May 17, 2012
Destinations
Travel Guides, Namibia
Namibia: an exciting destination full of contrasts
By: Miriam Mannak | September 22,2010
The Skeleton Coast
Over the past years Namibia has become an increasingly popular travel destination in Africa, and not without reason. This country where English is widely spoken, offers a plethora of diverse travel experiences.
From people who seek ultimate luxury to budget travelers and backpackers, from cultural fanatic to eco tourists, Namibia has something for everyone.
Windhoek: a cosmopolitan capital where ancient Africa meets Europe
Situated in the geographic centre of the country and at an elevation of 1,600m, Windhoek means “windy corner”. It is the city where most safaris travelling through Namibia start.
Compared with other energetic African sub-Saharan capitals, Windhoek is a tiny village: its population amounts to about 300,000 souls, when greater Johannesburg boasts 10 million inhabitants.
Easy to tour on foot, the city is an interesting architectural mixture of German colonial buildings, ultra-modern buildings and villas with bougainvillea-draped walls!
Most shops, restaurants, clubs, hotels and sights are being located close to the city centre.
In the midst of the Namib Desert: Sossusvlei
The Namib desert is the oldest desert of the world, famous for its millenary apricot-colored sand dunes. In the midst of this timeless area is Sossusvlei, a clay pan surrounded the highest sand dunes in the world. Sossuvlei is also the place where the Orange and Tsauchab rivers meet, which explains the stunning existence of a fauna.
In Sossusvlei, one finds the &Beyond Sossus Desert Lodge. This desert retreat is without a doubt one of the most extraordinary lodges in Namibia. Offering high-end accommodation in the heart of the ancient Namib Desert, the lodge’s mission is also to protect the environment and help the surrounding communities.
The Sossus Green Team assists the Namibian authorities in clearing the public tourist areas at the nearby dune sites from litter. The Sossus Desert Lodge is furthermore involved in a cheetah conservation project and is sponsoring poor children to attend courses at The Namibia Desert Environmental Education Trust (NADEET).
The Etosha National Park: one of Africa's greatest wildlife-watching places
Etosha, literally the ‘Great White Place’ is a gigantic reserve, in which animals live according to the only laws of nature, without any human’s hand intervening to disrupt the ecological order.
A constant parade of ostriches, springboks, zebras, wildebeest, and their predators picks its way through the heat haze to converge at Etosha's waterholes. The park is, as the rest of Namibia, a vast invitation to walk. It is necessary to say that the ground is wild: the man does not intervene in the ecosystem neither by looking after animals nor by introducing or removing others. Life makes here its wildest laws reign.
The Skeleton Coast: unlimited fauna and unlimited activities
Skeleton Coast is the coast where the Portuguese arrived in the XVth century, looking for the route to India, and leaving these lands too hostile to practice any trade.
