Namibia - Land of Contrasts
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is situated in southern Africa on the Atlantic coast. It is bordered by Angola, and Zambia to the north, Zimbabwe to the
north-east, Botswana to the east, and South Africa to the south. Namibia gained its independence from South Africa in 1990 and its capital is Windhoek. It is also is also a member state of the Southern African Development community (SADC), the African
Union (AU), and the Commonwealth of Nations and the United Nations.
The Namibian landscape consists primarily of central highlands, of which the highest point is the Brandberg at 2,606 meters (8,550ft). The central plateau runs from north to south, bordered by the Namib Desert and its coastal plains to the west, the Orange River to the south, and the Kalahari Desert to the east. A remarkable strip of land in the northeast, known as the Caprivi Strip is the vestige of a narrow corridor demarcated for the German Empire to access the Zambezi River. The Namibian climate ranges from desert to subtropical, and is generally hot and dry; precipitation is sparse and erratic.
The cold, north-flowing Benguela, current accounts for some of the low precipitation. Besides the capital city Windhoek in the centre of the country, other important towns are the ports of Walvis Bay, and Swakopmund, as well as Oshakati, Grootfontein, Tsumeb and Keetmanshoop. Namibia is one of Africa's most geographically and culturally diverse countries. It does not boast white, sandy beaches or big resort hotels, so it has never appealed to mass tourism, yet its 1,572 km of coastline, spectacular desert scenery and the world renowned Etosha Pan wildlife reserve combined with the customs and cultures of its 11 ethnic groups creates a unique tourism experience.
| Area | Total 824,292sq km (34th) (318, 259 sq miles) |
| Population | July 2005 est. 2, 031, 000 (144th) 2002 Census 1,820,916 Density 2, 5 /sq km (225th)(6, 5 /sq mi) (318, 259 sq miles) |
Tourism & Culture
One of Namibia's main attractions is that it is easy to explore independently. The country's tiny population, of just over 2 million, is largely
scattered through a sprinkling of towns, founded by different peoples (some
ancient, some colonial) offering a fascinating insight into a rich variety of cultures.
Between these are vast tracks of pristine wilderness, home to some stunning wildlife,
and which remain protected as national parks, one can drive for hours through endless plains, enjoying a scenic backdrop of huge mountains and spectacular canyons without meeting another tourist.
Cultures
Namibia is among the three sovereign countries with the lowest population density. The majority of the Namibian population consists of a mostly of the Ovambo tribe, which forms about half of the population, concentrated in the north of the country. In addition to the Ovambo there are large groups of Khoisan (e.g. Nama and Bushmen), who are descendants of the original inhabitants of Southern Africa. Other ethnic groups include the pride Herero nation and people with mixed racial origins, called Basters, Other Namibians are decendants of Dutch, German, British, French and Portuguese ancestry. Due to thew countries past most Namibians speak Afrikaans (a language similar to Dutch) while English is the official language. Other languages spoken include German and Portuguese.A Tourism destination
Since gaining independence from South Africa in 1990, the Republic of Namibia has become one of Sub-Saharan Africa's fastest growing and most competitive conomies. It is also becoming increasingly visible as a tourism destination – boosted by the recent decision of the high – profile actress, Angelina Jolie, and her partner Brad Pitt to choose Namibia as the birthplace of their much-publicised baby.As the sector gains in importance, it is also increasingly complementing the country's traditional economic sectors-agriculture, fishing and mining. Yet, despite the clear potential for tourism growth and the opportunities it offers to diversify and enrich the economy, the sector has seen low levels of government investment.
Nevertheless, some significant moves have been made over the past decade to provide a political and legislative framework that is conducive to the growth of the industry. The White Paper on Tourism was approved by Cabinet in 1994, and the Namibia Tourism Board Act was signed in 2000. Since its subsequent establishment in 2001, the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB) has undertaken a series of measures to improve marketing of the country's tourism attractions, as well as putting systems in place to organize the industry.
