Many of you guys, the Namibian geograpeeps, have told me that if you want to make the shape of Namibia on your hand,
just curl your index finger, stick out your thumb, and go like this.
That's not some kind of gang sign, is it?
Uh, let me check.
[mumbling] Bloods, Crips, Kings, MS-13, Sureños, Compton Crips...
No, I think we're good.
I, uh, went to a public school in Chicago.
Ah.
[Geography Now! theme]
Hey everyone, I'm your host Barb's
Ah, Namibia, South Africa's ex-wife, but now getting-back-together-and-dating-again girlfriend who speaks German, kind of.
And has unexplained polka dots.
Yeah, Africa. Love this place. You'll never be bored with this continent. Let's find Namibia on the map now, shall we?
[♪♪]
Namibia is known for being one of the safest and cleanest places to visit in all of Africa.
Not the cheapest, but you can still kind of get by and get lost in the maze of open space.
How much open space?
A lot. Let's take a look at the map now, shall we?
First of all, Namibia is located in southern Africa with a long coast along the Atlantic.
It looks like they are only bordered by Angola, Botswana, and South Africa,
but if you look over here, they have this long panhandle known as the Caprivi Strip,
and at the very end of it, they share a river border with Zambia and Zimbabwe as well,
making it the world's only quadrapoint between sovereign nations.
I think you talked about it in the Botswana episode, right?
Yes, I did. Watch it again, guys!
The country is divided into 14 regions with a capital and largest city, Windhoek,
nestled in the Central Khomas region.
It also has the country's largest and only international airport, Windhoek's Hosea Kutako International,
Otherwise, numerous domestic and regional airports and air strips exist in every region except these 3.
After Windhoek, the next largest cities are Rundu in the northeast, and Walvis Bay which holds 1 of the 2 main shipping ports,
Walvis Bay Harbor, which is the only natural harbor in the country
divided by the Pelican Point Sand Spit, which holds these cool salt work evaporation fields,
and then there's the smaller Luderitz Harbor, further south.
Each of these port cities are the final coastal stops for the largest rail network run by the National Train Service, Transnamib.
It traverses the entire country, going into Angola and South Africa with proposed future lines that will enter into Botswana.
Now, back to the Caprivi strip thing. It looks weird, right? Why does Namibia have that one long panhandle?
Well, basically, it kind of went like this.
GERMAN EMPIRE: Well, we Germans took over Southwest Africa and East Africa. We need to connect them
but those pesky British keep blocking the way.
GREAT BRITAIN: Tell you what. Maybe we can do a bit of a trade-off.
How so?
Will you see those Zanzibar Islands? Give me them.
What!?
Yeah, give me them.
That is literally off the coast of my territory.
Do it and I'll give you a corridor to the Zambezi River. It should go all the way to the East Coast.
And that's what you want, right?
Hmm...
Okay, then give me back Heligoland.
Deal! Hah!
What's so funny?
Oh, nothing, thanks for doing business, David Livingstone!
Uh, what?
...Germany.
Yeah, they knew a little secret.
Otherwise Namibia has quite a unique civil structure because it's huge but with only about 3 people per square kilometer
So like I could totally bury some treasure over there and like nobody would find it?
Yeah but don't sail on the north coast. You could die.
The Portuguese called it "The Gates to Hell," the Bushmen called it "The Land God Made in Anger,"
but today it's commonly known as the Skeleton Coast.
This strange geological phenomena in which colossal orange desert sand dunes converge right into the ocean
where you can find tons of shipwrecked vessels of ill-prepared seafarers.
An ocean of sand meets, like, an ocean of water?
That was beautifully illustrated, Keith.
On top of that, there are quite a few notable places of interest that you might want to consider checking out if you come, such as:
Kolmanskop ghost town,
Sanderburg Castle,
the Hoba meteorite, the largest meteorite in the world,
the sand dunes of Sossusvlei,
the Gibeon meteorites,
the Solitaire installation,
the dinosaur footprints of this farm,
the Tropic of Capricorn crossing,
Christuskirche,
the Cheetah Conservation Fund,
Crocodile Ranch,
the Ombalantu Baobab Tree,
the Twyfelfontein rock carvings,
Independence Memorial Museum
and Heroes acre.
