| Namibia
With its breathtaking nature and immense animal population Namibia creates a special challenge for hunters who are enthusiastic about Africa.
Namibia is situated in the south west of Africa and borders in the north on Angola, in the north-west on Zambia and Zimbabwe, in the east on Botswana and in the south on South Africa. All together the white country has a total area of 284 268 km² and stretches from north to south on 1320 km.
Namibia mainly consists of four big landscapes own a big variety of flora and fauna. Therefore it creates a perfect habitat for many different wild species and offers an incomparable hunting experience in Namibia.
The Namib dessert which goes off along the Atlantic coast and borders on the 2000m high lands in the east is the most important natural area of Namibia because it gave its name to the country.
The Namib dessert can be divided into three main zones: It presents as an endless sea of sand with the highest dunes of the world as well as a vast grey-back gravel area and an area with mountain chains and river beds which are the only productive areas in Namibia.
Moreover the Kalahari-basin in the eastern part of Namibia and the shrub land which stretches over the Caprivi part of the country, are building the two other Namibian landscapes.
Namibia is a very dry country and has not much of rainfalls during the year. Therefore there are only some rivers and only two natural lakes in the whole country. The highest mountain of Namibia is the Waterberg with its 2579 m of height. The climate in Namibia is subtropical-continental with a lot of sunshine during the year. On principle there are very comfortable temperatures over the whole year in Namibia. The average of temperatures is 16 °C to 22° C. Only in the Namibian summer which lasts from November to March and is called the rain season, there is common rainfall.
Caused by the differences of climate in Namibia you can find dessert vegetation which perfectly conformists to the extreme heat and dryness. You can also find cold- resistant mountain flora and evergreen tropical woodland. Another special in Namibia are the quiver trees near Ketmaanshoop. With its 14 zones of vegetation, 120 different tree species and 100 lichen species Namibia shows one of the most impressive and beautiful natural landscapes of the world.
In Namibia the protection of nature and environment has a very long tradition and it is also embodied in the constitution. Nearly 14 % of the total area of Namibia consists of constitutional managed nature conservancy reserves. Moreover there are a lot of private nature reserves in which the people try to create an alliance of tourism and nature conservation.
The total population of Namibia is 2, 01 Mio people. 30% of them are living in the cities of the country. The biggest cities of Namibia are Windhoek, the capital of the country, Walvis Bay, Swakopmund and Tsumeb. The population is mixed of 12 different nations. More than 80% of the population consists of the Bantu-nations in which the Ovambo are the biggest group.
The Kavango, Herero, Damara, Nama and Caprivians also belong to the Bantu people. In addition to that there live up to 100.000 white people in Namibia which share 6% of the total population. The bushman or san with a number of 35.000 people is the smallest group of people in Namibia, the Himbas are the last nature tribe of the country. The official language of Namibia is English but besides German and Afrikaans there are also the Bantu languages and the Khoisan-language with lots of different dialects to be spoken.
Besides farming, fishing and mining since the independence of Namibia in 1990, tourism has grown up and is now one of the most important economic systems of the country. Namibia is one of the most multifaceted countries of the world and promises special impressions and exciting experiences not only to hunters.
The Etosha National Park is one of the most important and beautiful game reserves of Southern Africa and stretches over an area of 22720 km². This area is since 1907 a nature reserve and since 1958 it has the status of a national park. Apart from numerous private camps outside of the park, there are also four governmental camps which are managed by the Namibian Wildlife Resort (NWR). These four camps are Okaukuejo at the Anderson Gate, Halali in the middle of the park, Namutoni at Lindequest Gate and Onkoshi in the north-west of Etosha.
Etosha means “place of dry water”. This handed down bushman description is related with the heart of the Park which forms the dry salt pan. This pan which is 120 km long and 72km white was built 10 Mio years ago. The special of the Etosha pan is its salty and chalky crust on the surface. There is a legend which says that the Etosha pan was built when the tribe of Haikom-San which used to live there was attacked and all the men and boys were killed. Only the women survived.
One mother was so sad about the death of her son that her tears flew together in a lake. The water of this lake transpired and only the salt of the tears remained. The Etosha pan is exclusive filled up with water from the rivers of Ovamboland in the summertime during the raining season. Therefore she has besides some salt-liking grasses no vegetation.
After the salt dessert however you can find borderland which is followed by dry bush savanna. In the eastern part of Etosha most of the vegetation consists of tree savanna. The area is dominated by the Mopanebush which the elephants really like to eat.
The big white plain of Etosha also attracts every year a big number of flamingos for breeding. Moreover on the up to 100 waterholes in the national park you can see enormous herds of African game like springbocks, kudus, elands, impalas, damara- dik - diks, gnus and hartebeest. But you can also find there giraffes, ostriches, zebras, elephants, white- mouth-rhinos and different wildcats like cheetahs, leopards, and lions.
In addition to that there are also lots of hyenas and jackals. Apart from up to 144 different mammal species you can also admire up to 350 different bird species in Etosha. The question when and where you can see the most game cannot be answered definitely because the game changes its places very often during the day. Generally it is said that in the early morning or evening hours you have the best chances to see a lot of game.
The game observation combined with shimmering heat and a breathtaking nature makes a visit to Etosha a unique experience in Namibia.