The country's Travel & Tourism is currently at a critical point in its development. Benefiting from a unique product in terms of its natural and cultural heritage.
Environment
Namib-Naukluft National Park is an ecological preserve in the Namib Desert in
Southwest Africa, thought to be Earth's oldest desert. The park is the largest game
park in Africa, and a surprising collection of creatures manages to survive in the
hyper-arid region, including snakes, geckos, unusual insects, hyenas and jackals.
More moisture comes in as a fog off the Atlantic Ocean than falls as rain, with the
average 106 millimeters of rainfall per year concentrated in the months of February
and April.The winds that bring in the fog are also responsible for creating the park's towering sand dunes, whose burnt orange color is a sigh of their age. The orange color develops over time as iron in the sand is oxidized (like rusty metal); the older the dune, the brighter color. These dunes are the tallest in the world, in places rising above the desert floor more than 300 meters (almost 1,000 feet). The dunes taper off near the coast, and lagoons, wetlands, and mudflats located along the shore attract hundreds of thousands of birds.
"Namib" means open space and the Namib Desert gave its name to form Namibia – "land of open spaces". The park was established in 1907 when the German Colonial Administration proclaimed the area between the Swakop River and the Kuiseb River a game reserve. The park has some of the most unusual wildlife and nature reserves in the world, and covers an area of 19,215sq miles or 49, 768sq km (an area approximately the size of Switzerland). The region is characterized by high isolated inselbergs/ kopjes (the Afrikaans for "isolated desert mountains" which are made up of dramatic blood red granites, rich in feldspars and sandstone.
Namib Desert
Stretching 1,200 miles in length, but averaging a width of only 70 miles, the Namib
Desert is home to the highest sand dunes in the world.
The Namib Desert is a large desert in Namibia which forms part of the Namib-
Naukluft National Park one of Africa's largest. The name "Namib" is Nama for
"enormous space" and indeed the desert occupies an area of around 50 000km²,
stretching some 1,000 miles (1,600km) along the Atlantic Ocean coast of Namibia,
which is named after this desert. Its east-west width varies from 30 to 100 miles (50-
160km). The Namib Desert also reaches into southwest Angola.A number of unusual species of plants and animals are found only in this desert. One of these is Welwitschia mirabilis, one of the most unusual species. Welwitschia is a shrub-like plant, but grows just two long, strap-shaped leaves continuously throughout its lifetime. These leaves may be several meters long, gnarled and twisted from the desert winds. The taproot of the plant develops into a flat, concave disc in age. Welwitschia is notable for its survival in the extremely arid conditions in the Namib, sometimes deriving moisture from the coastal sea fogs.
"It's absolutely silent: On a windless day, sometimes all you can hear is a deep,
deafening silence."
"It's a little amazing that anything can eke out an existence in that ocean of sand."
Along with the Skeleton Coast further north, it is notorious as the site of many shipwrecks. Some of these wrecked ships can be found as much as 50 meters inland, as the desert is slowly creeping westwards into the sea, reclaiming land over a period of many years. The Namib is an important location for the mining of tungsten, salt and diamonds. Access is via light aircraft from Windhoek (the capital of Namibia, about 480km east of the centre of the desert), Swakopmund and Walvis Bay at the north end of the desert, or overland on gravel roads.
Climate
The Namib, as the rest of Namibia except the far south, is a summer rainfall area. Rain, if any, can occur from as early as October till as late as May. The amount of rainfall in the Namib is minimal, varying from an average of less than 15mm at the coast to about 100mm on the eastern escarpment. This is however also irregular, some years exceeding the average by several hundred percent, while in other years no rainfall at all is recorded.An extremely important source of moisture in the Namib is the fog that extends inland for tens of kilometers on most mornings. Any small hills or obstacles on the landscape cause the fog-water to condensate and droplets are deposited on the rocks, plants and soil surface. When the 'fog-water catchments' is large enough succulents and other desert-adapted vegetation can germinate and thrive.
