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Many people perceive the Marabou Stork as ugly or describe it as an old man wearing a tailcoat. Some call it the “undertaker bird”. The Marabou is a large member of the stork family, just under 1.5 metres tall. Since they are highly effective scavengers these storks are very useful to people. Marabou Storks are classified as “possibly endangered” in Namibia. 

Namibia is on an industrialisation drive and aims to become an international logistics hub for Southern Africa by 2025. The port of Walvis Bay is one of the key elements within these ambitious plans. A new container terminal of 40 hectares is currently constructed and will start operations in early 2019. A brand-new port is on the drawing cards and this goes hand in hand with a huge industrial park planned in close proximity.

Visitors to Namibia’s main harbour town of Walvis Bay find a modern and busy port, good shopping opportunities, restaurants and they can view flocks of pink flamingos and pelicans in the vast lagoon. Discovered in 1487 by Portuguese seafarers, ancient records claim that Phoenician mariners had landed in the ‘bay of whales’ by some 600 years B.C. when they completed a three-year roundtrip of Africa. 

One doesn’t expect to find much fish in Namibia – after all it’s the driest country south of the Sahara.  And yet a large number of Namibians make a living from catching fish. Besides the fact that commercial fishing is the second largest sector of the economy there are also countless opportunities for leisure and sport angling. 

Heavy gusts of wind are relentlessly battering the landscape. Trees and shrubs are blown back and forth for hours. Several metres above the ground an almost white nest dangles from a thin, thorny branch. It consists of soft plant material which looks like cotton wool. Crouched inside are three Cape Penduline Tit (Anthoscopus minutus) chicks. Cape Penduline Tits are among the smallest birds in southern Africa.