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Namibia is a largely arid country of stark rough-hewn beauty.
The most vivid images are those of a haunting technicolor
landscape of swirling orange dunes, shimmering mirages and
treacherous dust devils. The apparent desolation is deceptive
and plant and animal life and even man has adapted to this
environment. The country is designed almost specially with the
active and adventure seeker in mind. Timeless deserts, thorn
bush savanna, desolate wind ravaged coastlines, majestic
canyons, and sun-baked saltpans are the bounty that awaits the
traveler.
Namibia's top draw is the Etosha National Park, rated as one of
Africa's finest game sanctuaries. The birding experience in the
country is truly superior. On a Namibia safari, the range of
activities you can indulge in the unsurpassable physical
environment is truly impressive. Ballooning over the desert,
skydiving over land and sea, paragliding, whitewater rafting and
sand skiing along coastal dunes are good activities for
starters. More fun games to pick from include abseiling - that
most spectacular of rock sports, coastal and fresh water
angling, desert camel riding, scuba diving, 4x4 desert runs,
hiking and mountaineering.
Namibia has four distinct geographical regions. In the north is
Etosha Pan, a great area for wildlife and heart of Etosha
National Park. The slender Caprivi Strip is nested between
Zambia and Botswana and is a wet area of woodland blessed with a
few rivers. Along the coast is the Namib Desert, which at the
age of 80 million years old, is said to be the world's oldest
desert. At the coast, the icy cold Atlantic meets the blazing
African desert, resulting in dense fogs. The well-watered
central plateau runs north to south, and carries rugged
mountains, magnificent canyons, rocky outcrops and expansive
plains.
Namibia, one and half times the size of France, is very sparsely
inhabited and carries only 1.8 million souls. The people are as
unique as the land they live on. The most intriguing are the
San, otherwise known as Bushmen. These most hardy of people have
a highly advanced knowledge of their environment. It is a
marvelous thing how well they are adapted to their difficult
habitat. Just pause and think that these are the only people in
the world who live with no permanent access to water. In the
Kalahari Desert, one of their domiciles, surface water is not to
be found. Tubers, melons, and other water bearing plants as well
as underground sip wells supply their water requirements.
In Namibia today, Bushmen number about 50,000. Historians
estimate that they have lived, mostly as hunters and gatherers,
for at least 25,000 years in these parts of the world. Bushmen
speak in a peculiar click language and are very gifted in the
arts of storytelling, mimicry, and dance. Namibia's other
people, who are indigenous to the continent, are mostly of Bantu
origin. They are thought to have arrived from western Africa
from about 2,400 years ago. The African groups include the
Owambo, Kavango, Caprivians, Herero, Himba, Damara, Nama and
Tswana.
The Africans aside, other groups comprise about 15% of the
population and have played an important role in the emergence of
the modern nation. White Namibians amount to about 120,00 and
are mainly of German and Afrikaner heritage. Germans arrived in
significant numbers after 1884 when Bismarck declared the
country a German Protectorate. Afrikaners, white farmers of
Dutch origin, moved north from their Cape settlements,
especially after the Dutch Cape Colony was ceded to the British
in 1806. This strongly independent people, whose ancestors had
lived in the Cape from 1652 resented British control.
Two other distinct groups complete the spectrum of Namibia's
people - Basters and Coloureds. Coloured in Namibia and southern
Africa refers to people of mixed racial heritage, black- white
for example. They have a separate identity and culture. This
makes sense considering that Namibia was run by South Africa
after the First World War. Even in pre-Apartheid South Africa,
racial classification was a fine art. The Afrikaans-speaking
Basters, descended from Hottentot women and Dutch settlers of
the Cape. Alienated from both white and black communities, they
trekked northwards, finally founding their own town Rehoboth, in
1871. Baster is actually derived from "bastard", but it is not
derogatory, and the Basters are indeed proud of it.
Namibia's barren and unwelcoming coastlines served as a natural
deterrent to the ambitions of European explorers. That was until
1884 when the German merchant Adolf Luderitz established a
permanent settlement between the Namib Desert and the Atlantic
seaboard that afterwards took his name. Bismarck subsequently
declared the territory covered by Namibia a German colony and
named it Südwestafrika or South West Africa. As German settlers
moved into the interior, conflict was inevitable with the
inheritors of the land.
The German occupation was a particularly unhappy experience for
the Herero. The Herero resented the German's harsh and racist
rule and the effect of the encroachment on their lands on their
livelihood and way of life. On the first day of the year 1904,
the Herero led by Chief Samuel Maharero, rose suddenly and
unexpectedly in arms against their colonial overlords. The Nama
joined the insurrection and the authorities did not regain
control even after six months of trying. Over 100 German
settlers and soldiers died in the uprising. Historians now
consider events that followed to constitute the first genocide
of the twentieth century.
Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha was furnished with a
contingent of 14,000 soldiers and tasked to put down the
rebellion. The governor general of the territory was then
Rudolph Goering -the father of Herman Goering, Hitler's right
hand man. Lothar von Trotha was a generation ahead of his time
and his kind of thinking was to become government policy under
the Third Reich. He argued that the Herero must be destroyed as
a people and he did not wince at the murder of women or
children. At the end of it all, 100,000 Nama and Herero were
killed. The survivors were herded in concentration camps where
unspeakable things happened. The Herero fared very badly and 80%
of her people perished. The population of the Nama diminished by
35-50%.
Windhoek, the capital of 165,000 people is the only true city in
the country. For those traveling to more remote regions, this is
where you settle practical matters. The positive aspects of the
German period can be seen in the charming style of older
buildings in the city. Places of interest in the city include
the State Museum, State Archives, and the Namibia Crafts Centre.