Due to the fog the humidity at the coast is very high and temperatures mostly cool. Further inland, about 30 to 60 km, the temperature and humidity fluctuates drastically with cool, humid air early in the morning and hot, dry conditions later in the day. Temperatures can soar to over 40 degrees Celcius and even higher when the hot, dry east wind or Berg wind is blowing. Ironically these winds occur in winter between April and August and are usually very strong and hot. It brings life-giving detritus – wind – blown material from plant and insect remains from the interior, providing food for the small creatures of the dunes.
Transport
International air connections for both passengers and freight are available at
Windhoek's Hosea Kutako International Airport. Direct destinations include the
strategic regional hub of Johannesburg, and the European cities of London and
Frankfurt. Air Namibia is the national carrier; other international airlines operating
here are South African Airways, British Airways/Comair, TAAG and LTU. There are
also direct flights between Windhoek and Luanda, Lusaka, Harare, Livingstone and
Cape Town, as well as domestic flights to local destinations from the city's Eros
Airport. Walvis Bay International Airport has regular flights to Cape Town,
Johannesburg and Windhoek, and Keetmanshoop Airport also operates and
international service. All Namibia's main towns and tourist resorts have airports, landing strips and/or
heliports.Walvis Bay, with its world-class standard of cargo handling and sheltered deepwater harbor is poised to become the most important pot on Africa's west coast and a regional container hub for southern Africa. The completion in 2000 of the deepening process and the building of a new enlarged container terminal able to handle vessels with a capacity of some 2000 to 2400 TEUs but the port on a par with Cape Town and Durban.
The dedicated facilities for a range of commodities, including containerized cargo, refrigerated produce, break bulks, dry bulk, and petroleum products. The port currently handles around 2,5 million tons of cargo annually, with an average turnaround time of about 12 – 18 hours for container vessels. Products including, foodstuffs, marble blocks, lead and copper ingots and an annual 500,000 tons of salt. As well as excellent logistical support services, there is a thriving ship repair and marine engineering industry at Walvis Bay.
The Walvis Bay and Lüderitz harbours are administered by the Namibian Ports Authority (NamPort), a state owned organization established in 1994, part of whose role is to ensure the smooth operation of cross-border trade. The ports enjoy good industrial relations, with well-motivated workforces, and are able to offer a high standard of stevedoring to complement their modern dockside equipment.
Walvis Bay Corridor
The Walvis Bay Corridor is the name for a newly constructed network of transport which has opened up access to landlocked southern Africa for destinations west of the continent by the shortest possible route. Completed in 1998, and using the port of Walvis Bay as the trade gateway, its main arteries are the Trans-Caprivi and Trans- Kalahari Highways. The Walvis Bay to Grootfontein railway lines also forms part of the corridor.Namibia has a well developed road network covering more than 40,000 kilometers and providing access to the majority of towns, as well as tourist resorts and nature reserves. The primary routes are tarred. The Trans Caprivi Highway provides an all weather road link between Walvis Bay and Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Trans-Kalahari Highway links Walvis Bay with South Africa's Gauten industrial heartland via Botswana. Previously this region used Durban as its natural gateway. The highway also is connected to the Maputo Corridor on Africa's east coast, thus providing a transport link across the entire breadth of the continent.
A network of railways covering 2,382 kilometers connects Walvis Bay and Luderitz with key destinations in Namibia and South Africa. Much of the containerized traffic at Walvis Bay goes by rail, and the port has its own marshalling yard for maximum operational efficiency. Thousands of tons of bulk minerals from mines in South Africa and Namibia are transported directly to the quayside by the rail for export. A railway line from Walvis Bay to Grootfontein, where there are trans-shipment facilities, link in with the Trans-Caprivi Highway.
