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A White-backed Vulture was fitted with the yellow plastic tags J121 on the wings on 16 October 2016 as a nestling together with 13 conspecifics at farm Aris south of Windhoek. In 2017, J121 was spotted at Okonjima Lodge, 221 km north of where he had hatched. Roughly one month later he appeared at the vulture restaurant maintained by NARREC in Brakwater near Windhoek. This just goes to show that vultures travel considerable distances in search of food. Vultures in Namibia, in southern Africa and on the African continent as a whole are threatened by extinction.

Can you imagine producing only one jar of waste per year? Whether you believe it or not, it’s possible, even with a stylish lifestyle. Bea Johnson is the shining example for a Zero Waste lifestyle. “The Priestess of Waste-Free Living” as The New York Times puts it, will visit Namibia next week and host inspirational talks in Windhoek and Swakopmund. Gondwana Collection is one of the proud sponsors supporting her stay in Namibia. 

The President of Namibia has called for a concerted effort to clean up the country. The Gondwana Collection is in, of course! Staffers of the Gondwana Travel Centre in Windhoek have already started to collect garbage in the neighbourhood today (24 May). Furthermore, each employee received a cotton bag in order to cut down on plastic shopping bags. 

Armed with handheld searchlights and torches it is nightly entertainment for youngsters on a farm to try and catch springhares. These rodents measure around 40 centimetres, disregarding the tail, and their eyes can be seen glowing in the dark from afar. Blinded by the light shone at them they flee across the open grass plain hopping on their hind legs like kangaroos. Usually the springhares make it to their burrows but some will be caught. After the fun of catching a springhare it is released again. For others, especially San communities in arid areas like the Kalahari, springhares represent an important food source.

In the rainy season, when the ground is waterlogged, they sometimes surface in our gardens: about 25 centimetres long, more or less 5 millimetres thick, of a pinkish-brownish colour and of an appearance that resembles a worm or a snake. They are not worms nor snakes, however, but Kalahari Round-headed Worm Lizards (Zygaspis quadrifrons).

The same quantity of water that 40 households in Windhoek use in one month is currently gushing down Ruacana Falls every second. On 13 April the Kunene River reached its fastest flow rate this year when 1654 cubic metres per second plunged over the falls to a depth of 107 to 120 metres. The Kunene started to rise after heavy rains in south-western Angola and masses of water pushed south on their long way to the border with Namibia, where the river turns west to the Atlantic Ocean for its final stretch of 352 km.

Most Namibians, and also some of the visitors to our country, have had a painful encounter with the local bush police of the insect type. The large paper wasps are found in all the dry and arid parts of Namibia, i.e. the south and the central regions, but they are mainly active in summer. They grow to a length of just under two centimetres and know how to put up a fight. 

Regular wetland bird counts have been conducted in Namibia twice a year since 1992. Birds are good indicators of wetland “health” and as a signatory to the Convention on Wetlands (the Ramsar Convention) Namibia has an obligation to monitor the condition of all wetlands within the country’s borders. The Gondwana Collection extended an invitation to conduct counts at their four lodges in north-eastern Namibia.