News

The Inspector General of the Namibian Police Force, Lieutenant General Sebastian Ndeitunga, takes a long look at the collapsed corrugated iron shack and the parched tree next to it. Some 30 metres away is an old water reservoir built from bricks and the outline of a sheep kraal can still be seen. “This is where I lived on my own as a boy for more than a year and looked after 601 Karakul sheep. I never dreamed that one day I would return here in a helicopter and hold the position of Inspector General of the Namibian Police Force”, Ndeitunga says. 

Police helicopters have been on 26 search and rescue missions to the Fish River Canyon during the past eight years. The total cost of dispatching helicopters to aid tourists who were lost, injured or ill amounts to more than two million Namibia dollars. Recently, the Inspector General of the Namibian Police Force, Lieutenant General Sebastian Ndeitunga, visited the Canyon Lodge to discuss cooperation in search and rescue missions with Simon Andreas, the Manager of the Gondwana Lodges in Gondwana Canyon Park.

Two pieces of leather and a rubber strip made into a comfortable shoe - this handcraft has become an international trademark of the Swakopmund family business of Herbert Schier. World-wide proud owners of the 'Swakop vellies' are posing with their shoes on social media and vying who will post the most original photos. The timeless and ultra-comfortable hide ('vel' in Afrikaans) shoes - meaning leather - have evolved from an everyday necessity in the sixties to cult status. They are at home in New York, as well as at the Munich Oktoberfest. 

The largest heron as well as the smallest and the most threatened members of the heron family can be found at the Okavango, Kwando, Zambezi and Chobe rivers in north-eastern Namibia. The Goliath Heron, the Rufous-bellied Heron and the two bittern species also occur at the Kunene River in the northwest.

In 2019 the Gondwana Academy expanded its outreach by touring Namibia with representatives from communal conservancies and communities in the vicinity of Gondwana lodges in the Okavango and Zambezi regions.Under the trusted leadership and guidance of Orlando Haraseb from Orlando Safaris & Tours, nine young Namibians ventured out on a 12-day tour from the banks of the Zambezi River to Sossusvlei. 

The avian influenza A(H5N8) virus, which has claimed numerous victims among the African Penguin colony on Halifax Island near Lüderitzbucht since the beginning of this year, seems to be under control. According to penguin expert Dr Jessica Kemper, no dead penguins have been found on Halifax and the other islands off Namibia's coast since early May.

At the front door is a box or some other sort of container with holes pierced into it. The box contains live creatures that need to breathe. The former and new owners of the Living Desert Snake Park in Swakopmund are no longer surprised when they find a package like that on their doorstep.

The online travel portal HolidayCheck has awarded the HolidayCheck Award to numerous accommodations of the Gondwana Collection Namibia. The most outstanding rating of 5.7 out of 6 suns was achieved by Canyon Village and Klein-Aus Vista Eagle's Nest Chalets followed by The Delight Swakopmund, Canyon Lodge and Kalahari Anib Lodge (5.6 each).

Migratory birds spend the Namibian winter months in the northern hemisphere. Nevertheless many species of birds can be watched at the Chobe River from May to September as well. On foot, on game drives and by boat a total of 92 different bird species were recorded.

Cold winter temperatures prevailed over the southern and central areas of Namibia this month, while hot east wind weather in the Namib Desert and the coast brought a feeling of summer in between.Namibia and Germany signed a financial cooperation agreement worth over N$ 1 billion, and the first consignment of Namibian beef arrived in China.

Petrol and diesel prices increased by 30 cents a litre in June. Inflation stood at 4.1 percent at the end of May, down from 4.5 percent in April, the National Statistics Agency announced beginning mid-June. Cheque-payments in Namibia where phased out this month, bringing an end to the cheque-book era.