Namibia: news from Joe's Beer House in Windhoek

BAR OPEN OVER LUNCH DURING THE WEEK
from 12h00
Due to many thirsty travellers arriving at lunch time only to be disappointed that we are closed,  we are happy to announce that our bar will be OPEN ADDITIONALLY from Mondays to Thursdays from 12h00. Only a light bar snacks menu will be offered. The full menu is available every evening from 16h30 for the whole week. The full menus is also available for lunch on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 11h00 in Windhoek.

Lies about Namibia

Namibia has once again come under attack in cyberspace, with a website claiming there are Nazi marches in Swakopmund and that Germans are still ruling the country.
The website article written by Andre Vltcheck, who claims to be an investigative journalist, said there are Nazi parades held at the seaside town.
Commenting on the alleged Nazi activities government spokesperson and Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Joel Kaapanda, said he was not aware of this happening in Swakopmund or elsewhere in the country.
However, he said there was a perception that Germans still controlled the Namibian economy, because they owned large tracts of land, as well as businesses.
The article, which has been posted on Vltcheck’s website, had already appeared on at least ten others by yesterday afternoon.
It was also publicised on Facebook and Twitter.
Vltcheck claims he is a novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist.
Describing Namibia as “Germany’s African holocaust”, he said that the German racial genocide in Namibia from 1904 to 1908 had a significant influence on the Nazis and what they did to the Jews during the Second World War.
He further writes: “Then you go to Swakop city, on the shore, and it is like seeing Germany recreated in Africa. You also see, there, shops with Nazi keepsakes. Some Nazis, who escaped Europe, came to Windhoek, to Swakop and other towns. In Swakop, men march periodically, in replicas of Nazi uniforms.”
Kaapanda said: “I am not aware of any such events taking place in Nazi style.”
However, he said it should be kept in mind that Swakopmund has a big German community and that is sometimes even referred to as “Little Germany”.
Painting a grim picture of Namibia, Vltcheck claims the country is one of the most racially segregated places in the world and that Germans are still ruling it, while the poor people suffer.
“What we can see in Namibia is that many German people are still in control of big business. They are ruling the country. They have hunting farms and other huge estates and enterprises.”

Germans bring money to Namibia, but it stays with them, and it consolidates their power – it does not reach the majority. You cannot even imagine, how much local people working on their farms, are suffering. It is still like slavery. But it is all hushed up here.”
Kaapanda said there may be some element of truth in this statement about German people owning the economy in Namibia and having large businesses and farms.
According to Kaapanda, most of the land in Namibia is owned by white people and many of them are German or of German decent.
He said this also poses a problem for government, as they cannot buy land for redistribution and land reform.
Vltcheck also claims to have had a conversation with a taxi driver in Namibia about whether Swapo is truly ruling Namibia and the German control. He proceeds to claim to therefore understand why Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is so mad and angry.
According to Vltcheck, there is segregation on an enormous scale, everywhere in Namibia.
He said while South Africa is moving rapidly away from racial segregation, introducing countless social policies, including free medical care, education and social housing, Namibia remains one of the most segregated countries on earth, with great private services for the rich, and almost nothing for the poor majority.
Kaapanda said these types of articles can do serious damage to the image of the country, with the perceptions they are trying to create.
“It is negative and very bad and should not be allowed.”
He stressed that government provides services to everybody, irrespective of who they are, and not only to a certain group of people in Namibia.
“We do not categorise services or discriminate against anybody.”
The article further describes Namibia as a racist country, where black and coloured people apparently would not dare to enter some local bars.
Kaapanda said racism is a state of mind.
“We have abolished apartheid and the government has established national reconciliation in Namibia. It (racism) is still found here, but we do not have segregated services or places only available to certain groups.”

