Namibia takes its name from The Namib Desert. Indeed, the name ‘Namib’ means ‘vast place’ which is the perfect way to describe the country. The desert itself is believed to have existed for at least 55 million years, making it the world’s oldest. It stretches for roughly 1,243 miles along the Atlantic coast of Africa, spanning Namibia, South Africa and Angola. In the local Nama language, Namib means ‘an area where there is nothing’. It has some of the highest sand dunes in the world, most notably in Sossusvlei. It is also home to the largest canyon in Africa, known as the Fish River Canyon. There is a lot of space in Namibia given its one of the least crowded countries on the planet. As of 2020 its population is estimated to be 2.5 million inhabiting a country that is 318,261 square miles in size. To put that in context England has a population of approximately 56 million (as of 2020) inhabiting 50,337 square miles. Namibia’s population speak a total of 30 different languages. While English is the official language less than 1% of the country’s population speak it as their first language. Nearly half the population speaks Oshiwambo dialects, while the other main languages are Afrikaans, Herero and German.
It only became ‘Namibia’ in 1990 when independence was granted from South Africa, which had taken over the territory during the First World War. Before then Germany was in control and committed what is considered the first genocide of the 20th century, described as ‘Germany’s forgotten genocide’. Between 1904 and 1909 Germany systematically exterminated around 80% of the Herero and 50% of the Nama people. It wasn’t until 2004 that the German government apologised.
If you look at a map of the country, you’ll notice an odd strip of land in the top right above Botswana. The Caprivi Strip is a long, narrow extension of Namibia, running around 280 miles from the northeast corner to the Zambezi River. In colonial times the United Kingdom and Germany were carving up ownership of land in Africa. The UK ceded the Strip to Germany during the latter’s ownership of the country between 1884 - 1919. The Germans wanted this land to provide access to the Zambezi River and a route to Africa’s east coast. After the First World War the Strip became part of South Africa, and ultimately Namibia as we now know it.
Perhaps one of the most well-known areas of Namibia is its Skeleton Coast. This constitutes the world’s biggest grave site, with as many as 500 ships estimated to be scattered along the coast; from wooden Portuguese galleons submerged hundreds of years ago to modern steel-hulled ships. In modern times most give the coast this name because of the shipwrecks, indeed Portuguese sailors once referred to it as ‘The Gates of Hell’, but it actually got its name from whale and seal bones that once littered the coastline from the whaling industry. Namibian Bushmen are believed to have called this coastline ‘the land God made in anger’. It's 25 miles wide and 311 miles long, stretching from the old German colonial town of Swakopmund all the way to the Angolan border in the north.
Namibia is the driest country in Sub-Saharan Africa, with deserts occupying much of the country. With a harsh climate of an average of 300 days of sunshine a year, it is perhaps surprising that wildlife flourishes. Look a little deeper and it's not as surprising as you might think. Namibia takes conservation seriously, protecting more than 40% of its land. It is the first African country to incorporate environmental protection into its constitution. Thanks to this the country holds the world’s largest population of free-roaming Cheetahs. This is good news considering these big cats are dangerously close to extinction, considered ‘vulnerable’ by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). They have disappeared from roughly 90% of their historic range in Africa and only around 7,000 adults remain in the wild (as of 2020). Of this approximately 3,000 reside in Namibia.
It’s not just Cheetahs - Namibia is the only country with an expanding population of free-roaming Lions. It has the world’s largest population of free-roaming Black Rhino, and the aforementioned Skeleton Coast has one of the world’s biggest breeding colonies of Cape Fur Seals. It also THE place to see desert-adapted Elephants and Giraffes, made famous by the BBC Natural History Unit and their documentaries narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
Most, when planning a trip to see the wildlife of Africa immediately think of the great plains of the Maasai Mara in Kenya and Serengeti in Tanzania, or the world-famous Kruger National Park in South Africa. These are all for good reason and come highly recommended by both leading photographers and naturalists alike. Indeed, I have every intention of visiting these places at some point in the future. But I would encourage anyone considering Africa to seriously consider Namibia, from the small critters in the Namib Desert at Swakopmund to the mighty desert Elephants in the Hoanib Valley near the Skeleton Coast. It is a country that holds something different from the more well-travelled African destinations, and I hope this blog gives an insight into why.
