Windhoek - Post Report Question and Answers
What is your housing like? What are typical housing sizes, locations, and commute times for expatriates?
The housing is the best we've ever had at any assignment. Big enough for our family with great outdoor living spaces. Pools are common for stand-alone houses. Traffic is never a problem, as long as you don't have to drive between 13h00 and 14h00 when everyone in the city picks their kids up from school. Travel time to the embassy is six minutes by car. - Jul 2024
Many of the other expats I worked with lived in one level, stand alone houses; many with swimming pools (thank goodness). Due to the perpetual drought, intensive gardening and lawns are looked down upon and discouraged. We had a nice one level home with three bedrooms and three bathrooms, a separate staff quarters/laundry room, two car garage, pool and a nice 'stoep' (covered outdoor patio area). - Jan 2021
The housing is really nice here. Houses are large and most have swimming pools with tarps and heaters. the houses have good security systems. They also have braais (african bbq). It is hilly and rocky here so many of the yards are covered in rocks (ours has no grass) and the driveways are often steep. - Jan 2016
Almost all houses come with garage, pool, braai, maid's quarters and yard, but not necessarily grass. The commute is 10-15 minutes. Traffic is minimal. - Jun 2015
The commute to the embassy will take 5-10 minutes, tops, depending on what part of town your house is located in (the embassy housing is scattered all over), but you will need a car to get you there, and hiring a driver isn't really done here. All of the houses here have their own pools (it gets into the 100s in the summer, so you'll use them, but they're all fenced off for safety). And while the bedrooms tend to be on the small side, there's always something interesting about the house that everyone else will envy---be it the size of the pool or the shadiness of the braii (barbecue) area or the set-up of the kitchen. - May 2013
Houses are large and most have a pool. Commute time averages 15 to 20 minutes. - Jan 2013
No commute times to speak of - nothing is more than 15 minutes away in all of Windhoek. Houses in the housing pool are nice, with yards (not much grass- mostly rocks and plants). Most homes have excellent braai (BBQ)and pool areas. Some houses are quite large and others quite small. They are spaced all around Windhoek but mostly in the expat neighborhood. The housing committee will determine which house you live in -- and many folks can move directly in when they arrive. - Jul 2012