The Dan Viljoen Game Park lies 24 Km west of Windhoek on the
gentle hills of Khoma Hochland. In this resort you find
ostriches, baboons, zebras and over 200 species of birds. The
Waterburg Plateau Park, located 230 km from Windhoek is popular
with weekenders. This extensive mountain wilderness is home to
cheetah, leopard, kudu, giraffe, and white rhino.
Etosha National Park is what brings
wildlife lovers to Namibia. The park is comparable in size and
diversity of species with the best in Africa. The unusual
terrain of Etosha holds savanna grassland, dense brush and
woodland. But it is the Etosha Pan, a depression that sometimes
holds water and covers 5,000 sq km, that is the heart of park.
The perennial springs around the pan, attract many birds and
land animals in the dry winter months. The effect of this
background is magical and some of the best wildlife photographs
have been taken here.
There are 144 mammal species in the park and elephants are
particularly abundant. Some other interesting wildlife here
includes giraffe, leopard, cheetah, jackal, blue wildebeest,
gemsbok and black rhino. The birding is great at Etosha and over
300 bird species have been recorded. You will get best value by
spending at least three days here. There are excellent
accommodation facilities at the three rest camps of Namutoni,
Halali and Okaukuejo. The best time to see animals is between
May and September, when water draws them in huge numbers to the
edge of the pan. Etosha is 400 km to the north of Windhoek by
road.
The Fish River Canyon is unrivalled in
Africa and only the Grand Canyon in the U.S in larger. The
Canyon runs for 160 km and reaches a width of 27 km and depth of
550 m. But size alone does not explain the appeal of the canyon.
You experience incredible views at various points along the rim.
Adventure lovers do not merely come for the views. Hiking
through the canyon is the ultimate endurance adventure for
hikers. There is an established 90 km hiking trail that will
take you 4-5 days to cover.
The trail ends at Ai-Ais hot spring resort where you can unwind.
You are allowed to hike between early May and end of September.
The hike is quite strenuous and needless to say, you must be
physically fit. The authorities disbelieve the capacity of most
people to undertake the hike and will actually insist on seeing
a medical certificate of fitness before allowing you to start
off. Fish River Canyon is 580 km to the south of Windhoek.
The Skeleton Coast has been the graveyard of seafarers and
whales and deserves that morbid name. The problem is the dense
fogs. And woe to the ship wreck survivor who expects respite
onshore! Ahead is the Namib Desert, one of the driest and most
unwelcoming places. Adventure travelers love trekking along the
coastline as they enjoy the stark beauty of the area. To the
south at Cape Cross, you find a seal colony carrying tens of
thousands of seals. The Skeleton Coast Park covers 16,400 sq km
and begins at 355 km northwest of Windhoek.
The Portuguese explorer Diego Cao reached this part of the world
in the year 1486. He is probably one of the people whose
experiences discouraged Europeans from venturing ashore until
the arrival of the Germans 400 years later. Further south is the
Namib-Naukluft National Park, a vast wilderness covering 50,000
sq km. The landscape is very diverse and covers mountain
outcrops, majestic sand dunes, and deep cut gorges. For really
spectacular dunes, the Sossusvlei area is unsurpassed. Here you
have dunes rising to 300 m! The orange tint giants extend as far
as the horizon and the area has an unreal, unforgettable
atmosphere.
To the northeast of the country, the well-watered Kavango and
Caprivi Strip region offers an unspoilt wilderness suitable for
rugged game viewing and camping. The area also promises a feast
for bird lovers. Game reserves in the area include: Kaudom,
Caprivi, Mahango, Mudumu and Mamili. Poachers did great damage
to wildlife during the years of the civil war in neighbouring
Angola. Animal numbers are however building up rapidly. Some of
the wildlife in the region includes leopard, elephant, buffalo,
cheetah, lion and various antelope species. The Caprivi Reserve
falls in an area of swamps and flood plains. Here you have an
opportunity to partake fishing, hiking, game viewing safaris and
river trips in traditional mokoro boats.
In Namibia you can enjoy up to 300 days of sunshine. The coast
is temperate and thermometers run between 5C-25C. Inland,
daytime temperatures range from 20C-34C, but can rise to 40C in
the north and south of the country. Winter nights can be quite
cold and frost occurs over large parts of the country. The rains
inland fall in summer (November-April) and are heaviest in the
Caprivi region. Rains do not much affect travel, but beware of
flash floods in the vicinity of riverbeds. The best time to
travel is over the dry months of March to October, when it is
easier to see animals at waterholes. It is best to avoid the
Namib Desert and Etosha between December and March when it can
get unbearably hot.
You can get by wearing light cottons and linens in summer. Over
winter nights and mornings, you need heavier cottons, warmer
wraps and sweaters. Comfortable walking shoes are essential, as
the ground gets very hot. Some useful stuff to pack includes:
camera, binoculars, sunglasses, sun hats, sunscreen and mosquito
repellant. Be ready for dusty conditions and carry your
clothing, equipment and supplies in dust proof bags. Do not be
tempted to buy items made of ivory. You may not be allowed to
carry them through customs at home. And it also good that you do
not encourage the trade in ivory products that keeps poachers
busy.
Copyright © Africa Point
About the author:
Andrew Muigai is editor of AfricaPoint Insider online
newsletter. It is part of AfricaPoint.com- the Africa travel
website that has helped thousands of travelers discover Africa.
You can view more info on Namibia safari and tours at the
website.
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