Namibia

I could tell you a thousand things about Namibia, but why bother if others have done it before me? Find out everything you need to know on wikipedia-namibia or wikipedia-omaruru!

Off course I'll give you the highlights: Namibia has 2 million inhabitants or 2,5 inhabitants/km2 (for comparison: Belgium 340inhabitants/km2; Germany 231inhabitants/km2 and the USA 31 inhabitants/km2) which makes it the least densely populated country in the world after Mongolia. 50% of the population lives up north, where the ground is more fertile.

It's comparable in size to Pakistan, and you are advised to fill up the car each time you see a gas station, because it might take a while before you encounter the next one...

The climate is generally hot and dry (so luckily we'll be there in the Winter, when it still should be around 15°C-20°C. Not surprisingly the landscape ranges from desert (with huge sanddunes) to steppe, and a small subtropical part (primarily north & around the Caprivi strip). The dry climate is caused by a cold water current before the coast. It makes rain sporadic, on the other hand: the coastal waters are excellent for fishing!

Namibia is one of the youngest states in the world, since it only became independent in 1990. Before that it was occupied by South-Africa that unrightfully annexed it as a province, after the international community had briefly granted them a mandate after World War I. Earlier it was a German colony (except for Walvis Bay), but when they were defeated in World War I, they were forced to give away their overseas territories.

35% of the population is unemployed, 40% is illiterate in English and HIV-infection is 21%. Child mortality raises to 7% and life expectancy is 42 (man) & 39 (women). Nevertheless the income per capita is 5x bigger than the poorest African country.

The economy depends largely on mining (diamonds, uranium, copper, zinc, ... ) accounting for a substantial part of the GDP, but creates only little employment. Due to the dry climate, agriculture is difficult and cattle requiers a lot of grazing grounds. Lots of food still need to be imported from South-Africa.. Since the '90 Namibian Tourism accounts for a steady growth, due the stable political situation and diverse nature & wildlife sceneries.

The Namibian Dollar is coupled to the South-African Rand, which both have the same value. (1 USdollar = 7,5 Namibian Dollar, 1 Euro = 10 Namibian Dollar)

The original population descends from various tribes (Ovambo, Herero, Himba, Kavango, Nama, Damara, San, Caprivi-people,...). About 5% is white, and another 5% are half bloods with European roots.

The German colonists massacered a big part of the Herero & Nama population in 1904 after an uprising. Most of them fled into the desert and died from exhaustion. This is stille remembered every year on Hero's Day.
It also causes some frictions amongst tribes, since demograhic simulations show that without that massacre, the Herero would be the biggest tribe, instead of the Ovambo who now dominate politics through the governing SWAPO-party.

In the Ovambo-tribe, the uncle is the head of the family! Children inherit from the brother of their mother. And the Herero (who also live in the neigbourhood of Omaruru), have some clacking & smacking sounds in their language (how's that for communication at the table! ; ). The most well-known tribe abroad are the Himba: they cover themselves with a special red-brown mixture to protect the skin.

The most widely understood languages are Afrikaans (affined to Dutch!) and English, although both normally as a second language. Only English was chosen as the official language in 1990. Afrikaans still was a bit of a sensitive issue right after the indepence from South-Africa, and the government considered that all tribes would be treated equally since everybody spoke English equally bad. People normally have their tribe-dialect as their first language.

You can find Omaruru Northwest of Windhoek along the Transnamib-railway. Is has about 15.000 inhabitants and is known for the only winery in Namibia! (I already know how to support the local economy ; ) Nevertheless: Namibia also has several beer-breweries (a German inheritance) and some are even brewed according to the standards of the German Reinheitsgebot.