Sorry mensen, deze informatie schreef ik voor mijn voorbereidingscursus. En dus in het engels. Kun je er geen kaas van maken en wil je toch meer over Namibie weten? Kijk dan even hier.
Namibia, Land of the brave
Namibia. Officially called the ‘Republic of Namibia’. Cheered of in the national anthem as ‘Land of the brave’. Situated in Southern Africa, just above South-Africa, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, Angola in the North and Botswana in the east. And let’s not forget the small stripe of Namibian land, squeezed between Botswana, Angola and Zambia, stretching to the east. With roughly 825,000 km2 Namibia is the 34th country in the world in size. But with only 2 million inhabitants, it’s the least densely populated country after Mongolia.
Geography
Although Namibia borders quite some kilometers of sea, it’s an extremely dry country with two big deserts. Temperature can easily rise beyond 40 degrees Celsius during the day and drop below zero at night. Lack of water is always a problem but the climate in the northeast is a bit more friendly as most rain falls in this region. As Namibia hasn’t got a whole lot of vegetation, special types of plants and trees are extra visible. There’s the mysterious Baobab tree, the thorny Kameldoring and the poisonous Euphorbia Virosa. Ofcourse Namibia also houses many animals. Elephants, zebra’s, lions and so on. Travelers refer to Namibia as ‘an almost surrealistic landscape’ and a technicolour dreamscape’ because of it’s high apricot dunes and white flats.
Namibia can roughly be divided into four geographical regions. In the north lies the Etosha Pan, an enormous basin that once used to have a lake. Although the water has disappeared long ago, the area is still quite fertile. This allows many animals to live in the area. The gamepark in which the Etosha Pan lies is said to be one of the finest on the African continent. In the west of Namibia, alongside the coast, you will find a red sandbarge called The Namib Desert. In this area you will find the richest source of diamonds in the world, which also makes Namibia the largest producers of diamonds. The coastline at the Namib Desert also houses another phenomenon. When the icy Atlantic water meets the dry and hot African desert, they can create enormous fog. Less dry and more fertile than the Namib Desert is a stripe of land in the northeast, called the Caprivi Strip. It’s a narrow corridor of land, between Angola and Botswana. It’s quite wooded, and you will find more water there because of some rivers that cross the land here. The fourth geographical region is the centre of Namibia, in which you will also find the capital, Windhoek. The region is called The Great Escarpmentand and in the south of it you will find the immense Fish River Canyon. Comparable to the Grand Canyon, only smaller.
Economics
Namibia’s economy is closely tied to the South African. Most of the imported products come from Namibia’s big neighbour and because of the close link between the Namibian Dollar and the South African Rand, Namibia has to follow the South African economical strategies as well. The official Namibian currency is the Namibian dollar, but South African Rand are also widely accepted. Namibia is one of the richest countries in Africa, but most people haven’t got any benefit from that. The average income only counts 120 euro a month. The majority has to cope with an even lower income, most of the money is earned and owned by the (white) upperclass. More that one third of the population is unemployed. Agriculture,mining, fishing and tourism are the main pillars that hold the countries economy. The country heavily depends on the export of minerals. About a third of the GPD comes from mining activities. Namibia exports diamonds, uranium, lead, tin, silver and zinc and a metal called wolfram. Although mining is a big part of the Namibian economy, only three percent of the population makes her living in this sector. The rest of the population depends on agriculture and fishing, but even then Namibia has to import lots of cereal to feed everyone. Especially in dry years there can be a lack of food. Tourism is big in Namibia but mainly in the hands of the whites. Most tourists come from South Africa and Germany.
People
Namibia is really quite empy. The average Namibian should have a personal space of two square kilometers. People in Namibia come from eleven different tribes. The Ovambo is the biggest ethnic group. Besides that there are Afrikaners, Germans (the former colonists), some Asians and other internationals and expats. Some people, like the Himba, still live according to their old traditions. They do earn money by allowing tourists to take pictures. A couple of years ago the Dutch television channel SBS6 broadcasted a show in which a Dutch family was dropped in a Himbo village. Most people live in the North of the country, where it’s a bit more humid and hospitable. Namibia became independent in 1990. The country was a German colony from 1884 till 1914. After that it was occupied by South Africa. The official language is English, but Afrikaans is also very common. Other important languages are Oshivambo, Nama and Herero. Although Namibia was in German hands for only thirty years, German is still taught at schools and German culture is all around.
Religion is important in Namibia’s everyday life. Many people are Christian, which is also a leftover of the German colonization. Besides that there are the old rites and traditions.
Health
Compared to other African countries, Namibia hasn’t got a bad health service system. The health infrastructure does have some serious gaps though. Namibia hasn’t got a qualified graduate medical school so doctors have to be trained abroad. Namibia has an alarming rate of HIV/Aids and TB infected people. According to UN Aids the epidemic appears to have stabilized. But they strongly recommend the government to improve prevention activities. Recent studies by an organization called Human Recources for Health say that the Namibian health infrastructure in itself isn’t that bad, but that the system is creaking under the weight of TB and HIV/Aids problems. The health system has quite a decent long term vision but lacks the ability to respond to the high scale of HIV/Aids and TB infections.
