Author: Chard

Ongava is a 30,000 hectare private reserve sharing a boundary with Etosha National Park's southern edge, holding both black and white rhino and one of Namibia's most substantial wildlife research operations. Guests get guided night drives, walking safaris and rhino…

Ostriches are the largest and heaviest birds on earth, reaching 2.8 metres and up to 150 kilograms, and they roam wild across Etosha, the Namib gravel plains and most of the open country between. They sprint at up to 70…

Nyae Nyae Conservancy covers around 8,992 square kilometres of Kalahari sandveld around Tsumkwe in northeastern Namibia and was the first communal conservancy registered in the country. It is home to the Ju/'hoansi San, who have lived here for thousands of…

NamibRand Nature Reserve is one of Africa's largest private conservation areas, around 215,000 hectares of desert south of Sossusvlei assembled from 17 former livestock farms with the fences taken down. It receives no government funding and pays for itself through…

Namibia has the lowest rainfall in sub-Saharan Africa and a daily temperature swing that catches everyone out. A day at Sossusvlei in June can reach the mid twenties and the same night can drop below freezing. The coast stays around…

Botswana delivers more animals; Namibia delivers more country. That is the honest summary and everything else follows from it. Botswana costs considerably more and concentrates on wildlife. Namibia costs a fraction as much, can be self driven, and offers desert,…

Rundu is Namibia's second largest town, sitting on the Okavango River with Angola on the far bank, and it is the gateway to the Caprivi Strip. The Kavango region it serves is the most densely populated part of Namibia and…

In Namibia, where you book decides whether wildlife pays for itself. The country handed rural communities legal rights over the animals on their land, and your bed night is part of the mechanism rather than a gesture toward it. That…

The Quiver Tree Forest is a natural stand of around 250 quiver trees growing on dolerite about 14 kilometres northeast of Keetmanshoop in southern Namibia. It is a declared national monument, nothing in it was planted, and the oldest trees…

Great white pelicans are the birds that land on the deck of your boat at Walvis Bay, with a wingspan reaching around three metres. Namibia holds two species, the great white on the coast and the smaller pink backed in…