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A few old graves with weather-beaten crosses, two stone padrões (pillars crowned with a cross) and a cacophony of seals mark the place that was a hive of activity at the end of the 19th century. It’s difficult to believe that a windswept, desolate promontory could attract explorers, entrepreneurs and industry. Strangely, Cape Cross did. It also boasted the first railway line and water distillation plant in the country - and the first postal robbery.

In a colonial newspaper, the Deutsche Kolonialzeitung of 1910, German Schutztruppe lieutenant Walter Trenk describes his quest for Sossusvlei in 1909. He was the first European who was successful in trying to get there.

Kings, queens, traditional authorities, opposition leaders and thousands of Namibians from various ethnic groups gathered at Omhedi, close the Angolan border, last weekend to pay tribute to King Mandume yaNdemufayo in one of the most important reconciliatory and commemorative events of the last century.

When a Namibian farmer proudly offers to show his Brahmans to his guest he certainly does not have Hindu philosophers in mind. He means his prize cattle. Brahmans and Brahman crossbreeds are among the most popular beef cattle breeds in southern Africa. Originally they hail from India. But how did Brahman cattle make their way to southern Africa? 

In the past week is was raining on the farm Sandhof, on Tuesday they had 8mm and on the 700 hectare vegetation-free clay pan, the very first greenery broke through the barren soil. Here, after good rain, thousands of so-called “Sandhof lilies” grow when water fills the pan up to 15 to 20cm. On the weekend it will probably be an incredible sight when the lilies bloom.

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2017 started with good rains throughout January in several regions of Namibia, bringing hope for the economy, particularly for the agricultural sector. Inflow into storage dams in the central areas around Windhoek has however remained low. 

The period from mid-December to mid-January in Namibia is the time for a summer retreat, and the political life mainly picked up after that. President Hage Geingob set the tone for 2017 in his New Year message.

Pass, set, attack… For more than three decades the first Saturday in February has been a set date in Windhoek. On this day thousands of volleyball players will go to the annual ‘Volleyball for All’ tournament hosted by the ‘Deutscher Turn- und Sportverein’ DTS. A small sports club hosting a great sporting event. And if you ask me, an ideal addition to the Guinness Book of World Records. 

Defying gale-force winds and the spray of the thundering surf, the stone cross stands firmly on a rocky promontory that juts some 50 metres into the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Lüderitz. It is a monument to Bartholomeu Dias, the Portuguese seafarer who was the first European to sail around the southern tip of Africa and thereby pioneered the way to opening up the sea route to India.