| Namibia is a largely arid country of stark | | | | is not to be found. Tubers, melons, and other |
| rough-hewn beauty. The most vivid images are | | | | water bearing plants as well as underground |
| those of a haunting technicolor landscape of | | | | sip wells supply their water requirements.In |
| swirling orange dunes, shimmering mirages and | | | | Namibia today, Bushmen number about 50,000. |
| treacherous dust devils. The apparent | | | | Historians estimate that they have lived, |
| desolation is deceptive and plant and animal | | | | mostly as hunters and gatherers, for at least |
| life and even man has adapted to this | | | | 25,000 years in these parts of the world. |
| environment. The country is designed almost | | | | Bushmen speak in a peculiar click language |
| specially with the active and adventure | | | | and are very gifted in the arts of |
| seeker in mind. Timeless deserts, thorn bush | | | | storytelling, mimicry, and dance. |
| savanna, desolate wind ravaged coastlines, | | | | Namibia’s other people, who are |
| majestic canyons, and sun-baked saltpans are | | | | indigenous to the continent, are mostly of |
| the bounty that awaits the | | | | Bantu origin. They are thought to have |
| traveler.Namibia’s top draw is the | | | | arrived from western Africa from about 2,400 |
| Etosha National Park, rated as one of | | | | years ago. The African groups include the |
| Africa’s finest game sanctuaries. The | | | | Owambo, Kavango, Caprivians, Herero, Himba, |
| birding experience in the country is truly | | | | Damara, Nama and Tswana.The Africans aside, |
| superior. On a Namibia safari, the range of | | | | other groups comprise about 15% of the |
| activities you can indulge in the | | | | population and have played an important role |
| unsurpassable physical environment is truly | | | | in the emergence of the modern nation. White |
| impressive. Ballooning over the desert, | | | | Namibians amount to about 120,00 and are |
| skydiving over land and sea, paragliding, | | | | mainly of German and Afrikaner heritage. |
| whitewater rafting and sand skiing along | | | | Germans arrived in significant numbers after |
| coastal dunes are good activities for | | | | 1884 when Bismarck declared the country a |
| starters. More fun games to pick from include | | | | German Protectorate. Afrikaners, white |
| abseiling – that most spectacular of | | | | farmers of Dutch origin, moved north from |
| rock sports, coastal and fresh water angling, | | | | their Cape settlements, especially after the |
| desert camel riding, scuba diving, 4x4 desert | | | | Dutch Cape Colony was ceded to the British in |
| runs, hiking and mountaineering.Namibia has | | | | 1806. This strongly independent people, whose |
| four distinct geographical regions. In the | | | | ancestors had lived in the Cape from 1652 |
| north is Etosha Pan, a great area for | | | | resented British control.Two other distinct |
| wildlife and heart of Etosha National Park. | | | | groups complete the spectrum of |
| The slender Caprivi Strip is nested between | | | | Namibia’s people - Basters and |
| Zambia and Botswana and is a wet area of | | | | Coloureds. Coloured in Namibia and southern |
| woodland blessed with a few rivers. Along the | | | | Africa refers to people of mixed racial |
| coast is the Namib Desert, which at the age | | | | heritage, black- white for example. They have |
| of 80 million years old, is said to be the | | | | a separate identity and culture. This makes |
| world’s oldest desert. At the coast, | | | | sense considering that Namibia was run by |
| the icy cold Atlantic meets the blazing | | | | South Africa after the First World War. Even |
| African desert, resulting in dense fogs. The | | | | in pre-Apartheid South Africa, racial |
| well-watered central plateau runs north to | | | | classification was a fine art. The |
| south, and carries rugged mountains, | | | | Afrikaans-speaking Basters, descended from |
| magnificent canyons, rocky outcrops and | | | | Hottentot women and Dutch settlers of the |
| expansive plains.Namibia, one and half times | | | | Cape. Alienated from both white and black |
| the size of France, is very sparsely | | | | communities, they trekked northwards, finally |
| inhabited and carries only 1.8 million souls. | | | | founding their own town Rehoboth, in 1871. |
| The people are as unique as the land they | | | | Baster is actually derived from |
| live on. The most intriguing are the San, | | | | “bastard”, but it is not |
| otherwise known as Bushmen. These most hardy | | | | derogatory, and the Basters are indeed proud |
| of people have a highly advanced knowledge of | | | | of it.Namibia’s barren and unwelcoming |
| their environment. It is a marvelous thing | | | | coastlines served as a natural deterrent to |
| how well they are adapted to their difficult | | | | the ambitions of European explorers. That was |
| habitat. Just pause and think that these are | | | | until 1884 when the German merchant Adolf |
| the only people in the world who live with no | | | | Luderitz established a permanent settlement |
| permanent access to water. In the Kalahari | | | | between the Namib Desert and the Atlantic |
| Desert, one of their domiciles, surface water | | | | seaboard that afterwards took his name. |