Namibia Giraffe drinking water
This section of the site aims to provide information about different holiday tourist destinations in Namibia. We aim to expand this section regularly to cover more locations.
Most Popular tourist travel destinations include:
1.Etosha National Park
2.Swakopmund and Walvis Bay
3.Cape Cross Seal Colony
4.Twyfelfontein
5.Okahandja Town
6.Sesriem and Sossusvlei
7.Namib Naukluft National Park
Namibia supports a wide variety of animal life, including the famous desert elephants, the only free ranging population of Black Rhino (everywhere else in the world, Black Rhino are only found inside protected areas such as national parks), as well as the largest population of Cheetah remaining in the world. Namibia is also home to Lion, Leopard, Caracal, Brown Hyena, Spotted Hyena, African Wild Cats, as well as lots of other animal species e.g. Zebra, Giraffe, Springbok, Wildebeest, and much more. Namibia is one of the few African countries to support six species of large carnivores – Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Spotted Hyena, Brown Hyena and Wild Dogs are all found wild in Namibia.
There are a number if conservation organisations working in Namibia to protect these species. Some of the main ones are:
The Predator Conservation Trust
The Predator Conservation Trust is best known for its work with the desert lions, found in the Kunene region of Namibia. They have also been involved in reintroducing lions and cheetah onto private land. They also run the Namibian Large Carnivore Atlas – a project which encourages people to report all sightings of Spotted Hyena, Brown Hyena, Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, and wild dogs. This helps build up information about the populations of these large carnivores. The Predator Conservation Trusts website contains copies of the atlas reports which you can download, and which provide information about where sightings are most common for each of the species. Please contribute to this project by reporting sightings you make. This can either be done using a form which is available at the offices in Etosha rest camps, or by using the online form on the PCT website.
Cheetah Conservation Fund
CCF works to create and manage long-term conservation strategies for the cheetah throughout their range; develop and implement better livestock management practices, eliminating the need for ranchers to kill so many cheetah; conduct conservation education programs for local villagers, ranchers and school children and continue intensive scientific research in cheetah genetics, biology and species survival.
Save the Rhino Trust
The desert adapted black rhino surviving in the remote and arid Kunene region of north west Namibia are the ONLY rhino world-wide that have survived on communal land with no conservation status. Since Save The Rhino Trust was formed poaching has dramatically decreased and rhino numbers have more than doubled.
Brown Hyena Research Project
The Brown Hyena Research Project is a non-profit organisation based in the port of L deritz in the southern Namib Desert in Namibia. Their research on brown hyenas and the conservation of the ecologically unique brown hyena population along the coastal Namib Desert commenced in 1995 and has since developed into a long-term conservation project.
Driving on a Namibia tour
Unlike some countries in Africa, Namibia has a good road network. This is a mixture of tar and gravel roads and these are generally well maintained and as a result it is easy for tourists to hire cars and drive around Namibia.
Before travelling to Namibia, you should obtain an International Driving Permit available from the AA in the UK or AAA in the US for a small charge. You should take this and your normal driving license as you may need to show them when hiring a vehicle.
Most places in Namibia, including all the main tourist destinations can be reached using a normal 2 wheel-drive car, but in the rainy season you may want to go for a 4WD vehicle in case you need to go through any shallow rivers that may cross the road (on some roads, fords are used rather than bridges but the rivers only tend to carry water for a few days each year during the rainy season and are dry the rest of the time).
2WD vehicles tend to be cheaper to rent, and have a boot (trunk) for storing baggage out of sight and are fine for most trips and are probably a good choice unless you are planning to drive off road.
4WD vehicles are more expensive to rent and use more fuel. However they do have some advantages – you are slightly higher off the ground so may get a better view when watching game, and they can cope with crossing sand patches or small rivers better than a 2WD. A disadvantage is that their higher centre of gravity makes them more likely to roll if cornering too quickly.
The main routes (e.g. Windhoek to Etosha) are tar roads which are well maintained and are easy to drive on. The majority of other roads tend to be gravel roads. These are generally very well maintained, but do need extra care to be take.
Tips for driving on gravel roads:
* The speed limit is 80km/hr and it is important to stick to this speed for safety – many drivers are lulled into a false sense of security by the good condition of the road and this can be dangerous.
* When vehicles are approaching from the opposite direction then you should both reduce your speed – this reduces the chances of stones being thrown up by either vehicle damaging the other, and also helps reduce the size of the dust cloud your vehicle throws up.