Infrastructure
Namibia has an infrastructure of a standard which would agreeably surprise all Those
who are unfamiliar with the country and its advantages. There is continuous and
growing investment in those facilities which are regarded the lifeblood of a vibrant,
modern and developing economy.Namibia has a world class telecommunications system, with telephone and internet connections widely available in both urban and remote area, thanks to recent substantial investment in the telecommunications infrastructure including the installation of optical fiber cable networks. The Harvard Africa Competitiveness Report 2000-2001 ranked the quality of Namibia's telecommunications services first in Africa.
Services
The full range of business support services is available in Namibia, including banking and finance, insurance, stock broking, accountancy, general business consultancy, advertising and marketing agencies and conference facilities. Namibia has a well-established banking system. The Bank of Namibia is responsible for issuing currency and is the foreign exchange authority, lender of last resort to banking institutions, banker to the government and the commercial banks and the supervisory authority on financial institutions and monetary matters.Commercial banks operate through a nationwide network of branches and offer a comprehensive range of banking services, including current account and overdraft facilities, term deposits, discounting of bills, foreign exchange and a variety of loan products. These are Bank Windhoek Ltd., Swabou, the Commercial Bank of Namibia Ltd., First National Bank of Namibia, Standard Bank of Namibia Ltd. And NIB, Most also provide specialized merchant banking facilities. International services are available through inter-bank arrangements. Electronic banking and teller services are available in all major centers.
The Namibian Dollar (N$) is divided into 100 cents. It is linked to and on a par with the South African Rand which is also legal tender in Namibia. The Namibian Stock Exchange is Africa's second largest in terms of total market capitalization and among the continent's most technically advanced bourses.
The fishing activity at the town of Walvis Bay and the establishment of the Export Prosseng Zone (EPZ) near the airport is set to position Walvis Bay airport as the second largest airport in Namibia. In addition, the airport has a favourable location just above sea level which minimizes aircraft operational costs and has generated tremendous interest from local and foreign operators, both from within the tourism and business sectors.
Whilst the majority of tourist and owners will fly from Windhoek and Walvis Bay, to Meob there are also numerous 4x4 guided trips as per concession given by the government through the dunes to reach their destination at Meob Bay. With this kept in mind the accessibility of Meob Bay which has an existing airstrip which needs a little upgrading and improvement will be reachable by all airports in Namibia or Hosea Hotako, Walvis Bay, Eros etc.
Economy
Namibia is one of the most sophisticated and promising emerging markets. A unique
combination of a highly developed first-world economic infrastructure and a huge
emergent market economy has given rise to a strong entrepreneurial and dynamic
business environment with many globally competitive advantages and opportunities.
A wide array of economic and social policies has been adopted by the Namibian
Government since 1990 to ensure the international reintegration of the country's
economy and the creation of an environment for sustained export growth, healthy net
capital inflows and improved investor confidence.Today, these actions are paying dividends and the South African investment is showing significant improvements. Inflation is at its lowest levels since 1970, the interest rate is the lowest since 1984, the fiscal deficit and government debt levels have been reduced to more acceptable levels, the economy has been opened up to competition and global markets (through tariff liberalization and gradual exchange control relaxation) and economic growth is taking off.
Government finance and Fiscal policy
Since independence the government's main policies have been aimed at achieving sustainable economic growth and a real increase in income per hand. It has abstained from any major state intervention, aiming to promote sustainable development by facilitating foreign direct investment inflows into priority sectors (natural resource value added, non-traditional manufacturing and tourism). At the same time it has expanded the role of the state through the creation of a number of new parastatals. Black empowerment and affirmative action are being implemented, although progress in the private sector is slow.Economic policy is focused on the stimulation of activity in the private sector, notably in the manufacturing sector, in an effort to reduce vulnerability by diversifying away from the primary sector, policy. Growth, poverty reduction and reducing unemployment are focus areas. In the 2001/02 budget the government introduced a medium-term expenditure framework designed to strengthen fiscal policy management and provide a more targeted focus on the allocation of available resources.