News

The international rating agency Moody’s downgraded Namibia’s foreign debt rating to below investment grade or “junk status”. Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged. The central bank lowered its repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.75 percent. The Labour Ministry commissioned a study to look at ways to introduce a national minimum wage.

During his four years of research in the Naye Naye communal conservancy the predator expert and researcher Flip Stander found over 240 prey animals of leopards. On only two occasions these were cheetahs. With the help of the Ju/Hoansi, who can read spoors like an open book, Stander was able to reconstruct one of the hunts of one of the spotted cats.

Arrival on 22 July this year, departure on 5 August. Dr Stefan Bader and his sister Dr Heike Berger, both from Germany, were on a tight schedule. Accompanied by two dental assistants they covered more than 3000 km. A total of 446 patients seen for check-ups and treatments, 223 teeth extracted, 85 cavities filled, plus plaque removed from 67 sets of teeth and 12 other dental problems attended to in just two weeks. 

"They [the Hereros] had just left when we were startled by heavy rifle fire in the vicinity. We were certain that this was the dreaded signal for attack. Women and children, some of whom had already been robbed of their ornaments, fled to us fearful and panic-stricken and reported that the Namaqua were approaching. We withdrew into our house." This is what missionary Friedrich Kolbe wrote into his diary about the bloody attack which the Afrikaner-Oorlam launched on Herero chief Kahitjene in Okahandja on 23 August 1850.

In the middle of July a nine-ton block of white marble was offloaded at the Franco-Namibian Cultural Centre (FNCC) in Windhoek. The block had been selected by well-known French artist and sculptor Gé Pellini from a quarry near Karibib. In the midst of fine white dust and chunks of marble Pellini created a white rhino, which is to be auctioned on 31 August. The aim of the project is to raise urgently needed funds for the protection of rhinos and elephants in Namibia.

Finance Minister Calle Schlettwein has called on the country’s private sector and the investor community to “remain positive and supportive” despite a downgrade in rating. Speaking at a business breakfast organised by the Namibia Chamber of Commerce & Industry (NCCI), Minister Schlettwein said on 21 August 2017, the government’s fiscal consolidation measures were credible and showed results, while remaining on track. 

Treasures are often discovered by chance. One such jewel has been discovered secreted away in Hoachanas. And, if you don’t know where Hoachanas is (and that is understandable), it’s north-east of Mariental on the dune-bedecked C21 en route to Gondwana’s Kalahari lodges. Historians believe that it was once the unofficial Nama capital.

The Great River, Gariep, Orange... The probably first European who crossed the Orange River in 1760, Jakobus Coetsé Jansz, reverently called it the Great River (Grootrivier). In the Nama language it was known as Gariep. Towards the end of the 18th century it was named Orange River by Dutch explorer Robert Jacob Gordon. Here is his story. 

The Wild Horses of the Namib are threatened by extinction. Following five years without any substantial rainfall, they barely find pasture in their habitat near Aus, and their survival depends on additional feeding. The Namibia Wild Horses Foundation would like to thank Mr Josef Vitus Schubert, Austrian Honorary Consul in Namibia, for the latest generous donation of 800 bales of hay, which will help the horses through the coming weeks.