Namibia: A Country That Has It Allby Joyce DaltonSome countries just seem to have it all. The southern African country of Namibia, for example. A short list includes spectacular desert scenery, including some of the world’s highest dunes; fascinating ethnic groups free (so far) from the negative affects of mass tourism, and game parks second to none. Add to this a stable government, good infrastructure and an official language that just happens to be English. Dunes and Desert ElephantsCovering 50% of Namibia’s 318,250 square miles, the Namib Desert is several terrains rolled into one.
The Human EquationTo mingle with some of the world’s most intact traditional cultures, head north from Damaraland into Kaokoland, then east to Bushmanland. At Sesfontein, a former German fort, dating to 1904, provides atmospheric lodgings and good meals. From here, visits can be made to various Himba settlements.
Living primarily on Namibia’s eastern border with Botswana, a few groups of San, or Bushmen, allow visitors to share their lives, for a day at least. At Tsumkwe, Arno Oosthuysen and his wife operate Tsumkwe Lodge, five individual wooden units with teak interiors which are attractively, if not luxuriously, furnished; all have private baths. Despite its wilderness setting, the lodge provides electricity and hot water.
Four-legged Life Aplenty
A good guide also can supply fascinating animal trivia. For example, did you know that zebra babies recognize the mother’s stripe pattern within half an hour of birth; that female hyenas are the family bosses; that elephants are the best of animal parents and that a black rhino’s calf walks behind the parent while the white rhino’s walks in front. About 25% of the park is covered by Etosha Pan, a white clay expanse that can remain dry for decades. Classified as a saline desert, the pan turns into a vast, shallow lake when flood waters from the Oshigambo and Owambo Rivers occasionally inundate it. At these times, algae flourishes, attracting up to a million flamingoes. Just outside the park’s eastern entrance, luxurious Mokuti Lodge, consistently ranked as one of the country’s top properties, features private and semi-detached bungalows, complete with air-conditioning, ceiling fans, attractive decor and large private baths with all amenities. The central lodge offers comfortable conversation areas and a museum’s worth of African artifacts, while two restaurants, plus a traditional boma (a large circular enclosure where buffets are set up around a roaring fire) serve tasty meals. In addition, there’s a large pool area, complete with thatched bar, tennis courts and a game room. Game parks, exotic ethnic groups, awesome scenery --- whatever your African dream, Namibia manages to fulfill it. Did I mention the country seems to have it all? IF YOU GOGETTING THERE: There are no direct flights from the U.S. to Namibia. Air Namibia flies from London and Frankfurt, Germany to Windhoek, the capital, as well as from Johannesburg, South Africa. (800) NAMIBIA (626-4242). WHERE TO STAY: Karos Lodge: fax (011) 27-11-484-6206 (Johannesburg office) Wolwedans: fax (011) 264-61-230-616 Damaraland Camp: fax (011) 264-61-239-455
Fort Sesfontein: fax (011) 264-61-220-103 Tsumkwe Lodge: fax (011) 264-67-220-060
web: www.mokuti.namib.com TOUR OPERATORS: Conservation Corporation Africa: fax (011) 27-11-809-4514 (Johannesburg office) INFORMATION ABOUT NAMIBIA: (800) NAMIBIA (626-4242) Images by Joyce Dalton |
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To start with the most dramatic, head southwest where dunes tower 1,200 feet and form curves and angles right out of a geometry text. At Sesriem, gateway to the highest dunes, Karos Lodge offers attractively furnished bungalows with amenities unexpected in this desolate setting. An early wake-up call has everyone piling into four-wheel drive vehicles to reach the sculptured sand mountains in time for the best play of shadow and light. Rising on all sides, some dunes are topped by multiple peaks, others by gently sloping lines. After time for climbing, strolling or just staring, breakfast is set out under a straggly tree. 