Namibian tourism industry workshop in Windhoek

Namibian tourism stakeholders gathered in the capital on Monday for a workshop to finalise two important strategies, which are aimed at clearly designing a road map for Namibia as a competitive destination.
The Ministry of Environment and Tourism invited key stakeholders to a national consultation workshop for the verification and the validation of the National Sustainable Tourism Growth Strategy and the National Tourism Investment Profile and Promotion Strategy.
The Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, said at the opening of the workshop that the aims are to identify any critical gaps and loopholes that may not have been addressed in the documents, as well as to strengthen, verify and validate the actions and strategies proposed in the documents.
Shifeta said the ministry and government wants to put in place strategies that provide a holistic and co-ordinated approach to ensure that growth and development in the tourism sector is recorded and noticed not just in Namibia, but also in Africa.
According to him, the Fourth National Development Plan 4 (NDP4) requires that the Namibian tourism industry must become the most competitive tourist destination in Africa by 2017 and its ranking must increase from being the third in Sub-Saharan Africa to becoming number one.
“These goals are achievable. Overall, Namibia has a strategic advantage in terms of tourism development and growth in the Southern African region with a well-developed infrastructure, good communications systems, efficient financial sector, rich cultural diversities, and unique landscape and wilderness areas,” Shifeta said.
He added that Namibia is also well-known as a country with proper and advanced policy and regulatory frameworks.
“The question we must ask is whether on the ground we are good? Our excellent policy framework is a big challenge when it comes to practical implementation on the ground.”
He said that in recognition of the crucial role and importance of tourism in the national economic development, the ministry commissioned the development and formulation of the two strategies.
According to Shifeta, extensive consultations at the national, regional and local levels were held as part of preparations of these two documents since 2011.
The ministry is aiming to finalise the two documents before the end of the year.
The documents will cover a ten year period, and outlines the monitoring and evaluation plans and a long-term sustainability of the tourism sector. The strategies provide a framework to foster coordination and collaboration across public and private sectors.
These documents will guide the sector to take advantage of the opportunities available to address challenges that could obstruct progress.
“We hope that this consultation workshop will enable the ministry to formulate implementable strategies that will be translated into action and not simply lie idle on shelves and gather dust,” said Shifeta.
The implementation of these two strategies will be guided by the principles of the National Policy on Tourism as well as private sector driven implementation, the culture of hospitality and excellent focus on priority markets that ensures the highest return on investment customer service and also focus on sustainability.
“What we must understand is that tourism is everyone’s business and that means generating money should be everyone’s business. This money generated by tourism will translate into roads, clinics, schools, empowerment of the individual and the collective as well as increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” according to Shifeta.

Road update: Nkasa Lupala Lodge Namibia

Road work in the Zambezi Region has advanced and below is the update on the road leading to Nkasa Lupala Tented Lodge:

The C49 road is almost finished from Kongola to Linyanti (only 10 km left to be tarred just before Sangwali). From Linyanti to Katima Mulilo, construction work is still underway and likely to finished before the raining season.
The road from Sangwali to the Lodge, 13 km is bumpy but easy with a 4x4 vehicle. The first bridge at Sangwali is completed and no more problems with the raining season.
Please remain careful during the raining season.

Mozambique: 22 elephants killed

Poachers killed 22 elephants in Mozambique in the first two weeks of September, environmentalists said, warning of killing for ivory by organised syndicates was being carried out on an “industrialised” scale.
Citing data from the southeast African nation's largest game reserve, Niassa, an advisor to the World Conservation Society (WCS), Carlos Pareira, said “in the first two weeks of September alone we counted 22 elephants that had been killed.”
He was speaking at a meeting of Mozambican officials, law enforcement agents and diplomats in the capital, Maputo.
Mozambique is under pressure from international conservation groups to do more to curb rampant poaching.
Until recently poaching was not considered a crime and those arrested often got off with a fine for illegal weapons possession, frustrating conservation efforts.
A new law passed in June toughens penalties for poachers, including hefty fines and jail terms of up to 12 years for killing protected species.
The US ambassador to Maputo, Douglas Griffiths, said the law was a “crucial step” but that Mozambique would need to “ensure it is respected by all and fully implemented.”
The two-day seminar organised by the national prosecution office is aimed at educating magistrates, police commanders and prosecutors on the new legislation.
Likening the crisis to a “national disaster,” the WCS, a New York-based environmental group, warned that organised crime syndicates were killing between 1 500 and 1 800 elephants a year, mostly in northern Mozambique.
The vast Niassa reserve, in the north, is twice the size of South Africa's Kruger National Park. It is co-managed by WCS with the Mozambican authorities.
The poachers use automatic weapons and high-calibre hunting rifles. But spikes concealed in the bush had also been used to wound animals in the coastal Querimbas reserve, causing them slow and agonising deaths from gangrene.
In the northern Tete province, poachers poison drinking water sources, killing not only elephants.
“The killing of elephants in the north of Mozambique... is reaching proportions never seen before,” said Pareira.
“The killing of elephants is being industrialised,” he said.
Ivory from Mozambique has been traced to markets in Hong Kong and Taiwan but trinkets and carvings are also sold on craft markets in Maputo, the meeting heard.

