camp at Otjiwarongo before driving to Etosha. The couple arrived in the town shortly after 19h00. Their first stop was at an ATM, where, Bosch says, he suspects someone saw them. They arrived at the campsite, which is surrounded by a double electric fence, and went to sleep in their roof tent, perched on top of the Land Cruiser. "At 1h30, we heard someone rushing up the ladder and zipping open our tent. Suddenly two men climbed into the tent with bright flashlights. Both had guns." The attackers pointed a gun at each of their heads. The couple said they were "shaking" and were ordered to keep quiet and hand over all their cash. When they didn't react quickly enough, the man holding a gun to Vogelaar's head smashed it against her face. The couple immediately handed over the N$2 700 cash they had on them. "It was all we had." But the attackers were not satisfied with the local currency and did not believe Bosch when he told them they didn't have any foreign currency on them. Vogelaar was forced out of the tent and to the ground, while one of the men forced Bosch at gunpoint to remain in the tent. After being forced to open the car, Vogelaar's attacker, and another man who had been waiting on the ground, took a number of items, including a GPS, a mobile phone and the car keys. Vogelaar and Bosch, who had in the meantime been forced to the ground too, were surprised that as the men were finishing up, another vehicle entered the campsite. According to the couple, one of the three robbers ran up to the "Namibian businessman", and robbed him of N$2 000. Then the three fled the campsite. According to the owner of the campsite, the police have not made any arrests yet. He, along with a number of residents at Otjiwarongo, said he doubted whether the police were doing their best to solve crimes at the town. "I have more trust in the security firm I hire than in the police. It is unfortunate, but that is the case," he said. He said the three armed robbers must have had inside help to get access to the campsite, which is surrounded by two electric fences. "They burrowed tunnels underneath both the fences. But someone must have arranged it for them from the inside," he said. He says he was "dissatisfied" with the police work done since the robbery. Bosch and Vogelaar said they tried their best to put the incident behind them and continued on to Etosha. "No, we try not to let this ruin our trip. That would be the worst thing to do," Bosch said. But the experience here, and another robbery in Botswana, have left a bad taste of the country in their mouths. "The countries we thought would be the most dangerous turned out to be safe. And the countries we were told would be safe turned into out to be dangerous". |