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Undiscovered Namibia

Most people have no idea where in the world Namibia is, never mind that it is a country in Southern Africa. Namibia received their Independence in 1990 and was previously known as South West Africa. Namibia as a country have not done much in the last couple of years since their Independence, probably why the rest of the world would scratch their head when someone would mention the name.

Namibia is relatively the same size as the United Kingdom with a small population of 1.8 – 2 million people. If you are looking for some time away from it all and open spaces is what you are after then I seriously recommend you look into visiting Namibia. Namibia is a third world country like majority of African countries but never the less; you will be amazed to see how quickly it is developing.

Namibia used to be a German Colony during the World War’s hence why you will meet a lot of Germans living in Namibia. Windhoek, Swakopmund and Tsumeb still all have a lot of German influences. Namibia is nothing like South Africa but they do tend on following the South African’s closely with developments and trends. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt put Namibia on the world map when they decided to give birth to their first daughter in Swakopmund along the coast line of Namibia. Everyone suddenly realised that Namibia actually exists. Not a bad thing at all.

There are a lot of tour companies established in Namibia which makes it quite easy and safe to travel around Namibia taking in the vast and unique beauty. The local currency is Namibian Dollar (N$) which is the same value as the South African Rand. Both currencies are accepted in Namibia but South Africa will not accept the Namibian Dollar. Chip and Pin are quite new in Namibia and a lot of the smaller stores might not have adopted the new technology yet but there are hundreds of ATM’s around to withdraw money from if needed.

When visiting Namibia, be sure to keep safe like travelling in any other country by not really displaying your money in your wallet or wearing expensive jewellery. A lot of tourists do not realise that Africa is a rather poor country and people do steal to survive although you will not be in any more harm than you would have been in your own home town. Namibia is quite a safe country to visit and if you travel with a local tour company, they will be telling you the exact same thing as they know what to look out for.

Namibia has a lot of different areas to explore such as the long unique coastline on the west, the grasslands to the east, bushveld to the north and desert to the south. There will always be something different to see. Etosha National Park is located in the north of Namibia and a quite popular tourist attraction. Etosha National Park is roughly 22 000 square kilometres big and quite a site not to miss. Namibia is still a little backwards when it comes to the latest technology but they are getting there.

Namibia is a great country to visit and you should definitely visit it if you have a chance to. You can get a lot of great photos on Namibia by visiting Flickr and typing in “Namibia” as well as “YouTube”.