* Switch on your lights when travelling through a dust cloud
* When overtaking, wait till you have good visibility of the road ahead for a reasonable distance, and once you have passed you should not pull back in front of the other vehicle till you are around 100 metres past them to avoid blinding them with your dust cloud.
* Slow down before bends and dips in the road.
* Keep a constant eye out for potholes, patches of loose sand or other hazards and reduce speed as soon as you spot hazards as taking late evading action can easily result in a skid.
When hiring a car, you should check to make sure it has been supplied with a jack, and a spanner that fits the wheel nuts – you don’t want to be stranded in the middle of nowhere with a flat tire only to find you have no tools to change a wheel. If you do have to change a wheel, make sure the nuts are fastened tightly – gravel roads cause a lot of vibration so the nuts need to be tight to ensure they done work loose.
It is always a good idea to take plenty of water with you – if you do have a breakdown then you need to have water to drink to prevent dehydration. When you stop for fuel, most petrol stations sell water.
Driving at night is something to avoid wherever possible. If you are forced into a position where you have to drive at night, drive a lot slower than normal and take extra care – a lot of wildlife is more active at night and may react to your headlights and dash out in front of your vehicle. The colouration of many antelopes makes them extremely hard to spot at night, and collision with even a small kudu could do serious damage to your vehicle.
If you have to drive in sand and become stuck, first of all check if you have a pump to re-inflate your tyres. If you do, then let some air out of the tyres to reduce the pressure – this should provide extra traction to help you get through the sand.
When renting a vehicle, an important factor to consider is insurance, and the collision damage waiver (or excess) in particular. The CDW can vary a lot between firms, but is generally very high, so in the event of a collision you can end up paying most of the cost of repairs. Many insurance policies state that if the accident is due to negligence or no other vehicles are involved in an accident on a gravel road, you are liable for all the costs although some firms can offer policies to cover this for an extra charge. The best way for tourists from the UK to hire a vehicle without these risks is to hire the vehicle through Sunvil travel in the UK – if you rent the vehicle in Namibia through Sunvil, they offer a full 100% insurance cover policy, meaning you wont be landed with any repair costs even if the accident is due to your negligence while driving on a gravel road.
Read MoreQuick Facts About Namibia
Location
Namibia is located in Southern Africa, on the North-West border of the Republic of South Africa. Namibia is a large country, around four times the size of the United Kingdom, but with a population of less than 2 million giving Namibia one of the lowest population densities in the world.
Climate
Much of the country is semi-desert and gets very little rainfall, but the North of the country including the Caprivi strip in the North-East of the country receives higher levels of rainfall and as such has far more natural vegetation. The rainy season falls in Namibia’s summer (October-March). Most of the rivers in Namibia are seasonal – they are dry river beds for most of the year, and for a few days in the rainy season they carry water. Namibia does have five perennial rivers (they carry water all year round), and these are all located on the borders of Namibia – in the South there is the Orange river, and in the Caprivi region in the North-East, there are the Kunene, Okavango, Zambezi and Kwando/Linyati/Chobe rivers (the latter being known under different names in different places)
Temperatures in Winter (April-September) are warm-hot during the day (around 26 degrees C) and cool-cold at night (8 degrees C or less with freezing point being reached occasionally). During the summer, temperatures are higher – around 33 degrees C in the day and over 10 degrees C at night.
Language
The official language in Namibia is English, but Afrikaans and German are also widely spoken, as well as a number of African languages such as Herero.
Short History
Namibia was declared a German protectorate in 1884 and named German South West Africa. During the first world war, it was conquered by South Africa, and remained under South African administration until 1989 when following a protracted war between South African security forces and Swapo (South West African Peoples Organisation) which started in 1966, free elections were held, and on March 21st 1990 Dr Sam Nujoma became Namibia’s first president.
Currency/Money
The currency of Namibia is the Namibian Dollar, N$, which is divided into 100 cents. The Namibian Dollar is linked to the South African Rand which is also legal tender in Namibia. This means tourists can obtain South African rand before they visit Namibia as these are easier to obtain than Namibian Dollars, and if flying via Johannesburg, rand can be used in the shops at the airport whereas Namibian Dollars are not accepted outside Namibia.
