Cheetahs at the Africa Foundation need to be fed each day as they are no longer able to find their own food. — Photos: DATUK DR TAN CHEE KUAN
Recently, my daughter and I went to Namibia for just over a week. We used a local tour agency from Penang, and they did a great job planning our itinerary.
Namibia was colonised by Germany and was known as Southwest Africa, before gaining independence in 1990. It has the highest sand dunes, and also the oldest desert – the Nabib desert – in the world. The Kalahari, meanwhile, is the second largest desert in the world, after the Sahara. This desert covers a large part of Botswana, eastern Namibia and parts of South Africa.
Namibia’s Fish River Canyon is the second largest in the world.
Upon arrival at the capital, Windhoek, we were met by our guide/driver, Chris, who led us to his “Beast”, a gorgeous 4WD vehicle with giant wheels that seats 22 people. The vehicle was designed by Chris’s employer, and was said to be the first of its kind.
The writer’s daughter with the Beast, the specially-designed tour vehicle.
We spent the first two nights at a game lodge on the Kalahari desert, where we saw so many wild animals, as well as five San bushmen. The San people are part of the oldest surviving hunter-gatherer Indigenous group of southern Africa. They spoke with a clicking sound, describing their traditional life and their hunting skills to us.
Our meals for dinner mostly featured game meat, which was a bit tough for me.
We went to the red sand dunes in Namib desert. The sun and wind transformed the dunes to an ever-changing visual masterpiece, a photographer’s delight! When we climbed up the dunes, our feet sank into the soft sand – it was a struggle to reach the top, but some did succeed while others didn’t. It was still a fun experience for us.
Then, we walked to Dead Vlei where we saw a white clay pan and scorched trees. Apparently, it was formerly an oasis.
We explored the Fish River Canyon, too, which was formed via water running over rocks for over a million years.
After a good night’s rest, we were taken to see the unique Welwitschia mirabilis, a plant endemic to the Namib desert within Namibia and Angola. The plant only has two main leaves, but the ends are usually frayed, giving the impression of multiple leaves. This species is said to be able to live for over 1,000 years, making it the plant with the longest life in the flora kingdom.
The unique Welwitschia mirabilis plant.
The next day, we went to Walvis Bay for a cruise to see the pelicans and seals. One seal jumped into our boat and “entertained” us. We went looking for dolphins but were not able to see any.
After the cruise, we had an exhilarating drive up and down the sand dunes.
We visited the Cape Cross Seal reserve, home to the largest seal colony in the world, just adjacent to the Atlantic ocean. The seals liked to stand very close to one another, and many were breastfeeding babies. We went to see the magnificent Organ Pipes, too, a fascinating geological formation in long columns (resembling the pipes of a church organ). We were told that these were formed 120 million years ago.
We also saw a few rock engravings of animals done some 2,000 years ago.
The writer’s daughter with her new ‘friend’.
On another day, we visited the Himba people, one of the last traditional tribes in the world. They lead a semi-nomadic life as herdsmen, breeding cattle and goats. We did not see the men as they were working away from home, but we did meet some of the women – who were topless – and their children, most of whom were not wearing clothes. This is their way of life, and we were grateful for the chance to learn about their culture and traditions.
The women even showed us how they clean themselves using a blanket and smoke instead of showering, as water was scarce in the area and must be used sparingly. They then performed a nice traditional dance for us, and we bought some of their handicrafts in appreciation of that.
For our safari session, we went to the Etosha National Park and saw some of the familiar African wildlife like the springboks, kudus, elands, antelopes, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, baboons and jackals. To our pleasant surprise, we also saw two cheetahs just lying down and resting, while nearby, a large secretary bird was swallowing a snake!
Even though we saw many animals, we were still not satisfied as we had yet to see a rhinoceros at Etosha. We resorted to going to a private game park to get our fix of the rhinos.
The following day, we went to the Africat Foundation to see some rescued cheetahs, many of which can no longer survive in the wild as they had been injured or even brought up as pets, becoming too “domesticated”. These cats need to be fed daily as they either don’t know how to get their own food, or physically unable to do it.
Finally, we went back to Windhoek and stopped at the craft market to buy local handcrafted souvenirs for our relatives and friends. We went on a city tour too to see a few historically important buildings.
Although the journey was tiring for a 75-year-old man like myself, but it was worth it because I got to see, learn and experience so many new things, and spend precious time with my daughter at the same time.
The views expressed are entirely the writer’s own.
