A Grand Tour of Namibia

The Namib is the world’s oldest and possibly most beautiful desert. One of the driest and least populated areas on the planet, stretching 1,200 miles in length but averaging a width of only 70 miles. Its fascination derives from its seas of multi-toned wind sculpted dunes and the exoticism of the plants and animals that have adapted to life there. Bottle trees, quiver trees and anthropomorphic elephant’s trunk trees all cut haunting silhouettes against the monochrome back-cloths of ochre sand dunes, white dry clay flats and bright blue skies. The actual ‘vlei’ of Sossusvlei is a clay pan surrounded by some of the oldest sand dunes in the world. A short hike to the Dead Vlei reveals tree stumps older than 1000 years creating an eerie atmosphere set against the white coloured landscape. Much of eastern and southern Namibia is covered by the Kalahari Desert which is, by way of contrast, a fossil desert with a landscape of golden grass and small red dunes. The Fish River Canyon, on the lower reaches of the river of the same name, is one of the most impressive natural beauties in the southern part of the country. Meandering some 100 miles and in places up to 17 miles wide and with a depth of up to 550 metres, it is surpassed in size only by the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Luderitz was the first German settlement and the start of the South West African diamond industry.

Nearby Kolmanskop, once a thriving diamond rush centre with grandiose houses and shops, is now a melancholy ghost village whose decline was signalled by the slump in diamond sales after the First World War and by the mid-1950s was completely deserted. Adjoining Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, lying between the dramatic Atlantic coastline and desert dunes, offer an interesting contrast, the former reveals elaborate Germanic architecture, whilst the latter was once a British port and still has a cricket pitch!

In March 1907 the Etosha National Park was established by the then governor of German South West Africa as a reserve for the protection of wildlife. Dominated by a massive mineral pan and part of the Kalahari Basin, the Etosha is one of Southern Africa’s finest and most important game reserves. This semi-arid area reveals many species against landscapes ranging from dense bush to open plains and is well populated by the Big Five, eland, giraffe and many other species of mammal, reptile and bird. Stay at one of the rest camps (normally Halali but on occasion Okaukuejo or Namutoni) which are unique in having floodlit waterholes and optional night game drives and where facilities have been upgraded and service levels are improving. Okonjima is the base for the AfriCat Foundation, as featured on the BBC, a non-profit organisation committed to long-term conservation of Namibia’s large carnivores, especially cheetahs and leopards. Optional activities include ‘radio-tracking’ leopards from the game-viewing vehicles, viewing nightlife such as porcupine, honey-badgers and caracal at the nocturnal hide or visiting the ‘Cheetah Project’ which offers insight into their welfare work and the opportunity to view the cheetahs currently being rehabilitated.

VJV Special Event - A Castle in Africa
A special dinner with wine tasting at the castle Hotel Heinitzburg, overlooking Windhoek. This castle was commissioned in 1914 and transformed into a privately owned hotel in 1996..