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Flamingo - Nature |
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 The Challenge - mettle and heart (02.09.2010)
When you follow a dream undeterred by the opinions of others―even though the odds are against you, it seems like an impossible venture and the whole world thinks you’re crazy―it’s essential to show your mettle and be valiant of heart.
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Education, awareness and the environment (03.08.2010)
If you were President of the Republic of Namibia, what would you do to protect our coastal environment?
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 Our Natural World (03.08.2010)
Facts on the environment in Namibia
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 The wild horses of Namibia (01.08.2010)
On a sweltering day in southern Namibia, I followed a turn-off onto a rutted dirt road leading to the viewpoint at Garub, where horses from across the arid plains had gathered, standing in the sun as if the glaring celestial body was shining blessings onto their sweat-laden hides. A few wandered off into the expansive landscape, some drank from the water troughs and others whinnied and challenged each other for space or sport
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 Identikits and other high-tech gizmos at Waterberg (01.08.2010)
Park wardens and researchers working in the Waterberg Plateau Park are faced with an unusual challenge. Trap cameras set up to gather data about the VIP residents of the park are being vandalised, and staff are engaged in a cat-and-mouse game to outwit the four-legged offenders
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 Brandberg environs (01.06.2010)
This is the first of a series of map images produced for Flamingo by John Mendelsohn, providing a view inland from about 20 000 metres above the sea.
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 Grass – a mainstay of the Namibian economy (01.05.2010)
Vast undulating plains of grass surging up barren hill slopes are a very typical sight in the savannah regions of southern Namibia, and were particularly so during recent years, when there was abundant rainfall in most areas.
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 Photo Essay (01.04.2010)
The splendour of NamibRand
When Burkhard Dobiey moved to Windhoek from Germany in 1995 as Director of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, he was also giving his lifelong passion of photography a major boost, as where better to realise a love for photography than in Namibia? “The incredible light in this country came as a revelation to me. It was here for the first time that I saw the immense quality of light in the early morning and late afternoon.” Since then Dr Dobiey has won multiple photographic awards, including TASA Photograph of the Year in 2005, and his images have been featured in several international magazines. He and his wife Ingrid settled in Namibia permanently after he retired.
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 Etosha National Park (01.04.2010)
The fence
The culprits who break the fence are obvious from their tracks – huge, round forefoot and oval hind-foot imprints pockmark the places where an elephant herd or single elephant bull has thrust through in a defiant show of power.
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 Hippos on the Okavango River (01.03.2010)
Allowed to flourish without persecution
With increased human habitation along the Okavango River in Namibia, came increased pressure on the riverine vegetation, other natural resources, and particularly wildlife. Uncontrolled hunting took its toll, with illegal firearms being readily available. Being restricted to the river only, and concentrated in groups, hippos were relatively easy to kill. The result was that 20 years ago, there were few to be found anywhere outside the Mahango Game Park, where only the odd single animal was to be found in sparsely populated areas along the river.
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 The recovery of the black-faced impala (01.02.2010)
Beautiful and aloof, with its delicate shades of peach and ochre, its striking facial markings, the imposingly swung horns of the male, the exquisite face of the female… the black-faced impala is one of Namibia’s most charismatic antelopes.
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 My friends, the paper wasps (01.02.2010)
I’m all in favour of the ‘big five’ – the animals rather than the phrase, which is a rather irritating invention of the tourism industry. Lions, elephants, rhino – they are magnificent beasts. The only problem is the financial outlay if you want to view them in their natural surroundings, even if you live in Windhoek, let alone in Europe. You will be involved with several thousand dollars in 4x4 hire, lodge stays, designer safari outfits, sundowners, tips to game drive guides, and so on.
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 Captured moments of birds in action (01.01.2010)
As the founder of Joe’s Beerhouse, Windhoek’s most famous restaurant and a top favourite amonst tourists, Joe Gross is no stranger to belly-worshippers worldwide, but he is also an avid – and extremely good – nature and wildlife photographer. The latest addition to his list of accomplishments is the 2010 Birds of Africa calendar, fresh on the shelves for those in need of an inspiring burst of bird life in the New Year. Joe was born in Germany and has won Nikon, South African and European photographic awards for his work. He came to Namibia in 1986 and fell in love with the country, its wild animals, harsh landscapes, flowers. He recently also developed a love for its birds. As a result, he became stuck and stayed, his feet becoming deeply rooted in Namibian soil.