The story starts on a rather cold morning at home in North Yorkshire on Friday 1st November 2019. The culmination of months’ worth of planning had now translated into sheer excitement and anticipation of the next 17 days. Having been incredibly fortunate to travel to rainforests in Costa Rica and Madagascar, I was keen to explore the opposite end of the spectrum; desert. I was travelling to Namibia with my parents; now more akin to best friends than parents (I had to grow up at some point!). They had visited previously in November 2017 and had shared stories of amazing experiences. They also had the added advantage of knowing our driver and tour guide for the trip, Siggi, having met him in 2017. Our itinerary was somewhat different to their previous trip, incorporating new destinations and, hopefully, new animals into the mix. For me everything was new, and I was eager to get there. Our first flight was a short one hour hop from Manchester to Schiphol in Amsterdam (we flew via KLM - great airline!) and a long six hour wait before our connecting journey to Windhoek in Namibia. Beer and G’n’T was the tonic during the wait - you’ve got to pass the time somehow!
Flight KL575 was a long one. Eight and a half hours into the overnight flight it makes a ‘pit-stop’ in Luanda in Angola. During this hour long stop the flight crew change hands and most of the passengers left. It was then back into the sky for another two and a half hours before finally landing in Windhoek at about midday on Saturday 2nd November. The wave of heat hit me as we stepped off the plane and walked from the runway to the terminal. This sensation is always something that puts a smile on my face wherever I go in the excitement of landing in a foreign country and what the trip has in store. Fortunately retrieving our luggage went without a hitch and we were greeted by Siggi in arrivals. The next leg of our journey started straight away with a four-and-a-half-hour drive from Windhoek to our first destination for two nights; Swakopmund. We got our first glimpse of wildlife with Common Warthogs and Southern Giraffes on the roadside! Hardly surprising that an early night was welcome on our first night in the country.
Swakopmund is a coastal city on the west coast, established by German colonists in 1892. It gets its name from the Swakop River that flows 290 miles from central to Namibia to the coast. Considered the launch pad for exploration of the Skeleton Coast and Namib Desert, it was here that we hoped to come across Namibia’s ‘little 5’; the Namaqua Chameleon, Sidewinder Snake, Shovel-Snouted Lizard, Cartwheeling Spider and Palmato Gecko. Guided by a local expert, Tommy of ‘Living Desert Tours’, we were lucky to come across four of these amazing animals, only missing out on the lizard. Frankly to the untrained eye this seemed an amazing achievement in what appeared to be a desolate landscape!
Tommy was a very comical character, constantly making jokes and making us all feel welcome on our first day. Driving us in a 1950’s British army ambulance (!) through the desert, he knew exactly what to look for, having grown up in the area and spent his life getting to know these lesser known African species. The two I’d most hoped to see were the Sidewinder and Chameleon, and the former was the first species on our search. Only 30 minutes’ drive out of the city itself and we were in the Namib Desert peering into shaded patches of scrub bush in the search for this little snake. Tommy was looking for the tell-tale pattern in the sand the snake leaves as it moves in its iconic S-shaped way. We had no luck so moved further into the desert.
Close to an old and abandoned railway line we were again on the search. Tommy directed us to an area of scrub claiming he had found one. I peered closer and couldn’t see a thing. Eventually, thanks to a lot of “if you look at that stick” and “follow it up” and “a bit to the left” I could see what I thought was part of a tail. It was tiny! When we saw the whole snake as it eventually moved I could see the head was smaller than my thumb nail. The snake slowly moved to an area of sand and we were lucky to watch how it buried itself - it seemed to almost invisibly caress the sand by massaging the ground around it until only its eyes, evolved to be on top of its head rather than on the side like other snakes, were visible. How you would ever find one like this is beyond me. We left the little guy and continued our search.
About half a mile further and Tommy stopped the jeep explaining he was going to hop out and search for the next critter. Sure enough not long after he had found signs of a Cartwheeling Spider burrow. These spiders build a tunnel 25 centimetres deep and use it to shelter from the sun. Amazingly, to stop the tunnel from falling in on itself they ‘glue’ the sand particles together with fine silk threads. Unfortunately, nobody was home, so we didn’t technically see the spider, but it was great to see these desert architects’ handiwork. Continuing on we reached the inevitable point of where nature calls - but where do you go for privacy in a vast open space like the Namib Desert? Well, Tommy had this sorted in the form of a portaloo on a well-used track! It was here that we were greeted by a couple of Tractrac Chats that had clearly become used to being fed. After a supply of a few mealworms we left these little birds to continue our search for the Palmato Gecko.
