I wake up to a “where am i?” moment: I’m in a four-poster bed in a stone-walled room. Vague memories coalesce. Late afternoon arrival at a castle, a German-speaking receptionist checking me in. It doesn’t add up. The evidence is solidly Teutonic, yet I’m pretty sure that yesterday I arrived in Africa.

When my mind finally engages, those bare facts are enough. It could only be one place: Windhoek, capital of Namibia. The immediate mystery is solved, but a more enduring mystery remains. Check the history books, and you’ll find that German rule here lasted for just 25 years, from 1890 to 1915. After that, South Africa called the shots until independence in 1990.

The weight of years should have erased every Germanic trace. But when you walk along Independence Avenue — formerly Kaiser Strasse — the influence is strongly apparent in the architecture: between the pastel-colored modern high-rises there are rows of quaint buildings seemingly translocated from Bavaria. At sidewalk cafes you can savor the superb locally brewed German beer, and during the annual Oktoberfest, the streets echo to the sound of oompah bands. Even the city’s name has retained its original pronunciation: vint-hook (it means “windy corner”).

With a population of just 200,000, Windhoek is not exactly dynamic, but its location at the geographic center of Namibia makes it the ideal base for anyone doing business in the country. The main opportunities lie in mining (diamonds and uranium account for 54 percent of the country’s total exports), fisheries and agricultural services. The fastest-growing economic sector is tourism, especially desert tours and wildlife safaris.

The tourism boom is welcome news, because Namibia’s economy has underperformed for years. The wealth generated by the mineral industry — which employs just 3 percent of the workforce — conceals the stagnation of other industrial sectors. More than half the population lives below the poverty line, and unemployment runs at more than 35 percent.

The apartheid era skewed the economy heavily in favor of the white minority, who account for just 6 percent of the population. To redress this, the government has embarked on a controversial policy of enforced land redistribution similar to that of Zimbabwe. White-owned farms are now subject to compulsory purchase orders. As a result, foreign investment in agriculture is exceptionally risky.

Yet, despite this background, foreign investment is actively encouraged, and Windhoek is small enough to permit business visitors to quickly get to know all of the movers and shakers in the business community. For further encouragement, you need only look to the Namib Desert, which borders the country’s Atlantic coast. There, amid the sand dunes, billions of dollars of diamonds have been extracted. Opportunity can often found in the most unlikely places.

Sightseeing

To make the most of sightseeing in Windhoek, it helps to have a passing interest in colonial architecture. Among the most photogenic buildings are the Tintenpalast, which served as the German-controlled parliament (it was nicknamed the “Ink Palace” because of the amount of bureaucracy it generated); the Christuskirche, an art nouveau Lutheran church; and Windhoek Railway Station, built in Cape Dutch style.

Alte Feste Fort and State Museum (Robert Mugabe Avenue, open daily, admission free) is the city’s best museum, providing a good overview of Namibian history. Fifteen miles from Windhoek lies Daan Viljoen Game Park (http://www.namibweb.com/ daan.htm), where you can see giraffes, zebras and antelope in the wild — no lions or elephants, though. For the full range of big game, it’s worth the flight for a two-night visit to Etosha National Park, 310 miles north of Windhoek — it’s one of the top game parks in Africa. Stay there at Mokuti Lodge (http://www.namibsunhotels.com.na). Another great fly-in destination is Sossusvlei, in the Namib Desert, which boasts some of the world’s biggest sand dunes. Excel lent tours are available with Wilderness Safaris (http://www.wilderness-safaris.com).

Windhoek has very little in the way of nightlife. There are one or two nightclubs, but bars are the main gathering spots after dark. The mood in these places is relaxed, the emphasis not so much on excitement as on Gemütlichkeit — the German word describes a sense of well-being. One of the best places to experience this is at the beer garden of the Thüringer Hof Hotel (http://www.namibsunhotels.com.na).

Info to go

South African Airways (tel 866 722 2476, http://www.flysaa.com) flies from New York (JFK), Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (FLL) and Atlanta (ATL) to Windhoek (WDH), via Johannesburg, South Africa (JNB). Feeder services from cities throughout United States are provided by SAA’s codeshare partner, Delta Air Lines. International flights arrive at Windhoek’s Hosea Kutako Airport, 26 miles east of downtown. The domestic hub is Eros Airport (ERS), situated within the city.

For a comprehensive directory of business links in Namibia, visit http://www.1clickdirectory.com