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 Black-rhino conservation in Namibia (01.01.2010)
'Dart in' is the call that triggers half an hour of incredibly intense, focused activity- by a hand-picked squad of experienced conservationists – the rhino capture team of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET).
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 Shedding light on the origin of the universe (01.11.2009)
Light from sources beyond our earth can stream down – in good weather! – bringing information about the cosmos to those who were prepared to look up and wonder. So commenced the science of astronomy, helped by the invention of the telescope exactly four hundred years ago, which is why we are celebrating the Year of Astronomy in 2009.
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 Africa's giants call long distance (01.11.2009)
Imagine if your telecommunications company gave you only half an hour each day to make a long-distance call. You would probably make absolutely certain that you were ready to make the call the moment the lines were opened – as would everybody else – and for that time there would a flood of long-distance calls and communication.
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 The world’s largest game count in the spotlight (01.11.2009)
The charter plane is scheduled to arrive at dusk. We are alone at Sesfontein airstrip, surrounded by African bush, although the sounds of goats and the braying of a donkey hint at nearby village life. We consider turning on the headlights of our Land Cruisers to help guide the pilot. If it gets much darker, he won't be able to see the strip from the air.
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 Wetlands of international importance (01.10.2009)
The thousands of flamingos, a mass of pink and white, were quietly honking as they preened and fed in the protein-rich water of the Walvis Bay Lagoon. Terns by the thousand were wheeling, circling and plunging into the water, their shrill calls a contrast to the deep honking of the flamingos. Thousands of cross-shaped forms lined the water's edge – cormorants with open wings drying in the sunlight. Hartlaub's and kelp gulls paraded busily along the sandbars. A few Caspian terns, with their large red bills like neon signs, sat quietly on the sand. Pelicans dwarfed most of the other, smaller birds. Hundreds and hundreds of curlew sandpipers, little stints, sanderlings, avocets, turnstones and various plovers were busily pecking on the exposed mudflats – a scene of organised chaos.
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 Namibian stamps (01.10.2009)
Cryptically coloured and well-camouflaged
Namibia Post recently issued a new stamp series portraying five interesting Namibian gecko species. Belonging to the Gekkonidae family, these wonderful, enigmatic little creatures are worthy subjects for depiction, whether by paintbrush, pen or camera.
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 A wilderness of sea, rocks and sand blend in perpetuity (01.09.2009)
Namibia’s protected coastline stretches 1 570 kilometres, linking 12 000 square kilometres of windswept ocean to almost 110 000 square kilometres of desert desolation. Both these sea- and landscapes form part of a vast, formally protected area that is unique and parts of which could become a World Heritage Site.
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 The Bushmen, bushfires and books (01.09.2009)
We're taking a leisurely drive across Western Caprivi. The sun's streaming through the windows, landing on my left ear like music. Sadly though, the sunshine begins to grow weaker and weaker as if some strange cloud is swallowing it.
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 A pelican puzzle (01.08.2009)
A career in conservation has its punishments and rewards. Setbacks are frequent and satisfaction is scarce. Consequently, when I recently enlarged the digital image of the ring on a pelican’s leg, I felt fulfilment. It confirmed that 13 320 days previously the same bird had been the recipient of this ring when it was a chick. That translates into 36 years and six months ago. Is this a world record for pelican longevity?
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 Namibia’s rarest wildlife gem (01.07.2009)
The African wild dog, aka the painted hunting dog or Cape hunting dog, is one of Africa’s most misunderstood yet unique and enigmatic species. Although obviously a member of the canid family and related to foxes, dholes, dingos, wolves, jackals and other dogs, it has no close relatives and is the single member of the genus Lycaon, Greek for ‘painted wolf’. The name reflects the coloration – a distinctive but variable combination of irregular black, yellow-brown and white patches unique for every individual.
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 The elephant and the Englishwoman (01.07.2009)
This is an old story, true to every detail and retold many times. It was the beginning of a learning process, of abiding affection, and a strong affinity gained through the privilege of watching wild elephants at close quarters, observing their sensitivities, listening to their conversations.
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 The extraordinary sausage tree (01.06.2009)
Although the baobab richly deserves its place as a symbol of sub-Saharan Africa, the extraordinary sausage tree is equally interesting and much valued by people who know it well. It is common in tropical areas where intermittent good rains occur, but also thrives in the arid years, occurring as far north as Senegal and Sudan, and as far south as the Transvaal Lowveld in South Africa.
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