Whoo, yeah lots of space and lots of cool sites, especially the natural ones. Which brings us to...
[♪♪]
Now Namibia is quite a dry country.
How dry is it?
The driest nation in sub-Saharan Africa.
But Namibia isn't all sand and desert; there's quite a bit of lush vegetation too you just have to know where to find it.
First of all, the country's generally divided into 5 different geographic areas.
Along the coast and north you have the oldest desert in the world, the Namib Desert, which is where the Skeleton Coast that we talked about lies.
Just west you have the Central Plateau, a dry region where the tallest peak in the country lies:
Brandberg Mountain with Königstein peak at over 2500 metres high.
This is also where most of the population lives and where you can find most of the arable land.
In the south, there's the Great Escarpment, a hilly rocky shrubland with the longest river in the country the Fish River,
which also has the Fish River Canyon, the largest canyon in Africa.
In the northeast and the Caprivi strip you have the Bushveld, the greenest and luscious part of Namibia
with the savannah and forests that extend all the way to the Okavango Delta and Zambezi River.
It is also here where you can find the famous Etosha Pan. At over 120 kilometres long, it is one of the largest salt flats in the world.
BOLIVIA: Hey, I have one of those! Let's hang out sometime.
The largest natural lake in the country though is this tiny little guy, only about 6600 square meters,
Lake Guinas, which is actually a sinkhole lake caused by a collapsed cave.
Finally, we reach the world-renowned Kalahari Desert in the east, famous for being a strange place with unique plant and wildlife species
since it kind of gets more rain than most other deserts.
Also, fun side note, in the Namib Desert there's a strange natural phenomena known as fairy circles.
And here's random Jilian explaining what fairy circles are.
Oh, okey dokey!
Fairy circles are a strange natural phenomena only found in dry regions of Africa and Australia.
The grass naturally grows in a circle pattern with an empty dirt or sand pit in the middle.
Scientists have theories as to why this happens, but so far the exact explanation still remains shrouded in enigma.
-Thank you Jilian! -Yeah - oof!
In the meantime, it's time for my triple shot of espresso break which means Noah takes over therestofthesegment!
Did somebody say "Noah"?
Namibia is unique in that despite much the country being dry, it's not completely inhospitable.
Over 200 species of mammals like the national animal, the oryx, can be found
as well as over 600 species of birds and over 4300 plants, at least 700 which are endemic.
Much of their industries are centered around production of resources like meat, fish, minerals, and diamonds.
Especially diamonds. They're one of the top 10 producers.
RUSSIA: Nobody beats Russia in diamonds.
And speaking of resources, food! First off, from what we were told, Namibians love meat.
And when the meat-loving Germans came in, well, let's just say it wasn't too hard to agree on something.
Look, we hated your colonial rule. But, we really dig the bratwurst, schnitzel, and what is that crazy thing you do with the whole pig?
Oh, you mean the Spanferkel?
Yes! Man, you guys are so crazy.
Ja!
[laughing] That was weird, okay!
Some dishes you guys, the Namibian geograpeeps suggested we mention might include things like:
kapana,
silver cod,
and luderitz crayfish,
fat cakes,
pap en vleis,
mopane worms,
potjeiekos,
Kalahari truffles
and those gigantic omajowa mushrooms
the national drink oshikindu,
and everywhere you can find they're maybe gonna sell game barbecue known as Braaj
featuring legally hunted animals like kudu, springbok zebra, and crocodile.
And speaking of which, you'll find that the people of Namibia, much like the diverse set of animals,
come from a myriad of colorful traditions and customs. Which brings us to...
[♪♪]
Thank you Noah! Follow him on Instagram.
No problem. Excuse me.
So, anyway.
Now, Namibia is huge but has very few people, like less than the population of Jamaica,
yet they still retain these ever-so-slightly noticeable German undertones.
