diff --git a/kr8s/_api.py b/kr8s/_api.py
index 5575c58c..1a41e1c9 100644
--- a/kr8s/_api.py
+++ b/kr8s/_api.py
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ async def _create_session(self) -> None:
             headers=headers,
             verify=await self.auth.ssl_context(),
             timeout=self._timeout,
+            follow_redirects=True,
         )
 
     def _construct_url(
@@ -130,7 +131,7 @@ def _construct_url(
         parts = [base]
         if version:
             parts.append(version)
-        if namespace is not None:
+        if namespace:
             parts.extend(["namespaces", namespace])
         parts.append(url)
         return "/".join(parts)
diff --git a/kr8s/_auth.py b/kr8s/_auth.py
index 9920b5bc..6747f974 100644
--- a/kr8s/_auth.py
+++ b/kr8s/_auth.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.client_key_file: Optional[PathType] = None
         self.server_ca_file: Optional[PathType] = None
         self.token: Optional[str] = None
-        self.namespace: Optional[str] = namespace
+        self._namespace: Optional[str] = namespace
         self.active_context: str = ""
         self.kubeconfig: KubeConfigSet
         self.tls_server_name: Optional[str] = None
@@ -100,6 +100,14 @@ async def ssl_context(self):
                 sslcontext.load_verify_locations(cafile=self.server_ca_file)
             return sslcontext
 
+    @property
+    def namespace(self) -> str:
+        return self._namespace if self._namespace else "default"
+
+    @namespace.setter
+    def namespace(self, value: str):
+        self._namespace = value
+
     async def _load_kubeconfig(self) -> None:
         """Load kubernetes auth from kubeconfig."""
         if isinstance(self._kubeconfig_path_or_dict, str) or isinstance(
@@ -131,8 +139,8 @@ async def _load_kubeconfig(self) -> None:
             self.active_context = self.kubeconfig.contexts[0]["name"]
 
         # Load configuration options from the context
-        if self.namespace is None:
-            self.namespace = self.kubeconfig.current_namespace
+        if self._namespace is None:
+            self._namespace = self.kubeconfig.current_namespace
 
         # If no cluster is found in the context, assume it's a service account
         if not self._context["cluster"]: