Interesting Facts
The world’s highest sand dunes are at Sossusvlei in the Namib-Naukluft National Park
The Namib, at 80 million years, is the oldest desert in the world.
Etosha Pan – an oasis in the centre of the vast semi-desert region, one of Africa’s largest game reserves
Fish River Canyon is the second largest Canyon in the world, after the Grand Canyon.
The Skeleton Coast is so named because of the many sailors who perished on this desolate sandy coast.
The fossil plant Welwitschia Mirabilis has a lifespan of up to 2000 years.
Hoba Meteorite, discovered in the 1920s, is the largest known meteorite in the world and situated 20 km from Grootfontein.
Namibia has the largest free-roaming cheetah population in the world - an estimated 2 500.
The largest sand dunes in the world are awesomely enormous and eerily enticing. The feminine curves of Sossusvlei's rich ochre sea of sand, rise tantalisingly to almost 1,000 feet (305metres), which is 300 feet (91metres) more than their nearest rivals in Arabia. Discarding shoes & plunging bare feet into the hot soft sand is the best way to climb to the top, but each step forms a mini sand slide and footprints look more like an insect trail as they are dwarfed by the sheer size and immensity of the dunes.
Geologists suspect that this supreme desert, that covers most of the Namib Naukluft National Park, is the oldest desert known to man. The older the dune the brighter the colour from slow iron oxidisation & a zillion tiny fragments of garnets. These dunes refract spectacular colours with the changing light & turn from burnt orange through reds to deepest mauve.
Etosha is one of the largest and best game viewing parks in the whole of Africa. The reason is in the Ovambo name Etosha, which means 'huge white area' or 'place of dry water', depending upon whom you ask. For most of the year a vast shallow pan, which was once a lake the size of Holland, shimmers a glaring bright white from crystallised salt across its entire surface. Surrounding the pans is a variety of grass and woodlands amongst which live a wonderful variety of animals and birds, insects and reptiles.
Fish River Canyon is the second largest canyon in the world behind only the Grand Canyon in Arizona (though some dispute this). Located on the continent of Africa in southern Namibia, the Fish River Canyon is some 100 miles long, up to 16.5 miles wide and up to 1,800 feet deep in places
The Skeleton Coast is so named because of the many sailors who perished on this desolate sandy coast. This sailor who made to shore did not live to tell the tale as this arid coastal area is virtually devoid of water and vegetation.
The fossil plant Welwitschia Mirabilis has a lifespan of up to 2000 years.
Hoba Meteorite, discovered in the 1920s, is the largest known meteorite in the world and situated 20 km from Grootfontein. The meteorite is approximately 80 000 years old and its weight is more than 50 tons.
Namibia has the largest free-roaming cheetah population in the world - an estimated 2 500.

 


Why visit Namibia?

Namibia has it all, whether you like travelling in luxury or economically, with a guide or by yourself, and your interest is in wildlife, landscape, people, adventure, geology, photography, culture or cuisine. Namibia' s bountiful sunshine, abundance of wildlife, scenic beauty and rich diversity of geological phenomena make it a tourist destination to which visitors return again and again.

The bedrock of Namibia' s tourism industry is an awesome array of natural assets. There are the hauntingly beautiful landscapes of the Skeleton Coast, Sperrgebiet, and Namib Naukluft Park, the latter including the renowned Sossusvlei with its monumental mountains of sand. There is the equally famous Etosha National Park, where you see rare and endangered species such as black rhino, cheetah and black faced impala against the unique backdrop of the Etosha Pan. There is the riverine paradise of Caprivi and Kavango in the far water-rich north-east, and in the deep south, vast grassy plains dotted with the iconic quiver tree sandwiched between the colourful sand seas of two deserts, the Kalahari and the Namib.

Additional draw cards are the friendliness and cultural diversity of Namibia' s people, a well developed infrastructure and an extensive choice of parks, resorts and accommodation establishments, the latter ranging from luxury hotels to upmarket guest lodges to simple and rustic accommodation in the quite seclusion of the bush.