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Namibia
Riding tour:
Sambulenni Safari
Namibia is a Technicolor dreamscape, a land of swirling apricot dunes and
shimmering white flats, mirages and dust devils, black-faced impala and
crimson-breasted shrike. Its major game park, which centers on the Great Etosha
Pan, offers an exceptional range and abundance of wildlife and a landscape that
could not provide a more striking backdrop for it. The coastal region is one of
the world's most captivating desert regions, and in the south lies a canyon
second in magnificence only to the Grand Canyon itself.
Location,
Geography, Climate
Namibia has four primary geographic regions, all of which are of great
interest to the adventure traveller. In the north lies the Etosha Pan, an
enormous alluvial basin that has long since lost the lake that it once held.
Although water supplies are now limited for most of the year to the perimeter of
the pan, the area remains sufficiently fertile to support great herds of
antelope species (including gemsbok, impala, and springbok), zebra, and--most
famously--elephants. Many other species of wildlife abound as well, and the
Etosha Pan is now the center of one of the finest game parks on the African
continent.
Along the Namibian coast lies the Namib Desert, a spectacularly barren,
brilliant red sand landscape that is divided into the Skeleton Coast (in the
north) and the Diamond Coast (in the south). There are a number of features of
this coastal desert that make it quite unlike any spot on earth. First, and most
famously, it is the richest source of diamonds on the planet, and Namibia is as
a result the world's largest diamond producer. Second, the dry and hot Namibian
shoreline is situated right at the point where the icy waters of the Atlantic
hit the continent--Antarctic water meets African desert, and the result is often
unbelievable fog. This highly mysterious coast is now the site of the 19,000 sq.
mile (49,000 sq. km) Namib-Naukluft National Park, a
In the northeast, Namibian territory extends between
Angola and Botswana along the slender corridor of the Caprivi Strip.
Unlike most of the rest of Namibia, the Caprivi Strip is a wooded and fertile
region, and it is crossed by a number of rivers. Two of these, the Zambezi and
the Okavango, rank among the great rivers of Africa. The strip is also the site
of several game parks, which while not offering such an abundance of wildife
certainly provide spectacular scenery and relative solitude.
Namibia's center is occupied by a high escarpment plain. Windhoek, the
capital and the only city of any size, is located smack dab in the middle of the
country. In the northern part of the central plain is the Waterberg Plateau, a
150 sq. mi. (400 sq. km) shelf that rises 150 metres straight from the
surrounding plain. The plateau is well-watered and lush, and is home to several
rare and endangered species. At Namibia's southern tip is yet another geological
wonder--the immense Fish River Canyon. Second only to the Grand Canyon in size,
Fish River Canyon offers magnificent vistas and great--though strenuous--hiking.
Daytime heat, rather than rain, is the primary concern for most travellers to
Namibia. While temperatures are generally comfortable year round, the warmest
season is the period extending from November to March.
History & People
Namibia is populated by few people, but those few constitute an unusually
diverse set of peoples and cultures. The country's predominant (85%) black
population is composed of several different ethnic groups, including the San,
the Khoi-Khoi, the Herero, and the Ovambo. The small European population is
composed of Germans and Afrikaners, and there is also a significant Asian
minority. The great majority of Namibia's 1.5 million people live in the north,
where there the climate is less arid and generally more hospitable.
The history of habitation in Namibia begins with the San, who were living
there at least two thousand years ago. As a nation, however, Namibia is
relatively young, having gained its independence after prolonged struggles only
in march of 1990. The country was largely spared the attentions of the European
powers until the end of the nineteenth century, when it came under the control
of Germany. In 1920 the territory was awarded by the League of Nations to South
Africa, which resisted Namibian independence for decades as a result of the
area's enormous mineral wealth. Although the UN voted to end South African
control in 1966, widespread regional warfare prevented the establishment of an
independent government for almost two decades.
Exploring Namibia
Namibia's many parks and game reserves are of two
basic types. Some, such as well-known Etosha National Park, are like most
southern African parks focused primarily on wildlife. Others, including the
coastal parks and Fish River Canyon, are are spectacular wilderness areas, where
the beauty of the scenery easily upstages the game. The descriptions that follow
are for only a selected few of Namibia's many fine parks.
Etosha National Park
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The Place of Dry Water
"All the menageries in the world turned loose would not compare to the
sight I saw that day." Those were the words of American trader G. McKeiran
in 1876 when he first trekked to the land that would become Namibia's Etosha
National Park.
Etosha, "the place of dry water," is one of the great, and sparsely
enjoyed, wildlife experiences remaining in Africa. Covering over 8,000
square miles, the park encompasses a vast salt pan 80 miles long. Once a vast
lake fed by the Kunene River, the pan dried up thousands of years ago when the
river waters chose a new course. Now one can stare across the huge depression of
salt and dusty clay to witness herds of wildebeest almost hidden behind the hazy
heat waves. Real or Mirage?
