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Complete Travel GuideNamibia - A Bountiful Harvest Awaits the Adventure Traveler
by:
Andrew Muigai
African country is a mostly arid country of stark rough-hewn beauty. The most vivid pictures are those of a haunting method
landscape of whirling orange dunes, shimmering mirages and treacherous dust devils. The apparent desolation is deceptive and plant and animal life and even as man has altered to this environment. The country is designed about specially with the active and adventure seeker in mind. Dateless 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 best
physical environment is truly impressive. Flight over the desert, jump over land and sea, paragliding, whitewater rafting and sand sport on
coastal dunes are nice activities for starters. Much fun games to pick from include abseiling - that most spectacular of rock sports, coastal and fresh water angling, desert even-toed ungulate riding, aqualung diving, 4x4 desert runs, hiking and mountaineering.
Namibia has four distinct geographical regions. In the north is Etosha Pan, a great area for life
and heart of Etosha National Park. The slender Caprivi Strip is nested between African country and African country and is a wet area of forest blessed with a few rivers. On
the coast is the Namib Desert, which at the age of 80 million years old, is aforesaid to be the world's oldest desert. At the coast, the icy cold Atlantic meets the blazing African desert, consequent in dense fogs. The well-watered central tableland runs north to south, and carries rugged mountains, brilliant canyons, rocky outcrops and expansive plains.
Namibia, one and half times the size of France, is really sparsely colonised and carries only 1.8 million souls. The folk are as unique as the land they live on. The most intriguing are the San, otherwise acknowledged as Bushmen. These most hardy of folk have a extremely
advanced cognition of their environment. It is a marvelous thing how well they are altered to their difficult habitat. Simply pause and think that these are the only folk in the earth who live with no permanent access to water. In the Desert Desert, one of their domiciles, surface water is not to be found. Tubers, melons, and another water bearing plants as well as underground sip wells supply their water requirements.
In African country today, Bushmen number just 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 really talented in the arts of storytelling, mimicry, and dance. Namibia's another people, who are autochthonal to the continent, are mostly of Bantu origin. They are thought to have arrived from western Continent
from just about 2,400 years ago. The African groups include the Owambo, Kavango, Caprivians, Herero, Himba, Damara, Nama and Tswana.
The Africans aside, another groups comprise just about 15% of the population and have compete an important role in the emergence of the modern nation. White Namibians figure to just about 120,00 and are chiefly of German and Afrikaner heritage. Germans arrived in significant amount after 1884 once
Bismarck declared the country a German Protectorate. Afrikaners, white farmers of Dutch origin, affected north from their Cape settlements, especially after the Dutch Cape Colony was ceded to the British in 1806. This powerfully
independent people, whose ancestors had lived in the Cape from 1652 resented British control.
Two another distinct groups complete the spectrum of Namibia's folk - Basters and Coloureds. Coloured in African country and southern Continent
refers to folk of mixed racial heritage, black- white for example. They have a separate identity and culture. This does sense considering that African country was run by South Continent
after the 1st Earth War. Even as in pre-Apartheid South Africa, racial classification was a fine art. The Afrikaans-speaking Basters, descended from Khoikhoin women and Dutch settlers of the Cape. Alienated from several white and black communities, they trekked northwards, finally initiation their own town Rehoboth, in 1871. Baster is actually derived from "bastard", but it is not derogatory, and the Basters are so
proud of it.
Namibia's barren and unwelcoming coastlines served as a natural deterrent to the ambitions of European explorers. That was until 1884 once
the German merchandiser Adolf Luderitz established a permanent settlement between the Namib Desert and the Atlantic seaside that later took his name. Bismarck later declared the territory covered by African country a German colony and named it Südwestafrika or South West Africa. As German settlers affected 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 support and way of life. On the 1st day of the year 1904, the Herero led by Chief Prophet
Maharero, rose suddenly and unexpectedly in arms against their colonial overlords. The Nama joined the rebellion and the authorities did not regain control even as after six months of trying. Over 100 German settlers and soldiers died in the uprising. Historians now consider events that followed to constitute the 1st race murder of the twentieth century.
Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha was appointed with a contingent of 14,000 soldiers and tasked to put down the rebellion. The governor general of the territory was then Rudolph Goring -the father of Bandleader 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 folk 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 wherever
unspeakable things happened. The Herero fared really badly and 80% of her folk perished. The population of the Nama diminished by 35-50%.