Tommy was looking for tiny disturbances in the sand which would be the giveaway sign of a gecko’s burrow. Again, to the untrained eye you would simply walk past, and it was only when you looked a little closer that you could make out the difference in the colour of the sand and its direction pointing towards an invisible hole. These geckos have adapted their webbed feet not only to help stay atop, but to bury beneath the sand to avoid the heat of the day. They emerge at night to look for crickets and spiders to eat. With a little digging Tommy was able to show us one of these beautiful geckos, but only very quickly and in the shade. After a couple of minutes, he put him back in his burrow.
So came the search for the final species we saw on this morning trip. It took a while in the jeep driving around to find what we were looking for. Tommy advised that, considering we were nearing late morning, we should look for a white ‘blob’ on a bush. The Namaqua Chameleon is black in colour first thing in the morning to absorb sunlight and warm up. Once it has reached the correct temperature it then turns grey/white to reflect the sun. We eventually spotted one perched atop a bush in a great position, and it casually looked at us with curiosity as we watched trying not to burn ourselves on the sand - Tommy had a temperature recorder and it measured 58 degrees Celsius on the sand in the sun! Considering we achieved all this in one morning was remarkable, and the day wasn’t over.
Arriving back in Swakopmund after an amazing drive through the sand dunes of the Namib Desert we had a quick turnaround before venturing to Walvis Bay, about 25 miles south. Walvis Bay is well known for large flocks of Lesser and Greater Flamingos as well as a colony of Cape Fur Seals. With only one afternoon in which to explore the area we made a couple of quick stops to watch the flamingos, opting for longer with the seals out on a spit of land called ‘Pelican Point’. To get to ‘Pelican Point’ you have to drive to the end of the road south-west of Walvis Bay and drive across bumpy sand. Fortunately, Siggi was well used to this type of driving and, having let air out of the tyres, we headed to the Point. By reducing the air in the tyres, they have a wider footprint and ‘float’ better over soft sand than hard, fully inflated tyres. They have less resistance and therefore less chance of getting stuck.
Tommy had warned earlier in the day that the forecast was for the wind to pick up in the afternoon and he wasn’t wrong. On arriving at the Point and winding down the windows the wind howled through the car bringing sand with it. Quickly realising the error of our ways we kept the windows facing the wind shut. The seals reminded me very much of the Grey Seals at home on the Lincolnshire and Norfolk coasts. Reminding myself that the best vantage point to photograph them would be from the ground I stepped outside and immediately got a mouthful of sand. Using the car as a windshield and what is normally a waterproof rain cover for my camera and lens which provided some protection, I was able to watch the seals lying down.
After a while I came across a young seal pup. Given the howling wind the sand whipped up and covered the poor pup. Combine this with the pup’s wet fur and it was clear he was struggling to see and find his mum. Initially I feared for his survival but was soon relieved to see mum waiting in the surf and, as the pup gradually got closer to the waves, the seawater washed off the sand. The two were eventually reunited and I ventured back to the car. What a first day in Namibia!
Our time in Swakopmund was short-lived having only had two nights there, but it was all we could afford with other areas taking priority; our next stop being one I was particularly looking forward to. We were travelling to Erindi Private Game Reserve, about a three-hour drive from Swakopmund. Erindi, the Herero name for ‘Place of Water’, was a new destination to us all. Having done a lot of research on the place and following some of the game rangers on social media the place appeared to offer an awful lot.
Erindi is vast. It's 65,178 hectares. For those, like me, where a hectare doesn’t mean a lot; one hectare is 10,000 square metres. Think of an international rugby union field and that’s one hectare. Erindi has over 621 miles of roads/dirt tracks to explore. It's 396 miles to drive from Edinburgh to London! Hardly surprising then that the reserve is a haven for wildlife and notably reliable for seeing Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Elephant, Giraffe, Hippos, a whole variety of antelope and even Wild Dogs. In fact, we had managed to see Leopard, Impala, African Elephant, Giraffe (including drinking at a waterhole), Warthog and Waterbuck before we’d checked in!
We stayed at the Old Traders Lodge, perfectly located by a river (albeit dried up during our stay due to drought leaving just a lake at the far side) on one side and a couple of waterholes on the other. Wildlife would come and go throughout the day to both sides and I managed to get some decent ground level images of Elephants and Giraffe before finding my room. Combine that with the restaurant overlooking the river (dried) and lake inhabited by Nile Crocodiles and hippos, and visited by elephants, Wild Dogs and baboons by day and White Rhino by night, and you hardly felt you need to venture further. However, we were obviously keen to explore the reserve and see what we could find, so arranged morning and afternoon game drives for the duration of our three-night stay, starting with the first afternoon drive on the day we arrived.