Savannah grassland and Mopani woodland surround the Pan. The variety of Acacia
here have near-deadly spikes, giving them the name umbrella-thorn trees. Weird
shapes of Moringa trees pierce the sky, creating an eerie scene known as The
Haunted Forest.
Salt, dust, thorns, and heat may make Etosha seem a forbidding place to human
intruders. But mammal and bird species call it home by the hundreds. Etosha is
big game country. Elephants and giraffes roam the land, and the rare
black rhinoceros puts in an occasional appearance. Both Burchell's and
Hartmann's zebras graze the park. Antelope number in the tens of thousands:
springboks, gemsboks, red hartebeests, blue wildebeests, elands and kudus.
Even the elusive black-faced impala. The cats slinking through the grass
are difficult to spot, but be assured prides of lions and a few
cheetahs
and leopards are stalking their prey.
Ostriches share the grasslands with the hoofed animals. The huge kori
bustard,
weighing over 30 pounds, lives mostly on the ground as well, seldom summoning
the strength to propel its enormous mass into flight. Yellow-billed hornbills
are common and over 300 more birds have been spotted. In years of good rain, the
salt pan becomes a temporary lagoon. Flamingos and white pelicans
wing in to breed.
The Pan itself is strictly off-limits, but a network of gravel roads runs along
its edge. Animals congregate at the waterholes left over from the rainy season.
Visitors are torn between sitting quietly for hours watching the game come and
go at a single spot, or moving from one to another in hopes of more species. The
ecology varies greatly across the width of the forest, and a traveler must cover
the full terrain from salt pan to woodland to attempt all the major species.
Around the turn of the century, Etosha witnessed a scene straight out of Beau
Gest.
Seven German soldiers manned the ramparts of a white-washed fortress deep in the
bush. Five hundred Owambo tribesman attacked. The Germans held out briefly, then
somehow engineered an escape. The original fort was razed, but later rebuilt as
one of the most striking in the German empire. Today the remaining structure
houses a game lodge.
 Etosha's
winter, also the dry season, runs from May through September. During this
period, wildlife congregates around the waterholes and the temperature is
considerably cooler than the summer's 44 degrees C. Most visitors, although
never too many for anyone used to the East Africa circuit, arrive during this
period. The zebra, gemsbok, and wildebeest return now, having summered in the
lush grasslands of Owamboland southwest of the park.
Etosha lies 500 kilometers north of Namibia's capital, Windhoek, and can be
reached most easily by car.
Photos courtesy David Anderson's On Safari.
The
Parks and Reserves of the Caprivi Strip
The narrow corridor of the Caprivi Strip is the locale of several smaller
parks and game reserves. The attraction of these parks is that they permit
open-vehicle drives as well as walking, but the tragedy is that their wildlife
populations have suffered enormously from poaching. Recovery does seem to be
proceeding rapidly, but at present the appeal of the Caprivi parks really rests
upon the fact that they are both uncrowded and open to intimate exploration on
foot or by boat.
Fish River Canyon
Only the Grand Canyon is larger. Fish River Canyon extends for one hundred
miles (160 km) north to south along the Orange River in southern Namibia. It
reaches widths of 17 miles (27 km) and depths of 1800 feet (550 m). The vistas
offered from various points along the rim are, as one might expect, simply
incredible. However, for those who are sufficiently interested, and sufficiently
fit, there is a terrific 4-5 day, 53 mile (86 km) trek along the canyon floor.
The Coast and the Namib
The Namib Desert stretches for eight hundred miles (1300 km) along the African
coastline and is undoubtedly one of the world's most spectacularly barren and
mysterious environments. In Namibia, two large parks encompass much of the
Namib: Skeleton Coast Park, in the north, and Namib-Naukluft National Park, in
the south.
Skeleton Coast Park
The name is no mere metaphor. This coast is a graveyard for ill-fated
seafarers and inattentive whales, and the dense fogs that frequently arise here
shroud shipwrecks and bones as well as the surreal dunes of the Namib. The
primary wildlife attraction of the Skeleton Coast is Cape Frio, which harbours a
seal colony numbering in the tens of thousands. However, the wildlife here pales
in comparison to the land itself, and the most popular adventure travel activity
here is trekking along the coast.
Namib-Naukluft National Park
Namibia's southern coastal park is enormous, measuring almost 20,000 sq.
miles (50,000 sq. km.) and encompassing a wide variety of different desert
environments. The most dramatically beautiful of these is the Sossusvlei region,
where one encounters massive, apricot-orange sand dunes that are higher than any
in the world. Other areas of Namib-Naukluft worth mentioning are the starkly
beautiful Naukluft Mountains, a favored trekking destination, and the intimate
Sesriem Canyon.
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