Clothing
When travelling to Namibia on safari, lightweight clothing is fine for the daytimes, but a light jacket or fleece is recommended for early mornings and evenings, particularly if you are going to be go on game drives on a guest lodges vehicle which are generally open vehicles and it can be cold first thing in the morning. A torch (flashlight) is highly recommended as when you are away from the cities, nights are extremely dark – in the UK there is so much background light from houses, streetlights etc that there is normally enough light to see – in Africa however guest lodges can be miles from the nearest neighbours and background light is almost nil. This does mean that in conjunction with the lack of pollution in the atmosphere the views of the night sky filled with stars are beautiful.
The Namibian flag
The Namibian national flag is intended to represent the nation in every aspect.
* The sun symbolises life and energy, and the colour gold represents warmth and the colour of the plains and the Namib desert.
* Blue symbolises the Namibian sky, the Atlantic Ocean, Namibia’s marine resources and the importance of rain and water.
* Red represents the Namibian people, and their determination to build a future of equal opportunity for all.
* White represents peace and unity
* Green represents Namibia’s vegetation and agricultural resources.
Economy
The mining industry has played a major part in Namibia’s economy for many years, with diamonds being the largest earner of foreign exchange. Onshore diamond mining is declining and production turning to offshore sources. Namibia also has deposits of Uranium, copper, lead, zinc, arsenic, silver, gold and more.
Tourism
Although Etosha is the best known national park within Namibia, it is far from the only one – in fact Namibia has twenty six parks and reserves covering around 15% of the total land area of the country.
Water
Water from taps in Namibia is safe to drink, and water from boreholes is also usually safe to drink. Water is however scarce in Namibia and visitors should use water carefully – take showers instead of baths, reporting leaking taps etc.
Driving in Namibia, Self Drive Safaris
Read More
The Namib Naukluft park in the west of Namibia covers around 50,000 square kilometres and protects the Namib desert – one of the oldest deserts in the world.
While the main attraction of the Etosha national park is the wildlife it is home to, the main attraction of the Namib Naukluft national park is the beautiful scenery. The landscape varies considerably within the park, from the towering sand dunes around Sossusvlei and Sesriem, to gravel plains, and the “moon landscape” hills and valleys.
Visiting the park requires a permit, available from MET offices.
In the northern part of the park is Welwitschia drive, a route through parts of the park which takes several hours to go round. Unlike Etosha, you are free to stop and get out of your vehicle as you go round the park.
The moon landscape is an area you will pass through as you drive along Welwitschia drive. Sometimes referred to as the moonscape, it is an area whose landscape was formed by the valleys of the swakop river
The “moon landscape” area of the Namib Naukluft national park
The Welwitschia drive route takes its name from the Welwitschia mirabilis plant, and at one of the recommended stopping points you can see one of the largest known examples of this plant, which is estimated to be over 1500 years old.
A welwitschia mirabilis
The Welwitschia mirabilis is a plant that is highly adapted to life in the harsh conditions of the Namib desert. It looks at a first glance to be a mass of leaves emanating from a short stump, but in actuality the plant only has two leaves which are extremely long and form a tangled mass. They have deep roots as well as shallow ones and the root structure is designed to extract any available water from the soil. It is believed that the leaves help condense the fog that occurs in the desert to help gain more moisture.
The Welwitschia plants are dioeceous – i.e. there are separate male and female plants. The female plants can be identified by the pin-cone like seed carriers.
Read MoreThe enormous sand dunes around Sossusvlei are one of the images of Namibia that are widely used, and its easy to see why. The dunes are enormous, and are a spectacular sight, particularly in the early morning when you can sit and watch the dunes change colour and the shadows move as the sun rises.
Travelling to Sossusvlei involves visiting the MET (Ministry of Environment and Tourism) office at Sesriem to obtain an entry permit. Sesriem is the entry to this part of the Namib-Naukluft national park, and there is a petrol station here as well as the MET office. The road from there to Sossusvlei has in recent years been upgraded to a tar road which takes you to within a short distance of the dunes. The road ends at a car park which has trees for shade, toilet facilities, and is the furthest you can go in a 2WD vehicle – beyond this point is strictly for 4WD vehicles, but you can walk from the carpark to the dunes and the pans – the nearest pan is only around 500 metres beyond the car park, but walking to the furthest pan (Sossusvlei itself) can take around an hour, so if you do decide to walk in, take some water with you.
