I travelled only 6 days through Namibia, a country that changes by the hour as you drive. A desert that seems to just go on for ever, then suddenly rich vegitation that makes you believe you have been imagining the desert only just a few hours ago.
I loved the fact that we would drive for hours not seeing anyone, then suddenly out of nowhere would be a person walking, in the seering heat to somewhere, where I would never know as there would be no villiage, no home, no farm.. just walking.
This is Africa.
The dry lands of Namibia were inhabited since early times by Bushmen, Damara, and Namaqua, and since about the 14th century AD by immigrating Bantu who came with the Bantu expansion. It became a German Imperial protectorate in 1884 and remained a German colony until the end of World War I. In 1920, the League of Nations mandated the country to South Africa, which imposed its laws and, from 1948, its apartheid policy.
The Himba are an ethnic group of about 20,000 to 50,000 people[1] living in northern Namibia, in the Kunene region (formerly Kaokoland). They are mostly a nomadic, pastoral people, closely related to the Herero, and speak Otjihimba, a dialect of the Herero language.
Wlotzkasbaken or Wlotzka's Baken (German: Wlotzka's beacon, often shortened to Wlotzka or Wlotzkas) is a holiday settlement on Namibia's Atlantic coast, situated approximately halfway between Swakopmund and Hentiesbay. The area around the village lies within the Dorob National Park and features extensive lichen colonies.
Founded as a holiday angling spot in the 1930s, Wlotzkasbaken developed into a settlement of unusual design and administration. Without any fences or boundary walls, privacy is achieved only by the distance between the houses. Titles in the village are held by the Regional Council and only leased to the residents.
Founded as a holiday angling spot in the 1930s, Wlotzkasbaken developed into a settlement of unusual design and administration. Without any fences or boundary walls, privacy is achieved only by the distance between the houses. Titles in the village are held by the Regional Council and only leased to the residents.
Namibia has a population of 2.1 million people and a stable multi-party parliamentary democracy. Agriculture, herding, tourism and the mining industry – including mining for gem diamonds, uranium, gold, silver, and base metals – form the backbone of Namibia's economy. Given the presence of the arid Namib Desert, it is one of the least densely populated countries in the world. Approximately half the population live below the international poverty line, and the nation has suffered heavily from the effects of HIV/AIDS, with 15% of the adult population infected with HIV in 2007