An hour’s drive from Sesriem leads to Wolwedans, a member of the prestigious Classic Safari Camps of Africa. Comfortable tents, housing twin beds, a luggage stand, a small night table and a solar lamp, perch atop wooden platforms, barriers to drifting sand. An elevated walkway leads to nearby toilet and bath facilities while the bar, lounge and dining room are in a separate building. Candlelit meals are memorable as are Land-Rover excursions past white-trunked shepherds’ trees, fairy circles (pockmarked spots where nothing grows) and the occasional oryx, zebra, ostrich or bird (up to 120 species). 
To the northwest, the aptly named Skeleton Coast offers desert of a different sort. Gates emblazoned with skulls and crossbones allow entry into a 4 million acre national park bordered on the west by the Atlantic. Sights include the sad remains of wooden ships wrecked long ago on shoals and sandbars; a rusting oil rig now occupied by cormorants; concrete pier posts, all that’s left of Toscanni, once a whaling station; parched skeletons of jackals, and endless gravel plains punctuated here and there by low dunes. 
For starkly beautiful desert scenery, Damaraland, east of the Skeleton Coast, is hard to beat. Slowly drifting “walking dunes,” forests of petrified driftwood, ancient granite mountains, fields of dolerite, and engravings etched into sandstone by Bushmen millennia ago make an ever-changing panorama. From Sesfontein, explore the Hoanib River’s dry bed in search of desert elephants and rhinos. The former are surprisingly easy to find. The comfortable tents at Damaraland Camp provide en suite facilities and great views. 
Another good base for desert exploration is Swakopmund, Namibia’s fourth largest town (despite a population of only 18,000). For the most comfortable quarters, choose the Swakopmund Resort Hotel. With a knowledgeable guide, count on a day that’s part learning experience, part sheer adventure. Drop a little water onto rocky black spots and watch them blossom into green lichen. Immerse skinny brown twigs in a cup of water and suddenly, they transform into something resembling miniature clumps of broccoli. Other desert flora include dollar plants, tshama melons (small, yellow and round attached to the thinnest of long stems running across the dry soil) and an odoriferous specimen called Bushman perfume. Save plenty of film, though, for the Welwitchia mirabilis. Like a creeping creature from a horror flick, its hard black center resembles lava while two broad leaves rip and tangle as they stretch in all directions. This weird species can live more than 1,500 years. 
A handsome, nomadic people, the Himba live in beehive-shaped mud huts erected atop frames of bent saplings. The women, especially, exhibit a proud bearing. Clothed in skirts of animal skin plus multiple rows of copper or leather bracelets and massive collars fashioned of an ochre and palm oil mix into which beads or small pieces of metal have been pressed, they sport elaborate hairdos, also heavily caked with ochre. Donations of sugar, flour or tobacco serve as currency for village visits. 
While less exotic in appearance and dress than the Himba, Herero women favor enormous hats shaped from a single long strip of colorful cloth. As many as six layers of clothing might be worn, with the outer skirt forming a sort of puff in the back, not unlike an old-fashioned bustle. Pipes, typically homemade of metal stripped from abandoned cars, are popular with both men and women. 
Oosthuysen is an expert on Bushman culture and has arranged with local settlements to bring small numbers of visitors. Far from a passive stare-and-photograph session, tourists accompany hunters, clad in beaded loincloths and armed with bows and duiker skin bags of arrows, as they check snares, set traps, make fire by twirling a stick over dried grass and dig up larvae which are squeezed onto arrows until a poisonous liquid dots the tips. 
Namibia is a land of superlatives. Along with some of the world’s tallest dunes, it boasts one of Africa’s first and largest national parks. Covering 8,598 square miles, Etosha is home to all the species visitors long to see on an African safari: lions, elephants, leopards, buffaloes, rhinos, cheetahs, antelope in their many varieties, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest and more. 
Unlike most game parks, visitors drive around in their own vehicles (or those provided by guides and tour operators), following maps supplied by park offices, lodges and camps. Even if touring on your own in a rental car (Namibia is so safe that many tourists choose this option), it’s wise to pick up a local guide who keeps abreast of the most likely places to spot the “big five” within Etosha’s vast boundaries. 
Swakopmund Resort Hotel: fax (011) 264-64-400-801
Mokuti Lodge: fax (011) 264-67-229-091email: