Checking out the Oxpecker
Anyone who has visited the north-western and north-eastern parts of the country will have noticed the brown-grey birds with the red or yellow-red beaks as they busy themselves on cattle or wild mammals. When...
Namibia’s unique lichen fields
Admired by experts, but
otherwise still largely unnoticed, already damaged in places and very much in
need of research: the largest lichen fields outside the arctic and subarctic
regions of the northern hemisphere are found...
Moonraker – Wild at Heart
The weekend was upon me once again, as I planned to put in the notorious longer run.
A back-to back-session ensued with 45 kilometres due on Saturday and 35 kilometres on Sunday. On Friday evening...
Night walk in the Namib Desert
The beam of the
flashlight penetrates the darkness, illuminating a small section of the gravel
plain south of the seasonal Swakop River. North of the river the lights of
Swakopmund are blinking. Waves can be...
Camping at Oanob Dam
There are not many places in Namibia where you have such a variety of things to do while camping. We swam, fished, hiked, kayaked and enjoyed sleeping outside under the stars at...
Out of death comes life – observations at a waterhole
The first black-backed jackal makes his appearance less than ten minutes after nature conservation officials have pulled a dead giraffe bull from the man-made waterhole. Since this little predator cannot bite through...
Bass Angling Association runs out of water
The angler on his
motorboat is all by himself. A long-sleeved shirt, long pants, socks, a big hat
and sunglasses, plus generous lashings of sunscreen on any bare skin are a must
for a largemouth...
The Etosha Pan holds fossils of mammoths, prehistoric antelopes and rhinos
There was a time when
mammoths roamed the area around the Etosha Pan. The South African mammoth (Mammuthus subplanifrons) was more
than 3.5 metres tall and weighed nine tons. Fossils of this species have...
Nature’s caprices – melanism and leucism
Nature has its whims...
It is not uncommon to see a black Gabar Goshawk, but you will rarely spot a white
Red-faced Mousebird. Up to 25 percent of Gabar Goshawks are black – i.e....
Namibian trail runner tackles the Drakensberg Ultra Trail
The Ultra-Trail Drakensberg, from 26 to 28 April 2019, was a festival of ultra-trail mountain running, with events of 30, 62, 100 and 160 kilometres respectively. It is also an Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc qualifying...