Will be in the city for a few hours and was wondering what the best way to experience Windhoek...are there shops/museums? Or is the best bet to go to a hotel and venture out from there. Any city tours? or am I dreaming about something that organized!!

I can't give much advice never having been there except on short business trips. But do remember that the airport is a fair drive away from the city so you will have to allow the best part of an hour each way. There are heaps of tour operators and though they focus mainly on the safari market they must have Windhoek itineraries too. It's a small but spread out town in an attractive, hilly setting. If you do go the hotel route you have a choice between the central ones with easy access on foot to shops, or those a bit outside the town with nice landscaping, pools etc.

There are some interesting shops - fur coats anyone? karakul? And if that turns your stomach a bit maybe some African souvenirs? I bought an unusual woven tie from a street vendor that turned out to have been made in Senegal. Or maybe semi precious stones? No idea what the museum scene is.

Something I have done that would be possible if time allows was a charter flight to the dunes at Sossusvlei. Although I am sure the best way to enjoy them is to stay over for a night or two, they are magnificent from the air and it saves you an awful lot of driving through the desert.

Windhoek is a one-off in a low-key way. The German influence is still very noticeable in, for example, the shop names and a legacy of decent beers. (It takes me by surprise to see someone quaffing a beer at 10 in the morning at a sideway cafe. And it's the only place where I've seen people - Germans at that - put ice in their beer in the summer.) It's not a "have to see before you die" kind of place but it definitely has a quiet appeal - for me at least.