2016 Wonderland Namibia- Bronze

Pulsing with life, opportunity and a sparkle of adventure, Windhoek is a multicultural city characterised by tranquil co-existence and enough living space for all its citizens, which number 350’000. Visitors can enjoy the best of two worlds between the European-style architecture and lifestyle, to the vivid beat of African culture and environs. The first recorded settlements were established because of the springs in the area. In about 1842, the Oorlam Kaptain, Jan Jonker Afrikaner, settled in at the strongest spring in the present Klein Windhoek. At the time, the place was called “/Ai-//Gams” (Fire Water) by the Namas, and “Otjomuise” (Place of Steam) by the Hereros, both names bearing references to the hot springs. The German colony came into being with the determination of its borders in 1890. Germany sent a protective corps (the “Schutztruppe”) under Major Curt von Francois to maintain order; the garrison was stationed at Windhoek, where it was strategically situated as a buffer between the Namas and Hereros, while the twelve strong springs provided water for the cultivation of food. The present Windhoek was founded on 18 October 1890 when Von Francois laid the foundation stone of the fort, which is known as the Alte Feste (Old Fortress). Windhoek has a rich cultural life where activities happily mix and match to produce some interesting combinations.The “township” of Katutura is an journey for discovering the sounds and smells of Africa. The highlight is a visit to the Tukondjeni Market, which offers services that satisfy many community needs. It’s a busy place, where one can purchase supplies and traditional Namibian food such as barbecued meat, dried fish, fried mopane worms (known as “omaungu”) and other traditional food such as “ombidi” and dehydrated wild spinach.

The Kalahari is an exceptionally beautiful living desert a large semi-arid sandy savannah draped over a gently rolling inland sea of sand covering most of Botswana and large parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is also the last bastion of the San people with the modern world having enveloped all the other areas they once roamed. Here in Namibia it is typically red sands covered in thin, wispy, mostly golden grass and dotted with acacia trees and wide ranging wildlife including gemsbok, impala, jackals and cheetah.

The FishRiverCanyon is located in the northern part of the Nama Karoo. It is the second largest canyon on earth, featuring a gigantic ravine that measures in total about 100 miles (160 km) long, up to 27 km wide and in places almost 550 metres deep. The FishRiver is the longest interior river found in Namibia, but its flow at present is a trickle compared with the immense volume of water that poured down its length in ages past. It cuts deep into the plateau that is today dry, stony and sparsely covered with hardy drought resistant plants such as succulents, euphorbia’s and lonely quiver trees. The river flows intermittently, usually coming down in flood in late summer, and when it ceases to flow it becomes a chain of long narrow pools on the sandy rock-strewn floor of the chasm. At the lower end of the Fish River Canyon, the hot springs resort of Ai-Ais provides an oasis in the desolate rocky wastes. Guided and unguided walks into the canyon are possible during April to September, it is however strictly forbidden to climb into the canyon as a day visitor. In the canyon you may encounter several species of mammals, such as wild horses, Mountain Zebra (Hartman Zebra), Kudu, Klipspringer, Leopard, Steenbok, Baboon and Springbok. The most common rodents include mice, rats, dassies, and dassie-rats. Bird life includes surprises like Pelicans, Black Eagles, Fish Eagles, Kingfishers, Lovebirds, Wild Ostrich and various species of waterfowl and wading birds, like Herons. In the natural pools of the Fish River are found an abundance of fish, such as barbled catfish and yellow fish.

This seaside town is something of an anomaly – a piece of 19th century Bavaria bordering the pinkish sand dunes of the Namib Desert. Lutheran churches, German bakeries and colonial buildings are dotted about the settlement, while its windswept beaches are home to flamingos, ostriches, seals and penguins. The nearby ghost town of Kolmanskop is one of the most fascinating area attractions, located approximately 10 kilometres from Luderitz central.

Isolated on private land, the tiny village of Helmeringhausen was founded during the German colonial era. Here, at the edge of the Namib Desert, one can enjoy an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity that only the wilderness can provide, before heading off to the Fish River Canyon, Lüderitz, the Sossusvlei, or the Naukluft, among other close attractions.

Sossusvlei's rich ochre sand dunes offer one of the most mind-blowing sights you will ever experience. Their oscillating crests rise to an astonishing 320m and, with their air of timelessness, create an unforgettable wilderness in the heart of the world’s oldest desert. Dwarfed by the sheer size of the highest dunes on earth, your ascending footprints look like insect trails leading into infinity. The solitude is immeasurable and your place in the great scheme of life takes on a curious insignificance. The white vleis (clay pans) contrast sharply against the red sand and vast blue sky, while fog-dependent animals and plants seek shelter from the sweltering heat underneath the sand and age-old camelthorn trees. One of these pans, referred to as Dead Pan, is a large ghostly expanse of dried white clay, punctuated by skeletons of ancient camel-thorn trees, carbon-dated as being between 500 and 600 years old. During this time the flow of the Tsauchab River into the pan was stopped by the formation of a dune belt – hence the trees died, now forming part of Namibia’s own Salvador Dali “painting”.