The closure periods for maintenance at Mowani Mountain Camp & Camp Kipwe

Mowani Mountain Camp and Camp Kipwe will be closing for a short period next year to facilitate some maintenance.

The Lodges will be closed on the following dates:
Camp Kipwe - 25 January to 4 February (inclusive)
Mowani Mountain Camp -  2 February to 12 February (inclusive)

Etosha Aoba Lodge - a short history

Aoba - a short history
A O B A … comes from the San (Bushman) language and means: "when the sun goes down".

"If our dream comes true, I will give this name to our lodge", said Georg Zimmermann to his wife Uli and his partners as they watched the magnificent sundown in 1993 on Fischers Pan. The dream came true and Zimmermanns managed the lodge with their former partners Chris and Helmut until 2002, putting their heart and soul into it. At that time it was only the third lodge in the north of Namibia. In spite of considerable logistical problems to get building material into the bush, the construction period was only 6 months.
Today, Etosha Aoba is incorporated into the larger Onguma Game Reserve and our private nature reserve has increased to an enormous 34.000 ha where we have removed more than 200km of internal fences creating a natural environment for the wild animals.
The Reserve is fenced along the new perimeter borders and we are now re-introducing new game to diversify the game gene pool.

Etosha Aoba Lodge at Onguma Game Reserve, Namibia

Etosha Aoba Lodge have recently completed major renovations and built some additional units. Now the lodge has eleven well-appointed rooms located along the dry “Omuramba Owambo” riverbed.

The lodge consists of four free standing Heritage Bungalows with air-conditioning, 3 Bush Suites that each have two rooms with an inter-leading bathroom that can accommodate 4 adults. Three new Explorer Bungalows have been added and each boast privacy and seclusion. There is a Honeymoon Bungalow that is extremely private  and secluded that has a lovely double hammock in the trees and both an outdoor shower and bath.
 There is a swimming pool and a thatched bar, lounge and dining area that overlooks a small active waterhole and free Wi-Fi is available to guests.
On most nights dinner is served under the starts and no meal will be complete if it didn't include a tour of the well stocked wine cellar. Here wines can be tasted and selected to compliment your meal.

Namibia: Palmwag Lodge upgrading

Owners are proud to announce that Palmwag Lodge & Campsite will be renovated and 
upgraded as from 20 January 2014. 
Renovations should be completed by end October 2014.
The following construction will take place: 

- New office block and reception 
- New kitchen, food and beverage stores 
- New restaurant deck and bar area 
- 8 new rooms 
- Upgrading and renovations of existing rooms 
- Upgrading and renovations of pool-bar area 
- New ablution facilities at campsites 
- Increase the number of campsites 
- Improvement of existing campsites 
- New staff housing 
- Upgrading of sewage system 
- Development of 44 KW solar power system 

The staff and construction teams will ensure that minimal noise pollution and disturbance of guests at the lodge and campsite will take place.

Swimming under the Victoria Falls

The "Swimming under the Falls" Tour opened on 8.9.2014. 3 trips are offered per day at 9.30, 12.30 and 14.30 and combinations with Full Day WWR and Half Day am WWR done on the same day just before rafting starts.

The most awesome perspective to see the Victoria Falls is from the bottom of the gorge. Swimming in the rock pools below the Falls, surrounded by the massive black basaltic rock towering up above you and the water cascading down, seemingly out of the sky, is an unforgettable experience!

Contact: info@namibweb.com