Etosha National Park
The Etosha National Park is centered around the Etosha salt pan. The pan is usually dry and only briefly fills with water in the summer, and this is enough to stimulate the growth of a blue-green algae which brings thousands of flamingos every year. Most of the wildlife, including herds of zebra, wildebeest and antelope, can be seen around the waterholes that border the pan.
Fish River Canyon
The Fish River Canyon in southern Namibia is second in size to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The canyon features a gigantic ravine, in total about 160km (100 miles) long, and up to 27 km wide and in certain places can be as deep as 550 meters. Because the Fish River is being dammed it only contains a small amount of running water now.
Sossusvlei
Located in the Namib Desert, Sossusvlei is an enormous clay pan surrounded by huge red sand dunes. The Tsauchab River flows through the desert, and its rare floods water the vegetation that survives in the clay soil. During sunrise and sunset, the colors of the sand dunes constantly change.
Cape Cross
Placed 120km north of Swakopmund, Cape Cross is home to one of the largest colonies of Cape Fur Seals in the world. The surrounding area was claimed a reserve in 1968 to protect the biggest, and best known of the 23 colonies of Cape Fur Seals, which breed along the coast of South Africa and Namibia. During the November / December breeding season as many as 150,000 seals gather at Cape Cross. The name refers to the large stone cross seen here by Portuguese explorers in the 15th century.
Swakopmund
Swakopmund is Namibia’s biggest coastal town and can be considered a popular beach resort for Namibians on holidays. The city’s German origins are very pronounced in old German Colonial buildings throughout the city, making it a big contrast with the Namib Desert at the edge of town. The nearby sand dunes provide several activities such as sandboarding, horse riding and quad biking while the beaches of Swakopmund provide plenty of surf and sand.
