News

Namibia’s wild horses have lived in the desert for 100 years and they are one of the top ten tourist attractions in Namibia. During the severe drought of the past years supplementary feed has kept them going. Now predation by hyaenas is threatening the survival of the wild horses in the Garub area of the Namib Naukluft National Park.

Customers and tourists usually cheer when they check into the B-One Service Station along the B1 in Rehoboth. Clean toilets, friendly and efficient service at the fuel pumps, a well-stocked shop, shaded parking and information boards on the history of the town, can be found along the main road that leads south. On the morning of 31 March, owner Erno Bertolini and his employees rejoiced when they heard that they were crowned the “Best Shell Petrol Station of the Year 2016 in Namibia”. 

With good rainfalls in most parts of Namibia raising hopes for good harvests and a general economic upswing, the new national budget, tabled this month, also tended to the positive by avoiding tax increases - a relief for taxpayers and the economy. Government announced plans to expropriate farms for fair compensation. Petrol prices went up by 32 cents a litre and Diesel increased by 25 cents. 

On Tuesday this week (28th March 2017), just after lunch, Dr Jean Paul Roux - Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources’ marine biologist - was informed that a stranded dolphin had been spotted in Lüderitz harbour. Dr Roux was surprised to find a Risso´s dolphin (Grampus griseus) stranded in the shallow water. Risso’s is a species which is very rare to Namibian waters.

The Windhoek Carnival (Wika) is kicking off tonight on Friday with the Royal Ball followed by the street parade of floats on Saturday. The float procession starts the Mayor’s Office at 11h11 proceeding through Independence Avenue and Bahnhof Street to the railway station. Don’t miss the action and join the party after the street parade at the home of the Windhoek Carnival, Sport Klub Windhoek in Olympia.

It is January 1677. At the tip of Africa, where a supply station has been established at the foot of Table Mountain, the Dutch ship “Bode” sets sails to explore the coastline north of the Gariep/Orange river mouth. In early March the “Bode” arrives at Sandwich Harbour. The crew goes ashore but is attacked by the Khoisan who live there. After a brief skirmish the sailors retreat back to their ship and leave the bay. This was the first resistance by the inhabitants of today’s Namibia against European intruders and resistance continued for more than three centuries.

In 1811, botanist, explorer and artist William John Burchell recorded finding a “curiously strange pebble”, which he discovered was a plant. This “living stone” or lithops has intrigued many people over the centuries. A real desert child, lithops favours arid or semi-arid areas although it is also found in more vegetated grasslands with higher rainfall. In the coastal areas of the Namib Desert, it depends on the mist to obtain moisture. 

Looking out over the Klein Windhoek valley, one notices the upmarket suburban houses surrounding St Paul’s College and its sports fields and the students walking jauntily down the road after a typical school day. What few people may realise however is that the valley, verdant in mid-summer bounty, was once covered by the sprawling vineyards of the Roman Catholic Mission.

Warthogs can be found in almost all Namibian regions, even in the isolated Namib Desert. Standing on their elbows, fore legs bent beneath them, they are within sight of the car drivers as they dig for roots and tubers with their hard noses. Grass, herbs and fresh shoots are also never spurned by animals that are considered to be herbivores. What most people do not know, however, is that warthogs also eat meat. 

Towering termite mounds reaching heavenwards from the savannah are a typical sight in many areas of Namibia. Giant mushrooms emerge from the base of the mounds during the rainy season adding to their striking visual impact. As the grass turns green and the clouds mass for summer downpours, the gargantuan fungi appear as if in celebration of the rains or as manna from the gods.