Namibia

The Namib-Naukluft National Park is a national park of Namibia encompassing part of the Namib Desert (considered the world's oldest desert) and the Naukluft mountain range. With an overall area of 49,768 km2, the Namib-Naukluft is the largest game park in Africa and the fourth largest in the world.

The most well known area of the park is Sossusvlei (high sand dunes of vivid pink to orange colors), which is the main visitor attraction in Namibia. A surprising collection of creatures survives in the hyper-arid region, including snakes, geckos, unusual insects, hyenas, gemsboks and jackals.

Etosha National Park is unique in Africa.

The park’s main characteristic is a saltpan so large it can be seen from space. Yet there is abundant wildlife that congregates around the waterholes, giving you almost guaranteed game sightings.

At the same time, Etosha National Park is one of the most accessible game reserves in Namibia. Within the park is Etosha Pan: a vast, bare, open expanse of shimmering green and white that covers around 4,800km², almost a quarter of the beautiful Etosha National Park. The pan was originally a lake but over time the earth’s climate forced the rivers that once fed the lake to change course and flow into the Atlantic Ocean.

Caprivi, also called the Caprivi Strip, is a narrow protrusion of Namibia eastwards from the Kavango Region about 450 km, between Botswana to the south, and Angola and Zambia to the north.

Caprivi is bordered by the Okavango, Kwando, Chobe and Zambezi rivers. The area is rich in wildlife and has mineral resources.

Within Namibia, the Caprivi Strip provides significant habitat for the critically endangered Wild African Dog. It is a corridor for African elephant moving from Botswana and Namibia into Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe. National parks found in the Caprivi Strip are Bwabwata National Park, Mudumu National Park and Nkasa Rupara National Park.

The Fish River Canyon in the south of Namibia is one of the worlds largest Canyons and one of Namibia’s most recognized Natural Wonders.

For more than 160km the Fish River, Namibia’s longest river, washed into the ground up to 550 meters deep and up to 27km wide. The Fish River has its source in the Eastern Naukluft Mountains and in Richtersfeld flows into the Orange River, after travelling for more 650km through the desert of Southern Namibia.

Today nearly all of the Canyon is preserved by Nature Reserves: In the South where the deepest part is located by the Ai-Ais / Richtersveld Transfrontier Park, in the North by private nature reserves such as the Canyon Nature Park or Vogelstrausskluft.

Displaying one of the largest concentrations of rock petroglyphs in Africa, UNESCO approved Twyfelfontein as Namibia's first World Heritage Site in 2007.

Twyfelfontein (Afrikaans: uncertain spring), officially known as ǀUi-ǁAis (Damara/Nama: jumping waterhole), is a site of ancient rock engravings in the Kunene Region of Northwestern Namibia. It consists of a spring in a valley flanked by the slopes of a sandstone table mountain that receives very little rainfall and has a wide range of diurnal temperatures.

The site has been inhabited for 6,000 years, first by hunter-gatherers and later by Khoikhoi herders. Both ethnic groups used it as a place of worship and a site to conduct shamanist rituals. In the process of these rituals at least 2,500 items of rock carvings have been created, as well as a few rock paintings.

Portuguese sailors called it the Gates of Hell. Namibia's Bushmen speak of the land God made in anger...

From the air, the bleak shoreline of the Skeleton Coast looks wonderful: a deep green sea, fringed with surf, breaks over a shore receding into infinite dunes.
From land, it's a different story: the Benguela Current rushes in, urgent and strong, hurtling the chilling Atlantic into the fierce heat of the Namib. Whale and seal skeletons from the former whaling industry still litter the coastline, the source of the region's frightening name.
Remains of ships wrecked on the hidden rocks offshore rust and crumble beside the animal bones.

The park is divided into a northern and southern section, the southern section is open to those with 4 wheel drive vehicles, they are allowed to go up north as far as the Ugab River Gate. The northern section can only be reached by a fly-in safari.

Stretching around 360,000 square miles across Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, the Kalahari Desert is not a desert in the strictest sense of the word. It receives too much rainfall, between 5 and 10 inches annually.

The desert is part of the 970,000 sqm Kalahari Basin, which includes the Okavango River Delta and other wetter areas. The basin encompasses virtually all of Botswana and more than half of Namibia.

The Kalahari's endemic wildlife species have adapted either to survive many days without water, or to obtain water from plants. Many reptiles also live in the Kalahari and numerous birds and mammals utilize the desert, but most are migratory, venturing into the Kalahari only when adequate water is present.

The Nyae Nyae Conservancy was the first communal conservancy gazetted in 1998.

Covering 92,000 hectares, the conservancy is home to 2,000 Ju/'hoansi (San) people, the majority of whom are women and children. This population's ancestors were once the sole occupants of much of southern Africa and the San in the Nyae Nyae Conservancy represent one of the few remaining indigenous populations in Africa.

The Nyae Nyae Conservancy was established in 1998 has the remit to sustainably manage and utilize the natural resources in order to support the community.

Swakopmund is a coastal city in Namibia, West of the capital, Windhoek. Its sandy beaches face the Atlantic Ocean.

Established by German colonists in 1892, the city’s colonial landmarks include the Swakopmund Lighthouse and the Mole, an old sea wall.

Next to the lighthouse, the Swakopmund Museum documents Namibian history. Inland, the elegant Swakopmund Railway Station, now a hotel, also dates to the colonial era.

The heart of Namibia, Windhoek, possesses a unique charm due to its harmonious blend of African and European cultures and the friendliness of its people.

It serves as a strategic point from which to conduct business, or to embark on a Namibian adventure. It provides an efficient infrastructure and easy access to tourist destinations in neighboring countries; Windhoek is the perfect place to get fitted out for travelling.

Take time to enjoy Windhoek’s city tours to places of interest, such as the Museum, the National Art Gallery, the "Tintenpalast", the National Botanical Research Institute (and its gardens) and the Zoo Gardens. For the wayfarer, Windhoek is the ideal place for a relaxing sojourn before setting out on the holiday of a lifetime!