Visiting friends and neighbours on the edge of the Namib

‘LEKKER! Visiting Friends and Neighbours' is a celebration of love for the land and its inhabitants in the arid but fascinating region between the Namib and the Naukluft. Garnished with LEKKER! recipes.

By  Ria Henning-Lohmann and Kathrin Schulze Neuhoff

 Want more LEKKER! ?  This time Kathrin and Ria are travelling together and visiting their neighbours and now friends from their home farm district on the NamibRand and in the Naukluft. And once the neighbourhood even heads all the way to the east of the country to the Kalahari. The resulting book provides an exciting insight into the very different lives of the people who have found their home or paradise in this barren yet incredibly diverse and fascinating region.

LEKKER! Visiting Friends and Neighbours is now the second volume about life far away from civilisation.
But only this book we have produced in two language versions. After all, English is the official language of Namibia.

The book is also sold in Namibia. After a long journey on a container ship, it is now being sold by the co-editor Kathrin Schulze Neuhoff on her farm Ababis to various bookshops in Swakopmund and Windhoek. Detailed information on Namibian sales outlets is also available on Tel: +264 (0)63 29 33 62

The region on the edge of the Namib Desert and at the foot of the Naukluft Mountains is characterised by its beauty and diversity, its abundance of wildlife and its unspoilt nature. It is also known as the region of the three passes: Spreetshoogte Pass, Remhoogte Pass and Gamsberg Pass provide the link between the central country and the great desert.

However, the often harsh climatic conditions make life there a challenge. The Ababis farm is located in the centre of this region in the midst of a grandiose, but also unforgiving nature - which constantly challenges its inhabitants: Be it long periods of drought, torrential rains or plagues of locusts!

No matter what situation the people in the Naukluft and the surrounding area of Ababis Guest Farm find themselves in, they all have to face the same challenges: extreme temperatures, droughts, heavy rainfall and raging rivers. And above all, the incredible beauty and vastness of Namibia's barren landscapes, where the nearest neighbour 30 kilometres away is already considered close. What kind of people live there? What connects them to this landscape? What characterises them?

For this book, farmer Kathrin Schulze Neuhoff and photographer Ria Henning-Lohmann visited their neighbours and friends in the region around the Ababis farm.

They went on farm tours, shared meals and listened to many exciting stories that provide a fascinating insight into life in the wilderness.  
The people and their stories are as diverse as the landscapes between the Namib and the Naukluft - whether as sheep farmers, balloon drivers, cattle farmers, guest farm operators, bush pilots, olive farmers, shop owners, horse breeders, desert enthusiasts or solar experts. The result is an inspiring illustrated book with personal stories, impressive pictures and LEKKER!recipes.
Let it surprise you!

Note for all Swiss people: We now have a dealer who sells the book directly in Switzerland: Tracks4Africa

Kathrin and Ria have already done several projects together for the Ababis guest farm.

In 2019, they took the risk of producing a cookery book about the farm cuisine at Ababis. They had no idea whether anyone would be interested in it - apart from their own guests. But the book did the rounds and there is now even a third edition: once again carefully revised and with a newly designed hard cover. That encouraged us to do more!

And so Kathrin's approach to the photographer Ria for a new collaborative book was immediately well received. This book was another great adventure and a big challenge, because there was always something coming up ...  But at the same time, these circumstances also provided a lively insight into the lives of its inhabitants.

But it's about more than just food and the recipes that go with it: The inhabitants' fascinating accounts of their world and their lives are definitely worth reading. And so - little by little - very special excursions and stories into the unique world on the edge of the desert have been created.

So we hope that the effort was worthwhile and that you can say LEKKER! - and that the book will remind you of wonderful times in Namibia or get you in the mood for your upcoming holiday in Namibia.

‘LEKKER’ is Afrikaans and is used for everything beautiful, delicious, tasty and nice.

The title ‘LEKKER! - Visiting friends and neighbours!’ could hardly have been better chosen.
Where the book takes us as ‘visitors’ in 12 easy-to-read and descriptive chapters, with recipes and flying visits, and whisks us away to the Namibian desert, Afrikaans is often spoken. And in this language, the word ‘lekker’ always has a positive meaning. It can mean ‘nice’ or ‘good’, ‘pleasant’, ‘entertaining’ or ‘beautiful’, literally of course also ‘delicious’.
I felt all of these things when reading this atmospherically illustrated book - a successful mixture of travelogue, cookery book and description of various life stories. Reading, leafing through, looking at and dreaming a little with pleasure and interest, all of this came together quite perfectly for me, making the book my favourite summer read this year.
I was only too happy to accept the invitation to ‘a culinary journey of discovery through the wild heart of Namibia around the Namib and Naukluft’ from afar. My thanks for this ‘journey’ go to Ria Henning-Lohmann and Kathrin Schulze Neuhoff, but of course I am also grateful to those neighbours around the Ababis guest farm for sharing their exciting biographies with the readers.
A book recommendation for everyone who likes Namibia, knows Namibia or wants to get to know Namibia, who is interested in Namibian life stories and enjoys cooking.

Jürgen Becker

I discovered and bought your book in the ‘Muschel’ in Swakopmund in January. And today I'm sitting on my little balcony in Oldenburg with the book and reading it properly for the first time, so not ‘just’ looking at the pictures and the recipes ...
As soon as I read the text by Brian Jackman on page 5, I said ‘YES! Exactly!!!’
Long story short: Thank you for writing, illustrating and publishing this culinary travel book about and through a part of my favourite country!
Best wishes from north to south from
Karin Emmelmann