Namibia in a nutshell
Namibia is home to a huge array of varied desert scenery and stunning large scale landscapes. With relatively cool winters its a great place for visiting in June to October when its dry and warm, the air is crisp and clear, cool at night, but never unbearable.
The roads are good and it's a safe country to hire a car or camper and strike out on your own. The dunes at Sossusvlei at dawn and dusk form glowing red and ochre sculptures and rhythmic patterns, and are better than any picture, but Namibia also has a wealth of wildlife in and out of its National Parks, ancient rock carvings, fossilised forests, prehistoric trees and shrubs, the ghostly hostile and cloudy skeleton coast with its sea wrecks and seal colonies, desert elephants, cheeta reserves, desert canyons and salt pans.
Ancient tribal peoples cling on to their customs in the remoter parts, whilst Windhoek and Swakopmund display touches of Europe including German foods and buildings, from the great 'pacification' of a century ago.
Local guides can take you to community projects in the cities and elsewhere to understand some of the contradictions of a land where much of the best farm land remains under South African control, whilst ex-Angolan refugees eke out an existence on the most arid.
If the desert gets too much, head out to the (relatively) nearby Okavango, just east in Botswana, preferably when transformed to a magical waterworld by its annual flood waters from the Angolan hills.
The roads are good and it's a safe country to hire a car or camper and strike out on your own. The dunes at Sossusvlei at dawn and dusk form glowing red and ochre sculptures and rhythmic patterns, and are better than any picture, but Namibia also has a wealth of wildlife in and out of its National Parks, ancient rock carvings, fossilised forests, prehistoric trees and shrubs, the ghostly hostile and cloudy skeleton coast with its sea wrecks and seal colonies, desert elephants, cheeta reserves, desert canyons and salt pans.
Ancient tribal peoples cling on to their customs in the remoter parts, whilst Windhoek and Swakopmund display touches of Europe including German foods and buildings, from the great 'pacification' of a century ago.
Local guides can take you to community projects in the cities and elsewhere to understand some of the contradictions of a land where much of the best farm land remains under South African control, whilst ex-Angolan refugees eke out an existence on the most arid.
If the desert gets too much, head out to the (relatively) nearby Okavango, just east in Botswana, preferably when transformed to a magical waterworld by its annual flood waters from the Angolan hills.
Blue, red and green
by Anne Consedine
The Namibian flag - a slash of red and white on a blue and green background, with the addition of a whopping great sun in one corner - was designed to symbolise modern-day Namibia.
The blue is easy to identify - look up, and the Namibian sky is blue, blue, blue. The green is apparently for agriculture (mainly crops and a disproportionate number of donkeys) while the red and white symbolise the struggle for independence and for peace and unity in this, one of the newest countries on the continent.
And the flag really is Namibia in a nutshell. There is sun, sky, hope and the occasional reference to more than one hundred years of former German and South African rule. The Germanic influences can mainly be detected in Namibia's architecture – in seaside towns like Swakopmund that rise out of the mist and the damp sand. The links to South Africa are all around; in the culture, the food and the people.
But, more than ever before, Namibia is now its own country. From shopping and city walks in its neat capital, Windhoek, to horse-riding and dune surfing in the Namib Naukluft National Park, brilliant safaris in Etosha and complete solitude and mind-numbing cold on the Skeleton Coast. All under the most stunning, brilliant and sometimes brutal blue, blue sky.
The Namibian flag - a slash of red and white on a blue and green background, with the addition of a whopping great sun in one corner - was designed to symbolise modern-day Namibia.
The blue is easy to identify - look up, and the Namibian sky is blue, blue, blue. The green is apparently for agriculture (mainly crops and a disproportionate number of donkeys) while the red and white symbolise the struggle for independence and for peace and unity in this, one of the newest countries on the continent.
And the flag really is Namibia in a nutshell. There is sun, sky, hope and the occasional reference to more than one hundred years of former German and South African rule. The Germanic influences can mainly be detected in Namibia's architecture – in seaside towns like Swakopmund that rise out of the mist and the damp sand. The links to South Africa are all around; in the culture, the food and the people.
But, more than ever before, Namibia is now its own country. From shopping and city walks in its neat capital, Windhoek, to horse-riding and dune surfing in the Namib Naukluft National Park, brilliant safaris in Etosha and complete solitude and mind-numbing cold on the Skeleton Coast. All under the most stunning, brilliant and sometimes brutal blue, blue sky.
Send your feedback or queries to been.there@guardian.co.uk
Search Been there
Your tips about Windhoek