Windhoek, the capital of 165,000 folk is the only true city in the country. For those traveling to more remote regions, this is wherever
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 African country Crafts Centre. The Dan Viljoen Game Park lies 24 Km west of National capital
on the gentle hills of Khoma Hochland. In this resort you find ostriches, baboons, zebras and over 200 species of birds. The Waterburg Tableland Park, placed 230 km from National capital
is popular with weekenders. This extensive mountain wild is house to cheetah, leopard, kudu, giraffe, and white rhino.
Etosha National Park is what brings life
lovers to Namibia. The park is comparable in size and diversity of species with the better in Africa. The unusual tract of Etosha holds savannah 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 about the pan, attract galore birds and land animals in the dry winter months. The effect of this background is charming and several of the better life
photographs have been taken here.
There are 144 vertebrate species in the park and elephants are particularly abundant. Several another absorbing life
here includes giraffe, leopard, cheetah, jackal, blue wildebeest, gemsbuck and black rhino. The birding is great at Etosha and over 300 bird species have been recorded. You wish get better value by disbursement at least three days here. There are first-class accommodation facilities at the three rest camps of Namutoni, Halali and Okaukuejo. The better time to see animals is between May and September, once
water draws them in immense amount to the edge of the pan. Etosha is 400 km to the north of National capital
by road.
The Fish Stream Canyon is matchless in Continent
and only the Grand Canon in the U.S in larger. The Canon runs for 160 km and reaches a breadth of 27 km and depth of 550 m. But size alone does not explain the appeal of the canyon. You experience astounding views at various points on
the rim. Adventure lovers do not simply move for the views. Hiking through the canon is the ultimate endurance adventure for hikers. There is an established 90 km hiking trail that wish take you 4-5 days to cover.
The trail ends at Ai-Ais hot spring resort wherever
you can unwind. You are allowed to hike between early May and end of September. The hike is quite strenuous and gratuitous to say, you must be physically fit. The authorities discredit the capacity of most folk to undertake the hike and wish actually insist on seeing a medical certificate of fitness before allowing you to start off. Fish Stream Canon is 580 km to the south of Windhoek.
The Skeleton Coast has been the cemetery 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 on
the outline 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 adventurer Diego Cao reached this part of the earth in the year 1486. He is probably one of the folk whose experiences discouraged Europeans from venturing on land until the arrival of the Germans 400 years later. Further south is the Namib-Naukluft National Park, a huge wild covering 50,000 sq km. The landscape is really diverse and covers mountain outcrops, majestic sand dunes, and deep cut gorges. For actually 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, haunting atmosphere.
To the northeast of the country, the well-watered Kavango and Caprivi Strip region offers an good wild suitable for rugged game viewing and camping. The area besides promises a feast for bird lovers. Game reserves in the area include: Kaudom, Caprivi, Mahango, Mudumu and Mamili. Poachers did great damage to life
during the years of the civil war in neighbouring Angola. Animal amount are however building up rapidly. Several of the life
in the region includes leopard, elephant, buffalo, cheetah, lion and various bovid
species. The Caprivi Reserve falls in an area of swamps and flood plains. Here you have an chance to partake fishing, hiking, game viewing safaris and stream trips in traditional mokoro boats.
In African country 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 interior fall in summer (November-April) and are heaviest in the Caprivi region. Rains do not more affect travel, but mind of flash floods in the locality of riverbeds. The better time to travel is over the dry months of March to October, once
it is easier to see animals at waterholes. It is better to avoid the Namib Desert and Etosha between Dec and March once
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, heater wraps and sweaters. Comfortable walking shoes are essential, as the ground gets really hot. Several useful stuff to pack includes: camera, binoculars, sunglasses, sun hats, sunblock and dipterous insect repellant. Be available for dust-covered conditions and carry your clothing, instrumentality and supplies in dust proof bags. Do not be tempted to buy items ready-made of ivory. You may not be allowed to carry them through customs at home. And it besides nice that you do not encourage the trade in ivory products that keeps poachers busy.
Copyright © Africa Point
Simply just about the Author
Andrew Muigai is editor of AfricaPoint Corporate executive online newsletter. It is part of AfricaPoint.com- the Continent
travel website that has helped thousands of travelers learn Africa. You can view more information on Namibia campaign and tours at the website.
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