Over a period 4 weeks (May and June), I undertook a photographic trip on my own to this most amazing country that borders with South Africa in the north. Namibia is a photographer’s dream. My sincere thanks to Indongo Toyota, they were a great help and so professional.
Here are a few of the highlights of my trip.
The Quiver Tree Forest (Kokerboom Woud in Afrikaans) is a forest and tourist attraction of southern Namibia. It is located about 14 km north-east of Keetmanshoop, on the road to Koës, on the Gariganus farm I captured the sunsets and stars. During my stay, I met up with a dutch couple (Wendy and Wilchard Steenbakkers) traveling around the world on bicycles. They have a very interesting blog to read.
Near the forest, there is another site of natural interest (itself a tourist attraction) for its geology, the Giant’s Playground, a vast pile of large dolerite rocks.
The Fish river canyon. The Fish River Canyon (Afrikaans: Visrivier Canyon or Visrivier Kuil, German: Fischfluss Canyon), is located in the south of Namibia. It is the largest canyon in Africa, as well as the second most visited tourist attraction in Namibia. It features a gigantic ravine, in total about 100 miles (160 km) long, up to 27 km wide and in places almost 550 meters deep.
On the day I visited the canyon, I drove through a hail storm so the clouds in my photos are quite unusual.
Lüderitz is a harbour town in the Karas Region of southern Namibia, lying on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. Namibia had been going through a 5 year drought up till May 2018. Just 7 days prior to my visit, they had 50mm of rain in 24 hours. The sand dunes were damped down in the ghost town so will need to go back and shoot this site again.
Sossusvlei (sometimes written Sossus Vlei) is a salt and clay pan surrounded by high red dunes, located in the southern part of the Namib Desert, in the Namib-Naukluft National Park of Namibia. The name “Sossusvlei” is often used in an extended meaning to refer to the surrounding area (including other neighboring vleis such as Deadvlei and other high dunes), which is one of the major visitor attractions of Namibia. This is one of the highlights of my 4 week trip. I will defiantly go back to get new shoots of this incredible site.
Walvis Bay (Afrikaans Walvisbaai, German Walfischbucht or Walfischbai, all meaning “Whale Bay”) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. The town covers a total area of 29 square kilometres (11 sq mi) of land.
The bay is a safe haven for sea vessels because of its natural deepwater harbour, protected by the Pelican Point sand spit, being the only natural harbour of any size along the country’s coast. Being rich in plankton and marine life, these waters also drew large numbers of southern right whales. One could spend weeks here, Salt pans, Pelicans, Sand dune drives, Boat trips, Quad bike in the dunes, flamingos and more.
Swakopmund (German for “Mouth of the Swakop”) is a city on the coast of western Namibia, 352 km (219 mi) west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. The town has 44,725 inhabitants and covers 196 square kilometres (76 sq mi) of land. The city is situated in the Namib Desert and is the fourth largest population centre in Namibia. Besides the Tug restaurant, one can take a guided drive into the desert to see the “little five”.
The Spitzkoppe (from German for “pointed dome”; also referred to as Spitzkop, Groot Spitzkop, or the “Matterhorn of Namibia”), is a group of bald granite peaks or inselbergs located between Usakos and Swakopmund in the Namib desert of Namibia. I booked 2 nights in order to get the shoot of the arch situated at Sptizkoppe. Again, I will have to go back.