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Two topics were heatedly discussed in the summer of 1946. On June 30th a nuclear bomb exploded in the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. It was the first in an American test series that continued for twelve year. Five days after the first explosion a Frenchman by the name of Louis Réard caused similar shock waves in a figurative manner of speaking. At the elegant Piscine Molitor complex, the most popular public pool in Paris, nude dancer Micheline Bernadini took to the catwalk flaunting his latest fashion creation – a bikini.  

16 December 1838. Geloftedag - Day of the Vow. It used to be the most significant commemoration day of the Afrikaners. It was the day when 470 Voortrekkers called on the help of God to defeat an overwhelming Zulu force at the Ncome River in what is KwaZulu-Natal today. After South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994 it became the Day of Reconciliation. December 16th is also the day when Umkontho we Sizwe, the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC), was founded in 1961.

Namibia’s cities and towns are supplied with water from dams, boreholes and rivers. In total the country’s dams contain about 705,855 million cubic metres of water. In addition to the sewage treatment plant, Windhoek’s water supply includes a large number of boreholes, which tap into groundwater reserves, as well as three dams. For months, Windhoekers have not managed to save the required amount of water given by NamWater and the city administration. 

November was a particularly busy month in Namibia’s economic sector with the two-day international investment conference, a lively debate on planned phosphate mining, and new developments with regard to the land reform. 

This monthly update touches on important political developments in Namibia: Early in November the ruling Swapo Party ended its second national policy conference; Namibia’s Ministry of Defence and the German Federal Ministry of Defence signed a new extension agreement in Windhoek on German equipment aid to Namibia; the largest opposition party in Parliament, the DTA of Namibia became the first political party to present audited financial statements to the National Assembly Secretariat.

The passenger ship Dunedin Star, on her way from Liverpool to Cape Town, is sailing off the coast of South West Africa. The captain is steering a course about 16 km off the coast when the ship is suddenly rocked by a violent jolt. The keel with the passageway under the engine room is ripped off. The Dunedin Star probably hit the Clan Alpine Shoal, a rock which is marked on the charts but whose exact position is uncertain.

A difficult year for the Namibian economy has come to an end with low commodity prices worldwide and close to no-growth for Namibia’s important trading partners South Africa and Angola. Local economists and Finance Minister Calle Schlettwein are however optimistic that the worst is over.

The Hoodia, a true desert bloom crowned in the springtime by large disc-shaped crimson flowers, has been the focus of much attention over the years, not for its ability to store moisture and thrive in arid areas or for its exquisite blooms but rather for its properties as an appetite suppressant. During the last decade it has been universally acknowledged that the San/Bushmen, the oldest inhabitants of southern Africa, own the rights to the indigenous knowledge of the plant, but that has not always been the case.

Eco-friendliness comes naturally at Gondwana’s lodges. Their efforts to save water and electricity and their responsible waste disposal have once again been acknowledged with the highest seal of approval in the Eco Awards and was accepted with joy. The Eco Awards 2016 were handed out at the Gala evening of the Hospitality Association of Namibia HAN on 18 November. All the Gondwana lodges which were reassessed scored the highest number of points and were awarded five desert flowers each.

War halts lives, draws people to new continents and changes destinies. All would be true for Albert Lemcke from Mecklenburg, Germany. But, from once being a protagonist in a war he believed in, the tables turned when he later became a victim of the mechanisms of war, losing everything he had worked for his whole life. The heart-wrenching story took an interesting twist, however, when kindness was repaid in the arid wilderness of the Omaheke, bordering the Kalahari Desert.