The Kalahari Basin covers most of Botswana and large parts of Namibia and South Africa. The name Kalahari means 'the great thirst' and describes the world’s largest continuous area of sand. It is an exceptionally beautiful semi-desert. In Namibia it is characterised by red dunes, acacia trees and wispy, mostly golden grass. The wide variety of wildlife includes gemsbok, impala, jackal and cheetah, not to forget the famous Meerkat. In all three countries the Kalahari is the last bastion of the indigenous San people who lived as hunter-gatherers in the whole of southern Africa before the modern world started to take over.
The desert town of Solitaire, in the south-western Khomas Region of central Namibia, is like a small oasis. There is not much to do or see in this tiny village, other than stop for refreshments and filling up with petrol. Solitaire boasts the only petrol station, general store and post office between Sossusvlei and Walvis Bay. There is also a small bar and a bakery famous for its apple pie – said to be the best in the country – as well as a luxury lodge, a motel and a campsite.
Activities: Enjoy a scenic sundowner with spectacular views of the Namib Desert; take time for a hike; go biking through unspoilt natural scenery; visit the local cheetah sanctuary.
In 1892, eight years after South West Africa was declared a German Protectorate, Swakopmund was founded with the intention to build a harbour. By 1907 a little town pulsating with life had emerged from the desert! Swakopmund boasted the largest European population of all the German colonies in Africa. Decades on and much bigger now, the charming town is as alluring as ever. The mix of Namibian influences with picturesque buildings from the colonial era, palm-lined streets and seaside promenades, the laid-back holiday atmosphere plus the cool sea breeze make Swakopmund one of the most attractive places in the country.
Despite the turquoise waters of the Atlantic Ocean on its doorstep and the Namib Desert as its backyard, Swakopmund is not a tropical sunbathing paradise, however. The moderate climate along the coast is due to the cold Benguela Current. The current also causes the nightly fogs for which the town is famous and which sustain the wealth of desert flora and fauna near the coast. Early mornings and the evenings can be chilly throughout the year – a welcome respite from the inland heat.
Swakopmund has become the country’s adventure mecca. The desert, the dunes and the ocean lend themselves to a host of thrilling activities: sandboarding, sand skiing, quad biking, dune carting, beach angling and deep sea fishing, to name but a few, and not to forget parachuting.
There is no shortage of diverse shops, bistros and restaurants. Small specialist shops sell hand-made leather work, art & crafts, hand-woven carpets and wall hangings, hand-embroidered bed and table linen and other items proudly made in Namibia. Superb jewellery, designed and crafted with local gemstones by master goldsmiths, are another special feature of Swakopmund.
Activities other than fun in the sand and the sea: visit the art galleries and buy contemporary Namibian art and crafts; visit the museum to learn about Swakopmund’s history; join a tour of Karakulia Weavers and watch karakul wool being spun and woven into wall hangings and rugs; admire the world's largest quartz crystal cluster and other mineral treasures at the Kristall Galerie.
Twyfelfontein, in the Kunene Region of north-western Namibia, is one of the largest concentrations of rock art in Africa and Namibia's first World Heritage Site.
Thousands of tourists come to this site each year to view some 2, 500 Stone Age rock engravings. The area is home to 17 rock art sites, which collectively encompass 212 engraved stone slabs. There are an additional 13 sites displaying rock paintings. It consists of hundreds of sandstone slabs covered with rock engravings of animals, and there are a few paintings, too.
The enormous ‘open-air art gallery’ is found in the Huab Valley, flanked by flat-topped sandstone mountains. Twyfelfontein (spring of doubt) is the name that a despairing farmer gave to a perennial spring at the site in the late 1940s. The spring attracted Stone Age hunters over six thousand years ago. The petroglyphs had ritual significance and also served as maps, as well as for educational purposes and recording events.
Etosha National Park in the central north is world-famous for its abundance of wildlife and premiere game viewing opportunities. The park is home to 114 species of mammals, including elephants, black rhinos, lions and other big cats and predators, giraffes, various antelopes and zebras, as well as hundreds of species of birds and reptiles. The vegetation ranges from dense bush to open plains with semi-arid savannah grasslands. During the dry season and in times of drought, the animals flock to the perennial springs and artificial waterholes which are maintained all over the park.
Etosha Pan in the heart of the nature reserve is a vast shallow depression of 5000 kilometres2 that can even be seen from space. The huge salt pan is dry for most of the year and lies shimmering in the heat, but after good rains it fills up with water and attracts scores of birds, especially flamingos from as far away as the Walvis Bay Lagoon on the Atlantic coast.
The western reaches of Etosha are quite different from its south-eastern and eastern parts. Even the characteristic white dust of the pan gives way to reddish-brown soil. The hills of western Etosha are the realm of Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra.
