Travel News Namibia

“Tourism is back! Or it is at least packed and ready to board a flight. It is well on its way.” These are the positive affirmations we are sending into the universe (and in the direction of our source markets) from our beautiful corner of the world. My friends in the car rental industry tell me they are booked up through the high season. News that puts a smile on my face and lights a spark of hope in the heart. And I see them, our long-awaited visitors. They are landing at the newly revamped Hosea Kutako International Airport courtesy of airlines such as FlyNamibia, Eurowings Discover and Ethiopian. They are stocking their camping fridges in the parking lot at Maerua Superspar – a sight I didn’t know I missed until…

WILDERNESS SAFARIS NAMIBIA FACILITATES NEWS CLINIC IN MARIENFLUSS CONSERVANCY In cooperation with donors and other stakeholders, Wilderness Safaris Namibia recently presented a fully-fitted mobile clinic worth US$ 1,5 million to the Namibian Ministry of Health and Social Services. The establishment of the mobile clinic will provide a wide range of medical treatment to the local Himba communities living in and around the Marienfluss. Before, community members had to travel over 325 kilometres to Opuwo for medical treatment. The handover ceremony took place on 29 April 2022 in Otjinungua, at an event attended by the President of Namibia, Dr Hage Geingob, First Lady, Monica Geingos, and governor of the Kunene Region, Marius Sheya. This initiative is part of Wilderness Safaris Namibia’s ongoing mission to support communities neighbouring its lodges in some of…

We have gotten into the habit of favouring Anderson’s Gate to enter Etosha National Park. It is the “central” gate on the southern boundary of the park near Okaukuejo. I am not sure why or how it happened, but habit is one of the most prolific of human behaviours. When the Western part of Etosha was opened some years ago, its wild and unreaped bushlands called to me. So then, from Okaukuejo we headed north to Okondeka and then west. Habit. The furthest east we would wander was our favourite campsite at Halali. Spending a night at the Moringa waterhole the resort is famous for. An early morning loop north, then turning west again, past Salvadora, Charitsaub and Sueda along the pan, back toward Okaukuejo and on to the wilder west. Imagine…

Seemingly out of nowhere, against a field of low shrubs, the occasional camel thorn and rolling hills, the horizon becomes dotted with the sprawling tops of palm trees. Growing up in arid Namibia, palm trees (much like in the Sahara) mean refuge, solace and ultimately, water. A mere hop, skip and jump from the capital, just before Okahandja, a left turn takes you to Gross Barmen via the D1972. The palm trees weren’t a gimmick, it is in fact an oasis. I don’t know what exactly I was expecting on my first visit, but certainly not this. The gates seem to disappear among the sheer size of a brutalist, elaborate rammed earth wall, also known as the entrance. It feels like we have taken the wrong exit, got into a time machine…

“Despite being the most trafficked animal in the world, there is surprisingly little known about pangolins.” It is ten o’clock on a Friday night and we are sitting in the pitch dark on the wet soil of Bushmanland. The bush is alive with the sound of insects, frogs and even flamingos chattering in the distance from pans, full of water from the recent rains. Overhead, the clouds promise to pour down in another fierce and impressive shower as they have done for the last two days. About five metres away from us a pangolin is cosily holed up in its burrow, oblivious to the fact that some humans eagerly await its appearance. According to the location fixes sent out by the GPS transmitter fixed to one of the pangolin’s scales, it…

It was still very dry at the end of November 2021 in Etosha National Park, home to Namibia’s small and isolated blue crane population. A few good rain showers several weeks earlier triggered a migration from the Andoni plains north of Namutoni close to the King Nehale Gate, where all of Namibia’s blue cranes seem to have congregated, towards the Fischer’s Pan area. Four of the 19 birds moved, but that number appears to have changed again since one pair returned to the Andoni waterhole after a short visit. The 2021 summer count took place from the 20th to 27th of November. We visited various sites where blue cranes had been observed in the past, but only found one pair on the plains of Fischer’s Pan east of Namutoni, another pair…