Having done a few trips through Namibia I thought it would be nice to write about a few of the highlights one would experience whilst travelling through this arid country. Firstly we have a few tours that run through Namibia being the Cape to Victoria falls CVa21/ & CV21, Namibia Botswana NBa21 & NB21 and lastly our new "Classic" safari the WVac14.

Namibia has the second lowest population density of any sovereign counrty in the world after Mongolia. It has a area surface of 824,292 sq km and has a population of about 2,212,307 million people. It shares its borders with 4 countries being Angola, Botswana, South Africa and Zambia. The rest of its border is with the Atlantic Ocean. The Namib Desert is one of the oldest deserts in the world and is estimated to be between 55 & 80 million years old.

When travelling through Namibia with Sunway Safaris the highlights you would expect to see would be the Fish River Canyon, Namib Desert, Swakopmund, Brandberg, Spitzkoppe, Etosha National Park and the capital city Windhoek.

The Fish River Canyon:

The Fish River Conservation Area was declared a reserve in 1969. This is the second largest canyon of is kind in the world after the Grand Canyon and is 161km long, several kilometres wide at places and 549m at its deepest. Comprising of various geological formations, which can clearly be seen, dark steep slopes leading up from the riverbed were originally sandstones, shale and lavas deposited about 1 800 million years ago. Between 500 and 800 million years later, these deposits were intensely compressed and folded. At the same time, they were exposed to temperatures of about 600 °C and metamorphosed. These rocks, together with the intrusive granites of the area form the Namaqualand Metamorphic Complex. The dark lines that cut these rocks are Dolerite dykes that did not reach the surface about 900 million years ago. The first major period of erosion began soon after this reducing the surrounding area into a vast peneplane, which 650 million years ago became the floor for a shallow sea that covered much of Southern Nam.  Sediments from the Nama Group were deposited into this sea and you can see an almost horizontal contact layer, known as unconformity, a break in the geological record. Fracturing of this crust about 500 million years ago caused a North-South valley and 200 million later a south moving glacier deepened the valley. With a length of 650 kilometres the Fish River is the longest river in Namibia. Its source lies in the eastern Naukluft Mountains. South-west of Ai-Ais it flows into the Orange River.

The Namib Desert:

Sossusvlei - Sossusvlei marks the end of the Tsauchab River’s journey to the Atlantic Ocean which was blocked by the encroaching sand-dunes about 70 km from the coast some 60 000 years ago. It ends in two pans, which can be reached by a 4x4 transfer, which costs about N$50(own expense). The Nara Vlei; name is due to the great numbers of Nara, a plant endemic to Namibia. The Orange and Fish Rivers deposited the sand that has formed these dunes into the Atlantic during times erosional phases, and it has since been washed on shore due to currents and wave action and later blown inland by strong south-westerly winds. Dune 45 is the highest dune of its type in the world; it is Star dune formed by multi-directional wind and is roughly 325 m high, this is also probably the most photographed dune in the world.
The Namib-Naukluft National Park - is a national park of Namibia encompassing part of the Namib Desert (considered the world's oldest desert) and the Naukluft mountain range. With an overall area of 49,768 km2 (19,216 sq mi), the Namib-Naukluft is the second largest game park in Africa and the fourth largest in the world.
Dead Vlei - Nearby is yet another "place of no return" this one even older, and much deader than Sossusvlei. Known as Dead Vlei or "dead marsh" (Vlei being Afrikaans for a type of marsh), it is found among the tallest dunes in the world – home to Big Daddy the 343m high dune shadowing over Dead Vlei. Dead Vlei was once like Sossusvlei, with the river draining into it nourishing desert life and even trees. But no longer. Some 900 years ago the climate dried up, and dunes cut off Dead Vlei from the river. It became too dry in Dead Vlei for the trees to even decompose. They simply scorched black in the sun, monuments to their own destruction. The trees, now over 1000 years old, form a barren forest. The area, however, is not entirely without life. Salsola shrubs and clumps of Nara melon stay alive by subsisting off of morning mist.
Sesriem Canyon - Carved by the Tsauchab River into gravels deposited between 15 & 18 million years ago. The canyon probably dates back about 2-4 million years when continental uplift caused the incision of most of the westerly flowing rivers of the Namib. The canyon is up to 30 m deep and about 1 km long. The name Sesriem comes from the 6 riems that were attached to a bucket to collect water from the canyon.

Swakopmund:

Captain Curt von François founded Swakopmund in 1892 as the main harbour for the Imperial German colony—The deep sea harbour at Walvis Bay belonged to the British. The founding date was on August 8 when the crew of gunboat Hyäne ("Hyena") erected two beacons on the shore. Swakopmund was chosen for its availability of fresh water, and because other sites further north such as Cape Cross were found unsuitable. The site did, however, not offer any natural protection to ships lying off the coast, a geographical feature not often found along Namibia's coast. Swakopmund quickly became the main port for imports and exports for the whole territory, and was one of six towns which received municipal status in 1909. Many government offices for German South-West Africa had offices in Swakopmund. During the Herero Wars a concentration camp for Herero people was operated in town. Inmates were forced into slave labor, approximately 2,000 Herero died.

