Namibia

THE NAMIB DESERT is an awesome experience. It has the highest sand dunes in the world and the trip will be engraved in your memory forever - the towering, undulating sand dunes will cast a hypnotising spell on you, as do the swelling waves of the ocean on sea lovers.

The wind ripples the red dunes like water and blows clouds of dust from the dune tops. Many desert creatures have webbed feet or paddles that help them swim through the sand.

You will find many shipwrecks along the Skeleton Coast and interesting places like Torra and Terrace Bay. Also situated on the West Coast is the beautiful Historic German town of Swakopmund.

Among the many animals of this desert you will find the gemsbok, lion, cheetah, hyena, giraffe and the magnificent kudu bull with its spiraling horns. Then there is always the desert elephants of the Koakoland, which many people regard as a special elephant breed.

Bird lovers will enjoy the white pelicans in the desert marshes, the flamingos with their pink bills flying gracefully in formation over the sand dunes, and the white-backed vulture that builds its nest in a tree, laying only one egg.

A trek through the oldest desert on earth will be the highlight of any tour to Namibia.

In the Namib Desert you will also find the world's oldest plant, the Welwitschia mirabilis, which can live for a thousand years and which Charles Darwin described as 'the platypus of the Plant Kingdom'. This strange plant that can weigh 100 kg produces only two leaves in its lifetime; the leaves never stop growing, but the outer tips are usually withered and shredded by the desert wind.

The Etosha National Park is situated in North Western Namibia, which is popular for game viewing. In the North East of Namibia lies the waterways of the Kavango and Kwando Rivers in the Caprivi region.