Namibia — the world of diversity within boarders of a country
Namibia is the only country in the history of the African continent that used to be a colony of another African country. It gained its independence from South Africa in 1990 after a bush war of almost 25 years. Nevertheless, South African rand is widely accepted in the country to this day alongside Namibian dollar with the exchange rate 1:1. Previously to South African rule, the country was a German colony and German influences can be observed to this day.
Sparse population of just 2.5 million people inhabit this country which is roughly the size of France which makes it one of the least populated countries in the world. The basis of the economy forms the mining for much sought after valuables by the western world such as diamonds, uranium, gold and silver.
Namibian lands are perfectly flat and most of the roads are made out of gravel and more often than not quite challenging to drive on — before heading for a road trip you should make sure that your car can handle a little bit of sand and dust. On the other hand, British folks can feel at ease thanks to the left-side traffic (as well as a number of other countries in the East and Southern Africa.)
Namibia is an extremely diverse country in terms of its people, wildlife as well as the landscape. It has a great number of sites and places to visit within its savannah flatlands and desert dunes bordering with the country’s west coast.
Hoba Meteorite
The Hoba meteorite lies on the farm “Hoba West”, not far from Grootfontein, in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. It is officially the biggest meteor that has ever been found on earth in one piece.
The meteor has fallen in this exact spot some 80 000 years ago and given its weight of around 50 tons, has never been moved.
This giant rock which has dimensions of 2.70 x 2.20 meters and a height of 1 meter, is estimated to be between 200 and 400 million years old. — definitely the oldest and the most out of this world thing (pardon the pun) I have ever seen! It consists mainly of iron (82%) and nickel (16%) and some trace elements.
Etosha National Park
The dry savannah lands of the park are so perfectly flat that the wildlife can be sometimes spotted from miles away. Even though the conditions here are harsh and some days are a fight for survival as the land is subjected to frequent draughts, numerous animal species have adapted to live here.
Water sources here are scarce and every water hole in the area provides an oasis that becomes a busy centre, a destination where all sort of species descend from above beating their wings, march on their paws or stamp on their hooves; from tiny meerkats to giant elephants, trembling with fear impalas to proud lions, all meet side by side, and for once united in their purpose, cease-fire forgetting for a few moments about their place in the food chain or any sort of hierarchy to satisfy their most basic of needs.
Himba village
The Himba are indigenous people who live in Kaokoland, a vast stretch of land in northwestern Namibia and bordered by Angola to the north and the Skeleton Coast and Atlantic Ocean to the west. I have visited one of their villages in the area of Otjititongwe, couple of hours south-west of Etosha National Park.
The tribesmen are keen to receive visitors to share their culture as well as show off some of their rituals. They ask for a donation of $10 per visitor to contribute to their community and also use the opportunity to sell their crafts.
The tribe predominantly grow crops and farm livestock such as sheep and goats and most importantly the cows that determine their wealth — their simple lifestyle has not changed in centuries. Speaking of Himba people it is hard to omit their distinctive clothing (or lack of thereof) with their attire only covering what really is necessary for some decency (though not by European standards). This very much puts things into perspective and portrays how by our culture we have been programmed to perceive nudity as sexual or inappropriate, yet surrounded by it in another context, it becomes normal and natural.
What Himba women have in common with any other ladies in different parts of the world is that they are also prepared to suffer to improve their looks. Their incredible hairdos can take hours to prepare and they are created using goat hair, butter and mud.
They are also high maintenance — women sleep on wooden pillows so the elaborate styling doesn’t get ruined at night! Various hairstyles vary in degrees of complicity and also reflect their status in society as well as their age.
Little girls typically have two plaits of braided hair called ozondato; the fact that young girls hit puberty is made obvious by their braids covering their face helping to avoid male attention; ladies ready to marry wear their braids tied back, and finally those who are married or bore their first child add animal skin headdress to their outlook. The marriage is very important within their culture, yet polygamy outside of the marriage is openly encouraged to both men and women.
The areas inhabited by the Himba are lacking water, hence although baths occur, they are luxury and aren’t frequent. The tribe, similarly to the other aspects of life has also found their own way of dealing with hygiene — they use smoke to purify themselves. The clothes are ‘cleaned’ by being folded around some incense made from the wood.
The people cover their skin with the red ointments made out of ground ochre and fat — the red colour which it gives to the skin is considered to be a sign of beauty — but the people do not use it in vain — it also protects their skin from the sun and repels insects.