Brandberg:

The Brandberg has the highest mountain in Namibia being the Konigstein and is situated in the Namib Desert which is about 80 million years old. At the foot of the Brandberg and flowing through this, the oldest desert in the world is the Ugab River from where the Brandberg rises to 2606 m above sea level. Brandberg has 43 000 identified rock art paintings, making it the most intensively studied site in the world. There is also the Brandberg Acacia (Acacia montis-utsi), common in the area and easily recognised by its broom-like habit of several branches reaching up to 9m starting at the base. The highest point in Namibia is also found in the Brandberg, 2579m high, this point is named “Königstein”, thus the Brandberg is soon be made Namibia’s first World Heritage Site.
Situated in the Damaraland region, this magnificent mountain is made of granite which contains the mineral Feldspar, giving this monolith and the surrounding hills a reddish hue at sunset and sunrise.

Spitzkoppe:

The Spitzkoppe or Matterhorn of Namibia is 1728m above sea level and rises some 700m from the surrounding gravel plains. 10 km to the east are the Pondok Mountains, which is Afrikaans and refers to the mountains resemblance to African huts and about 10km southwest is the Klein Spitzkoppe, which 1572 m above sea level. Geologically the mountains referred here as well as the Brandberg correlate with the break up of the Gondwanaland supercontinent. These were all volcanoes between 750 and 150 million years ago and are granite intrusions that have since been exposed by the erosion of the surrounding area.  These are typically known as inselbergs. The first successful ascent of the Spitzkoppe was in 1946 and only ten years later was the second attempt successful. Situated south-east of the Pondok Mountains, which form part of the Spitzkoppe Mountain range, is the Bushman Paradise Cave, located to the north-east of Usakos. It can be found at the base of a cliff and the foot of the slope is often washed by rain. This cave has been known to Europeans since the beginning of the 20th century, and at the time of their discovery were documented as 'one of the finest collections of rock art in Namibia'.

Etosha National Park:

Etosha National Park was originally known as Game Reserve 2 was proclaimed in 1907 together with Game Reserves 1 and 3. The park only covers 22 270 km², which is 77% less than before the Odendaal Commission when it used to be 99 526 Etosha is home to the world’s biggest black rhino population, which occur mainly in the west but in 1995 some white rhino were reintroduced into the park after they became locally extinct during the early 1990’s. Other rare species of mammals that you find are the black-faced impala, damara dik-dik, red hartebeest and eland.
The saline pan stretches for 120 km from east to west and has a maximum width of 55km; the water that fills the pan depends on the rainfall in the catchment areas of the Ekuma and Oshigambo Rivers in Angola. The park supports up to 400 species of birds, Kori Bustard is one of the more interesting ones being the heaviest flying bird on earth. Flamingos also use the pan when there is sufficient water, it is one of only two breeding areas for Flamingos in Southern Africa, up to a million birds may congregate on the pan when conditions are right. There have been situations when the pan has dried before the birds could actually fly. This has led to interesting and sometimes tragic times. In 1969, the adults were forced to abandon the birds and 20 000 chicks were caught by hand and released at Fischer’s pan. Two years later, when the pan dried up again, 30 000 birds marched 30km to the nearest water at Poacher’s point, the chicks were fed by adult birds flying to and from the water.

Windhoek:

The first recorded settlements were established because of the springs in the area.
The present Windhoek was founded on 18 October 1890 when Von Francois laid the foundation stone of the fort, which is known as the Alte Feste (Old Fortress). Over the next fourteen years, Windhoek developed slowly, with only the most essential government and private buildings being erected. In Klein Windhoek, plots were allocated to settlers, who started small-scale farming with fruit, tobacco and dairy cattle. After 1907, the town developed more rapidly, with more settlers arriving from Germany and South Africa. Businesses were erected in Kaiser Street (the present Independence Avenue), and house were built along the dominant ridge, including the three eye-catching castles. The German colonial era came to an end during World War I, when South African troops occupied Windhoek on 12 May 1915 on behalf of Britain. For the next five years, South West Africa was administered by a military government, and development came to a standstill. After World War II, Windhoek’s development gradually gained momentum as more money became available in the improving economic climate. Especially after 1955, large public projects were undertaken, such as the building of new schools and hospitals, the tarring of the town’s roads (this had already commenced in 1928), and the building of dams and pipelines to stabilise the water supply. Since the mid-1980s, Windhoek has expanded consistently. Namibia’s Independence in 1990 brought considerable investment to the city centre, as well as expansion of the suburbs and a general upgrading of the infrastructure.