With palm-lined streets, seaside promenades and fine accommodation for all budgets, Swakopmund is Namibia’s most popular holiday destination, and its pleasant summer climate and decent beaches attract surfers, anglers and beach lovers from all over Southern Africa. Thanks to its mild temperatures and negligible rainfall, Swakopmund generally enjoys grit in the oyster. When an easterly wind blows, the town gets a good sand-blasting, and almost perpetual drizzle. The fog rolls up to 30km inland and provides moisture for desert-dwelling plants and animals, including 80 species of lichen. For better or worse, Swakopmund feels overwhelmingly Teutonic – indeed, it has Germany – but for visitors, it’s a Namibia’s adrenalin capital, and offers a wide range of gut-curdling activities from sand boarding and quad-biking to skydiving and camel riding. Note, however, that it gets especially busy around Namibian school holidays in December and January, when temperatures average around 25ºC.

The Erongo Region is one of the largest of the 13 regions found in Namibia and received its name for the majestic Erongo Massif that dominates the area around Karibib, Omaruru and Usakos. The region reaches up to the Atlantic Ocean and includes the coastal towns of Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, its northern boundary ending at the Ugab River where the Skeleton Coast National Park begins its stretch to Angola.

This National Heritage site confers yet another distinction to Namibia: that of one of the foremost centers of artwork in the world. It counts as the largest open-air art gallery in Southern Africa, its name reflecting a farmer’s incredulity that the unreliable spring (Afrikaans: Twyfelfontein) could have supported the Stone Age hunter and its prey for thousands of years. The reddish sandstone boulders seem to glow in the fierce heat, yet ancient man sheltered from enemy and spied on game from these surreal rock formations. Here he assiduously carved away at the intractable rock surfaces to imprint his indelible creations. Today, you can browse amongst these selfsame boulders and slabs of sandstone and marvel at the grandest spectacle of rock engravings in Africa. The area is also home to the geological phenomenum of Burnt Mountain and the Organ Pipes.

Etosha National Park is the parade ground of the beasts, a kaleidoscope of creatures bewildering character and variety. It was proclaimed as Namibia’s first conservation area in 1907 by the then Governor of German South West Africa, von Lindequist. He demarkated an area of over 100'000 km², creating the largest game reserve on earth and expelling thousands of indigenous people from their traditional and ancestoral dwellings to stay outside the park. Present day Etosha National Park was pared down due to political considerations in the 1960's by the Odendaal Plan and now covers a modest but still very impressive 22’270 square kilometres. Despite the massive size of Etosha, only the southern edge of the pan is accessible to casual visitors. In the central and eastern region there are over 30 water holes - ideal places to sit and wait it out for an unbelievable 114 different game and over 340 different bird species.The Etosha Pan dominates the park. The salt pan desert, which is nearly completely enclosed by the park and is lined by numerous watering holes, is roughly 130 km long and as wide as 50 km in places. During Etosha’s notorious dry spells the pan is a deathly place, lying parched and cracked under the molten African sun. At such times it is utterly barren, an austere playground for heat and wind which conjure up their characteristic atmospheric tricks. Glassy mirages dissolve the horizon and tremble over the blindingly flat surface while graceful dust devils carry out their swirling dances over the plains. When the waters do eventually come, the pan undergoes a miraculous transformation. From a vacuous stillness it springs into living paradise awash with life. Out of the blue in their thousands come migrant flamingos, splashing the sky with plumage which eventually condenses on the horizon in undulating lines of crimson, pink and white. Guided by an uncanny faculty for navigation they come to the pan for a short breeding season from as far as Walvis Bay – how they know of the water 500 miles north stays a mystery. Such thrills are part of the earthy encounters with nature which give Etosha and other Namibian wilderness areas a dimension which goes beyond the simpler interpretations of nature. These sanctuaries have become sources of human well-being, where man can shake off his metropolitan afflictions and can recharge the batteries of sanity and perspective which have run down in the course of powering the locomotive of progress.

Situated on the eastern side of Etosha, bordering Fisher's Pan, Onguma Game Reserve is one of Namibia's best kept secrets! Here you will be afforded the opportunity of experiencing Africa in all her beauty and diversity. Onguma Game Reserve has more than 34,000 hectares of protected land and wildlife. Our nature reserve boasts over thirty different animal species consisting of plains game including kudu, giraffe, eland, oryx, hartebeest, zebra, impala and many more roam freely as well as predators such as lion, cheetah, leopard, being common residents of the area. The latest addition to the already abundant wildlife at Onguma Game Reserve is a family of black rhinos! More than 300 bird species can also be viewed at Onguma Game Reserve. During the Namibian summer months the nature reserve becomes a bird-watcher's paradise with thousands of species migrating to the wetlands created by the seasonal rains and ephemeral river systems.

The Otavi Mountain Region is sometimes referred to as the "Golden Triangle", or as the "maize Triangle". Features of interest include the Hoba Meteorite and sink holes and underground lakes. The Hoba Meteorite is the largest meteorite in the world, and the largest naturally occurring piece of iron on the Earth's surface. It is made of nickel-iron and weighs about 60 tonnes. Lake Otjikoto and Lake Guinas are sinkholes the depths of which are not really known and nearby is the Dragon’s Breath one of the largest and deepest underground lakes in the world. It was here just outside Otavi that World War I ended in southern Africa on July 1 1915.