Experiencing Namibia

At 824,269 square kilometres, Namibia is four times the size of Great Britain but with only 1.83 million people it is the second most sparsely populated country in the world.

• Average rainfalls varies from a meager 10mm along the coast to 700mm in the northeast.
• The temperatures in the summer months can rise as high as 35 degrees.
• Namibia’s people are diverse, ranging from the pastoral Himba in Kaokoland to the San in the East.
• Colonised by Germany in 1884, Namibia was administered by South Africa from 1917 – 1990, independence was granted on the 21 March 1990.
• The way that Namibia’s wildlife has specially adapted to living in the harsh desert-like conditions will enthrall you.

Namibian Tourism

Namibia places great importance on tourism and is the only country in the world to specifically address conservation and the protection of their natural resources in their constitution. Namibia is an interesting country with fascinating geography, history, culture and wildlife. Our Facts and Information section looks at various aspects of Namibian life and aims to give you a starting point for planning your trip.

How does it feel to be a tourist in Namibia?
Lou and Brian Scott from England recently returned from a 10 day self drive to Namibia. Here is an extract from their feedback:

Thank you to Rhino Africa for helping us plan the most fantastic trip to Namibia. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Namibia and are already planning our return visit.

We were welcomed in Namibia and presented with our documentation and made sure that we were made familiar with the car we had rented. We were offered the option of hiring a second spare tyre, but decided against this as we need the space in the boot of the car. We were not intimidated in anyway by the prospect of self driving, although Rhino Africa had warned us of the long distances and made us completely aware of how much driving we were going to be undertaking. Don’t forget to fill up your car whenever you see a petrol station and remember that for the best part of your trip you will be traveling on gravel and dirt track roads. Also remember that the petrol stations only accept cash and do not accept credit cards.

We’d opted to stay in accommodation that we would describe as being comfortable and good value for money. Sometimes a little rough around the edges in terms of hospitality, the beds were clean, the smiles where bright and the beers were cold! We personally enjoyed the fact that the accommodation was ‘raw’, without exception the accommodation we chose seemed to blend into the environment and seemed so fitting for the locations. We first visited South Africa about 15 years ago and the accommodation and hospitality reminded us slightly of South Africa before it became quite commercial, and lodges and hotels got fancy additions like plunge pools and spa treatment rooms. We found it particularly charming, and its for this reason that we so highly recommend it.

In terms of tourist activities that we did in Namibia, whilst at Sossusvlei we and managed to do a full day excursion to see the Dunes at dawn. We took some fantastic photographs of two hot air balloons over the dunes at dawn, whilst staying in Sossusvlei. In Swakopmund we took at boat cruise and saw Benguela Dolphins and Seals and even got visited by "Picolo the Seal" who came on the boat. If we were younger we might have indulged in some of the other tourism activities in Swakopmund such as Dune Boarding, but we preferred to opt to self drive from Swakopmund to Torro Bay along the Skeleton Coast. It felt as if we were traveling across the moon. In retrospect I think it was quite ambitious.

Our last stop was in Etosha. Having visited the Kruger National Park several times, we would have to say that its harder to see the animals in Etosha, as the bush is thicker. Unfortunately we only stayed in the Namibia Wildlife Resorts accommodation and I think if we were to do it again, perhaps staying in a private reserve would have its benefits, especially for night game drives and the benefit of having a driver guide.

So what of our next trip? We are tempted to explore and hike the Fish River Canyon, Luderitz and Kalahari Area – perhaps see the Desert Horses and Kolmanskop… although this trip will have to wait for next year!

Lou and Brian Scott
Bedfordshire