Near to Sesriem itself is Sesriem canyon – a narrow canyon carved in the Sandstone by the Tsauchob river and for much of the year the canyon contains pools of water. Visitors can walk down into the canyon.
Read MoreOkahandja is a small town located around 70Km north of Windhoek, and is where drivers either continue on the B1 north towards Otjiwarongo and Etosha, or turn off towards Karibib and Swakopmund. Most drivers simply drive through Okahandja without stopping, but they miss out on an excellent shopping opportunity.
Okahandja is home to an excellent wood market where craftsmen sell handmade souvenirs. These are largely hand carved wooden animals which vary in size from tiny to enormous, but the items on sale here are not just restricted to wood. Ostrich eggs are drained, cleaned and then painted or engraved with detailed pictures. Bones from animals are sometimes carved polished and painted to produce items such as bottle openers or ornaments.
The shell filling station as you approach Okahandja from the south has a good shop, and if you don’t already have a supply of cold drinks then this is a good place to stop and buy some.
Read MoreTwyfelfontein is located in the Damaraland region, west of Khorixas and the rocks here are home to one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of rock art. Twyfelfontein is unusual in that it has both rock paintings, and rock engravings. Most of the engravings and paintings are of animals and the spoor (footprints) they leave. Some of the engravings are believed to date back to the stone age.
Once you reach Twyfelfontein you will have to pay an entry fee and hire a local guide to take you round the rocks. It is advisable to wear good footwear (ideally boots) as there is a lot of clambering up rocky paths which could cause a twisted ankle if you slip in inadequate footwear. The guides can be very variable in their knowledge – some good some bad.
Visitors are asked not to climb on the rocks as this will damage the engravings and paintings – sadly some ignorant tourists ignore these rules and clamber on the rock art to take photos or to pose for them.
Read MoreSwakopmund is a resort town on the Namibian coast, and has a lot of old-style German buildings. Swakopmund is where many Namibians go for a break, and as such there are plenty of leisure activities in the area.
An area of dunes near the town has been set aside for leisure use, and horse riding and quad biking trips are run here as well as Sand boarding, where participants slide down the high sand dunes on boards at speeds of up to 80km/hr.
For those wishing to take things a little more sedately, Swakopmund has plenty of shops and places to eat and drink.
Swakopmund has plenty of choice in terms of accommodation. Two of the best known hotels are the Hansa hotel and the Swakopmund hotel.
The Swakopmund Hotel is built in what was the old railway station, and has a good restaurant (its buffets are well worth a visit), a swimming pool, and has a casino attached.
The Hansa is a very good hotel with large comfortable rooms with televisions and an excellent restaurant
Walvis Bay
Walvis bay is Namibia’s only deep water port, and after Namibia gained independence, it remained part of South Africa until 1994 when it was finally handed over to Namibia.
The park is home to a vast array of wildlife – over 110 mammal species, over 300 species of birds, and more than a dozen reptile species.
The amount of wildlife you see will depend on when you visit. During the rainy season and for some time afterwards, there may be water on the Pan, and lots of small pools may form around the park. This means wildlife is less dependant on the permanent waterholes, and as such are less likely to visit them. During the dry season these temporary water sources dry up and animals become dependant once again on the permanent water holes, and tend to remain fairly close to them, and this becomes more pronounced as the rainy season approaches again and water is more and more scarce. With game such as springbok, wildebeest, impala and zebra congregating around the waterholes, this acts as a magnet for the predators so sightings of Lion and other predators are better. August and September are good months for game viewing but are when the park is busiest with tourists.
For the best wildlife viewing, you have to arrange your day to fit in with the times when the animals are most active. This means when staying at one of the rest camps, you should set the alarm for before dawn ! This means you can be dressed and ready to set off as soon as the camp gates are unlocked and opened at dawn. This is the best time to see wildlife as most of them are active at this time. After a game viewing session, its a good idea to head back for a quick breakfast before another game drive in the morning. There tends to be little activity during the middle of the day due to the heat, so this is a good time to relax, have a short sleep, or remain at one of the rest camp waterholes. Then a final game drive in the afternoon as the temperature starts to drop is a good idea as the animals start getting more active as sunset approaches. At night, visiting the rest camp’s floodlit waterhole is another chance to get good game sightings – most of the sightings I have had of rhino in Etosha have been at the rest camp waterholes (Halali and Okaukuejo).
Read More
Camp moremi in Botswana
