Stories & News (Explore Tab) – Page 94

July 1, 2016

Support the endangered wild dog

The decline of the African wild dog, Lycaon pictus, has been well documented over the past 40 years. Distributed formerly throughout 39 sub-Saharan countries, today there are only about 6 600 animals left, inhabiting perhaps 14 countries. It has been endangered for about 20 years.

July 5, 2016

Roadside birds in Namibia

Roadside birding is obviously about big birds. So contrary to what people say, size does make a difference. Depending on your financial status, you will most probably spend more than 25% of your time in Namibia on the road, keeping in mind that Namibia is vast and distances are extensive. So you might as well enjoy your time on the road and do some serious bird watching.

July 6, 2016

CYMOT Ultimate Adventure – Unimog adventure into the Fish River

In an attempt to convince me he sweetened the deal, adding: “Oh and while you are here we will take a 1980 model U1100-416 6×2×2×3 Mercedes Benz Unimog truck into the Fish River Canyon and down Donkerkloof Gorge!” Suddenly, what seemed a very mundane and ordinary trip turned into an amazing adventure. An ultimate Namibian adventure.

July 7, 2016

Herero dresses – the bigger, the better

The enormous crinoline dress styled in Victorian tradition is still strong among the Herero women of Namibia, who are extremely proud to wear this distinctive fashion.

July 8, 2016

Skyscrapers of the north – Makalani palms

Are palm trees the epitome of exotic destinations? Palm trees with their slender stems and crown of graceful leaves creating images of faraway places, where peacefulness pushes aside the ballast of everyday life?

July 11, 2016

The phenomenal Himba – a joy to photograph

Barren. Deserted. From all over the world people flock to Namibia to, well, not see people. The idea of a country about three times the size of England with a population of under two million is simply mind- boggling. And yet, there are some natural inhabitants in Namibia who are as beautiful and mesmerising as the landscape.

July 12, 2016

Of fog-basking, metabolic water and milli-osmoles: Animal adaptation

How are some animals able to exist without drinking water? The answer lies in the fact that drinking is not the only way to ingest this magical fluid.

July 13, 2016

Sossusvlei – red world of sand

The dunes are singing. While sitting amongst them on a windy dawn, an eerie music can be heard vibrating through the sand, like a whale song, or a didgeridoo moan. It’s as if the Universe has plucked a chord on her ancient harp and it is resonating here in this red world of sand.

July 14, 2016

The clarity of wide-open spaces

My ten-day safari around Namibia had reached the northern regions and we now veered west to the drier parts of the country. Days of desert dreaming were before us. Strangers from various continents, we had now become a group of travellers on the same wonder-filled adventure.

July 18, 2016

Leaping lizards

Lizards underfoot, lizards overhead, lizards everywhere. But not to worry, they eat bugs, not humans. So why lizards when your goal is to see lion, elephant and rhino? Because before you’ve laid eyes on your first African elephant, you’ll probably have seen at least three kinds of lizard.

July 19, 2016

Namibian owls: Creatures of the night

Once you’re hooked on owl watching, you’ll never look back, unless you’re a pearl spotted owlet with a separate set of ‘eyes’ at the back of your head, or a marsh owl, which always look back over its shoulder after take off. Although owls are relatively common, very few people have ever actually seen one.

July 20, 2016

Long live the fairies!

The so-called fairy circles are a prominent and enigmatic feature of the Namib Desert that has puzzled scientists and environmentalists for many years.

July 21, 2016

Shark Island – reflecting a dramatic historical past

There are few places where Namibian history is as tangible as on Shark Island, the wind-swept and barren rocky promontory protecting Lüderitz harbour. The historical reminders and monuments on Shark Island reflect the last 120 years of Namibia’s dynamic history most vividly, and are as interesting and dramatic as the historical processes that shaped the town of Lüderitz itself.

July 22, 2016

The incredible Zambezi Region

Travelling through Namibia is like travelling through several different historical epochs, continuously encountering different cultures and experiencing different types of climate and vegetation. The Zambezi Region in Namibia's extreme north east is entirely different to the rest of the country in all these respects, especially as regards its history.

July 25, 2016

Scheppmannskirche – the church in the desert

Turning off the airport road between Walvis Bay and Rooikop, after some twenty kilometres, you reach the water-extraction station of Rooibank, where Walvis Bay and Swakopmund obtain their drinking water. About one kilometre before Rooibank, on the top of a hill on the right side of the road, is a small church. What is the story of this church that was built right in the middle of the desert?

July 26, 2016

Birding hotspot: Lüderitz

Once you’re in Lüderitz, please don’t become too carried away by the beautiful Art Nouveau and German-Imperial style buildings, because then you’ll definitely run out of time. Our trip along the peninsula south of Lüderitz proved to be most fruitful, with our first sighting being a lonely Greater Flamingo wading along the edge of the Radford Bay lagoon.

July 28, 2016

Diamonds in the dust – Ghost towns of the diamond era

Ever imagine finding a fortune? Most of us do. Some scour car-boot sales hoping to find a Rembrandt painting tossed aside as a worthless daub, others dream of a long-lost uncle leaving them an inheritance of millions. All over the world people clutch their lottery tickets expectantly in the hope that a matching series of numbers will open the door to a world of wealth and wonder.

July 29, 2016

Pelican airlift in Etosha

It was 1971 and the Great White Pelican was determined to breed. Propitious rains had fallen across many parts of the country, changing the Etosha Pan from a desiccated, saline desert into a vast, ephemeral but shallow lagoon.

August 1, 2016

Of wind, air and climate change

On a frosty winter morning there is no wind over the Khomas Hochland in central Namibia. Rising over 2 000 metres into the atmosphere, this plateau was elevated hundreds of millions of years ago during the turbulent birth of Africa. Today, with its deeply incised valleys, it is where the wind of the day gains its strength.

August 2, 2016

A story etched in vegetable ivory

Tall, elegant trees with long, fan-shaped leaves armed with sharp, black thorns – this is the makalani palm, Hyphaene petersiana, found throughout northern Namibia. With male and female flowers borne on separate trees, makalani palms produce a very hard nut – the dark-brown skin covering an ivory-coloured kernel – referred to as ‘vegetable ivory’.