Cheetah Park
Namibia is known as the cheetah capital — generally this is a fact that should make most Namibians proud. However, some cheetahs, opportunistic by nature, get a taste for the sheep –and once they take liking on those hooved walking lamb kebabs dressed in wool-sweaters totally unprepared to fight for their lives, they become regulars at farms in search for some convenience food. This creates some sort of conflict of interest with the local farmers.
They resort to shooting the specimen who become too comfortable hunting around their settlements. This situation has been tackled by one of the farmers and landowners who has had devoted his time into capturing the sheep-eaters and moving them into his land where the animals can spend the rest of their lives in peace and also with a daily delivery of fresh blood steak which they love so much anyway. The park, enormous in size is home to around 15 cheetahs — all sharing a common trend of punctuality when the food delivery is coming.
The farmer also keeps three cheetahs at home as pets and his possession guards of the sort (I don’t reckon anyone would ever dare to burglar his house!)– each of them has either been orphaned or abandoned by their mother and found at a young age.
Seeing a toddler son of our host playing jauntily around and totally minding his own business amongst these predators, (whom I would think could be the easiest and totally defenceless target, perhaps even likely to be confused for a slightly overgrown rodent), made me relax and fully enjoy petting and playing with these spotted kitties.
Namib desert
The arid Namib desert which takes up the strip along the Atlantic coastline is cosidered to be the oldest in the world. I have camped in the desert somewhere along the way between Otjititongwe and Swakopmund in a completely remote place very far from any human settlements.
The sky at night in the Namib desert is the most spectacular sight — with no artificial light anywhere around and not a single cloud, the night is lighten up by a million of stars. So I decided to sleep outside by the camp fire and admire the stars which seemed a wonderful idea.
As wonderful as it was dozig off amongst shooting stars , I had a sudden change of heart after a scorpion crept up on me! And once again, the concept of sleeping in a tightly zipped tent seemed like the most appealing option…
Cape Cross Seal Colony
Cape Cross is a headland within the Skeleton Coast on the Atlantic ocean some 120 km north of Swakopmund and is inhabited by hundreds of Cape fur seals. An interesting fact is that according to the government research the colony consumes more fish than the entire fishing industry can catch.
Swakopmund
Established by the German colonists in 1892, Swakopmund is a coastal town and a great base for anyone wishing to engage in some desert sports. The town has a very European feel to it not only thanks to the architecture but also because of the fact that the town seems to be mainly inhabited by white Africans, descendants from both German and South African rule.
Desert activities
Quad biking
One way to explore the Namib desert is speeding up and down the sand dunes on a quad bike. Leaving the view of Swakopmund city life behind, I followed my guide further and further into the sandy nothingness. As I haven’t been blessed with a trace of sense of direction myself, I kept my fingers crossed that he’d remember the way back.
Having no previous experience of steering any vehicle on wheels besides my pedal bike, to me, racing at 40 km an hour seemed like an absolute craziness. In fact that was the time when I discovered that my survival instincts are really quite strong-I couldn’t bring myself to follow my crazy guide up a practically vertical (well, almost) wall of an insanely high sand dune (watching other people deceiving gravitation is entertaining enough). The concept of health and safety in Africa can sometimes vary from the one back home and a good-old-common-sense can sometimes come in handy.
Snowboarding
Snowboarding is another way to make the most out of the visit to Namib desert. My survival instincts might have kicked in again when I attempted my first slide down (which sadly resulted in swallowing enough sand to keep me going until lunch and also greet between my teeth long after the trip was over).
The whole experience has been captured in the awesome video below:
Camping in Sesriem
Sesriem is a small settlement on the Namib desert located 344km south of Swakopmund. It is a typical base for those visiting Namib-Naukluft Park and Sossusvlei.
The camp is frequently visited by wild animals such as wildebeest of oryxes that are tempted by human-made water sources.
Namib-Naukluft Park
Namib-Naukluft is a place of colour contrasts, a little paradise for every aspiring photographer. This is the older part of Namib desert which is indicated by the red colour of the dunes — much darker than the yellow sands surrounding Swakopmund.
Fish River Canyon
The Fish River Canyon is the second biggest canyon in the world, after the Grand Canyon in the USA. It is around 160km long and 27m wide and 550 m deep. It is situated in the south of Namibia, not too far from the South African boarder. The canyon tells the geological history of 1.5 billion years.
