Tomorrow sees one of Africa’s youngest nations celebrating 25 years of independence.

This morning my usual 15 minute trip to work took about 45 minutes; the roads are congested and there is an almost electric excitement right throughout the capital city today.

Sitting at my desk, listening to the fighter jets practicing their formations for tomorrow’s celebrations is difficult – every time there is the sound of an approaching aircraft, everyone runs to the window. We look like a bunch of over-sized Garfield window toys!

So…

Here is my challenge – 25 reasons to visit Namibia…

1. 47% of Namibia’s landmass is under conservation of some sorts, whether that is National Parks, Private Nature reserves or community conservancy
2. Namibia was the first country in the World to include conservation in its constitution
3. The Nkasa Lupala National Park has the highest concentration of elephant per square kilometre in the World
4. Namibia is home to the oldest desert in the World
5. Namibia is home to one of only two gold status dark sky reserves in the World (some of the lowest light pollution levels in the World, so you can see the milky way stretching clear across the night skies on cloudless nights)
6. Namibia is home to TWO UNESCO World heritage sites
7. Namibia is home to the largest privately owned Nature reserve in Southern Africa, where they have promised to never have more than one bed per 1,000 hectares of wilderness area
8. Namibia is home to all of the ‘Big Five’
9. Namibia also boasts The ‘Little Five’ – White Lady Spider, Palmetto Gecko, Sandfish Skink, Namaqua Chameleon and the Sidewinder (a member of the Viper family)
10. The entire west coast of Namibia is protected as a National Park
11. The US Dollar, Pound and Euro are very strong against the Namibian Dollar at the moment, making Namibia the cheapest safari destination in Africa.
12. Namibia is home to the largest free-roaming Cheetah Population; 22% of the World’s Cheetahs live here
13. Namibia is the only country in the World where the populations of Lion, Elephant and Giraffe are INCREASING
14. Namibia has the second lowest population density in the World – we really are the country of wide open spaces.
15. The beer is brewed according to the German purity law of 1487; no chemicals.
16. We have omajovas – amazing Namibian delicacies; a rich, delicious mushroom that grows on the side of termite mounds in the rainy season
17. Namibia grows internationally award winning oysters
18. Namibia is home to the second largest canyon in the World
19. As of 2014 Namibia’s Fairy circles have been regarded as one of Nature’s greatest mysteries. Many theories abound as to their formation, but none have been proven. Ranging from 2 – 15 metres in diameter they create a patch-work like appears across the desert
20. No one is exactly sure where the horses found in Southern Namibia come from, but we do know that no one expected them to survive, but for 100 years now these horses have lived in thrived in some of the most inhospitable, arid areas in the World
21. Etosha National Park is the third largest Game Reserve in Africa
22. There is still an old-fashioned ferry crossing to South Africa
23. Namibia is home to the living fossil, the ancient Welwitschia Mirabalis plant
24. Namibia is home to the largest known single piece of meteorite in Earth, at over 60 tonnes it has never been moved from where it was uncovered!
25. There is a farm in Northern Namibia where dinosaur footprints can be seen in petrified clay deposits and there is a petrified forest, where the fallen trees have all turned to stone!

Happy Birthday Namibia – and here is to many, many more years as Southern Africa’s safest destination!