NAMIBIA HIGHLIGHTS

One of the largest game reserves in Africa. Significant to it is the Etosha Pan, the area that makes Etosha game viewing experience unique. 114 Mammals species are found, several are rare and endangered e.g. rhino, cheetah and black-faced impala. Etosha's elephants are the largest in Africa, wildebeest, zebra, hyena, lions, cheetah, leopard, giraffe, antelope species and about 340 bird species are also found in the area. The area has about 30 springs and waterholes that provide excellent game viewing and photographic opportunities.

Amongst the high dunes of the enormous sand sea there is a clay pan, which was clearly formed by water. The pan only fills up once within several years, though, when there has been sufficient rain in the area. The famous star dunes of Sossusvlei tower around the depression, offering thousands of themes to photographers – the most beautiful ones early in the morning and late in the afternoon when light and shadow create a more three-dimensional appearance of the landscape.

The canyon of the Fish River is one of the main attractions in southern Namibia. Many call it the second largest canyon on earth and compare it to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River in the US. Some argue that the Fish River Canyon is only the second largest in Africa, after the narrow valley of the Blue Nile.

Naked rock rises from lush vegetation between cascades of frothy white waterfalls – a green island in the middle of the barren brown landscape of the surrounding mountains. The Epupa Falls are among the many attractions of Kaokoveld in the far northwest of Namibia

The Kaokoveld is regarded as one of the last wild and secluded areas in Namibia – even though tourism has increased considerably during the past years. As yet, travelling routes concentrate on a few villages and connecting roads. The largest part of this huge land, especially the west, is scarcely populated or not at all. Getting there is adventurous to say the least and only possible by 4x4 vehicles.

Twyfelfontein remains one of the country’s favourable attractions and since June 2007 enjoys the status of being Namibia’s first World Heritage Site, securely tucked away between the granites of an ancient, arid region. Its name when translated directly, means “doubtful fountain” still has most people “doubtful” on the true purpose of the rock art. The site is unusual in Africa as it has both carvings (petroglyphs) and paintings (pictograms).

The Caprivi in the north-east of Namibia is a narrow strip of land, 450 km long and up to about 100 km wide, which was added to Namibia’s main body like an artificial limb. It was conceived on the drawing board in 1890 as a result of a swap agreement between Imperial Germany and Great Britain. The name of the newly acquired strip of land was chosen in honour of the German chancellor of the time, Count Leo von Caprivi.

In downtown Windhoek it is often the many examples of German colonial architecture under the dazzling blue African sky, which are selected as subjects for photos: the equestrian monument commemorating the casualties of the 1904 uprising; behind it the Alte Feste fort, lined by palm trees; Christuskirche  (Christ’s Church)  in  front  of the well-kept gardens of Tintenpalast (Ink Palace), the House of Parliament; and the neatly preserved railway station northwest of the city centre.

The Namib Naukluft Park is the largest nature conservation area in Africa, extending between the tarred road Aus-Lüderitz in the south and the Swakop River in the north, and from the Atlantic coast in the west to the highland in the east. The desert – so vast, so isolated, so inhospitable but nevertheless so diverse, so colourful and so much alive.

Embracing eastern Namibia and western Botswana, the Kalahari forms a large basin which stretches from north-eastern Namibia down to South Africa. Lines of parallel red dunes, usually with tufts of tall grass, are a characteristic feature. Due to underground water gnarled old acacias can often be found in the valleys between the dunes. As unbelievable as it may sound: this dry, inhospitable landscape is the habitat of many animal species.

More than 100 years old, is situated on a forbidding and varied stretch of coast. The grey Gneiss serves as an attractively austere backdrop to the town and its buildings, some of which are gaily coloured. The history of Lüderitz fills volumes. It is about Portuguese seafarers, British whalers and sealers, a merchant from Bremen and German fortune-hunters

Namibia's second biggest town and traditional "summer capital", is one of the most surreal places in the country. You approach the town through the endless, windswept expanses of the Namib Desert, one of the world's largest wilderness areas. Greeted by the boom of the surf on the notorious Skeleton Coast, an ever-present reminder of the treacherous and icy Atlantic beyond the desert, you move through mist and Bavarian spires and elaborate Germanic architecture rise into view.

So-called Bushmanland can roughly be divided into two areas. The western part covers about 9,000 km² from the village of Omatako, east of Grootfontein, to Tsumkwe. Approximately 4,500 members of the !Kung San live in this area. In 2003 they established N#a Jaqna, a communal conservancy which uses income derived from tourism for nature conservation and community development. Another conservancy, Nyae Nyae, is situated in eastern Bushmanland.

The  region is well known for its minerals and semi-precious stones and many Damara have turned to small-scale mining, selling their stones along the roads leading into and out of their settlements. The majority of Damara live in the northwestern regions of the country but others are found widely across Namibia.for its minerals and semi-precious stones and many Damara have turned to small-scale mining, selling their stones along the roads leading into and out of their settlements. The majority of Damara live in the northwestern regions of the country but others are found widely across Namibia.

Red dunes, vast plains and rugged mountains make up the serene landscape between the inhospitable Namib Desert and the escarpment of the interior plateau. The seasons supply gentle dots of colour - sometimes whitish-yellow, sometimes light green grass. The area is considered one of the oldest desert in the world, having endured arid or semi-arid conditions for at least 55 million years.

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