And that's a whole other story. We'll explain soon. But first:
Namibia has about 2.7 million people and is the second least densely populated sovereign nation in the world after Mongolia.
The country has quite a few people groups but the largest group, about half of the population, being Ovambo
followed by the Kavango at 9%, mixed people of all types make up about 8%, the Herero and Damara each take up about 7% each,
and the rest are various other people groups that we'll discuss later like the whites, the Himba, the Lozi, the San and so on.
They use the Namibian dollar as their currency which is pegged to the South African Rand,
they use the types D and M plug outlets, and they drive on the left side of the road.
Now back to the people thing. During the Scramble for Africa in the late 1800s, the area of what is now Namibia fell under German rule for about 30 years.
It got kind of messy, there was a genocide - we'll talk about that later - until finally South African forces took over in 1915.
Anyway, the thing is, despite Germany having a short presence in the area, their legacy still kind of clung on and lives on to this day
and you'll see it in things like road signs, buildings, there's even some German radio stations and a newspaper so, yeah.
Nonetheless, only about 2 to 3% of the population actually speaks it natively, mostly the white German population.
However, it is taught in many schools and used as a commercial language. Up until 1990, it was actually a co-official language with English and Afrikaans.
Faith-wise, most Namibians at least nominally identify as Christian, somewhere at 80 to 90%
mostly belonging to Protestant branches, especially the largest one being Lutheran.
It was brought over from German and, surprisingly, Finnish missionaries in the 19th century.
FINLAND: And that's the closest thing that I've ever seen to an African colony. No bloodshed! Cheers.
Culturally speaking, depending on how you compartmentalize them, there are somewhere between 10 to 15-ish main people groups in Namibia
but basically it can be broken down into 4 family categories: the Bantu, the Khoisan, the mixed, and the whites.
Let's go over some of them, shall we?
In a nutshell, the Khoisan groups in Namibia like the Nama, the San, and the !Kung are kind of like the original inhabitants.
Yes, that little exclamation mark is a click sound and I'm not even joking. It's a real people group.
They are one of the oldest cultures in the world, dating back to the Stone Age,
famous for having various techniques that have helped them develop into the harsh climates.
They're also famous for their distinguishing features.
They are some of the only black people in the world that have natural epicanthic folds on their eyes from birth, similar to East Asians.
Epic what?
Epicanthic folds. Yeah, that's like the medical term for those, the eyes, you know, the - the -
[sings] Ding ding ding ding, ding ding ding.
We can do that, we're Asian.
Send your complaints at GeographyLater@gmail.com
In addition, they are known for being the originators of the click languages. You know the ones with the [clicks] sounds.
Later on, other Bantu groups migrated from West Africa around 1000 BC,
and they would adopt these sounds into their languages like Zulu or Xhosa, but Khoisan is kind of the one that started it all.
You know that language they speak in "Black Panther," the Wakandan language?
You know it's actually the Xhosa language from South Africa? It's so original and unique.
Thank goodness there's such an original click language like Xhosa!
[NAMIBIA and BOTSWANA inhaling] NAMIBIA: Just let it go.
Now let's talk about the Bantu groups.
The largest Bantu group, known as the Ovambo or Owambo, are people that are found mostly in the north along the border with Angola.
They love wearing the color fuchsia and they have this really cool fruit harvest festival.
The Kavango and Lozi people live mostly in the lush green or panhandle areas by the Caprivi strip.
They are famous for their woodwork and have an interesting king and queen boat ceremony.
The Herero people mostly live in the central and eastern parts of the country.
They are famous for their colorful Victorian-style gowns inspired by German and Finnish missionaries who settled there.
In addition, the cousins of the Herero people, the Himba up north, are probably the most isolated group that maintains their traditional way of life.
They're famous for using Otjize paste made out of butter fat and ochre,
used as a sunscreen that they put on their skin and hair to protect against the Sun and heat.
According to tradition, the Damara people, possibly the oldest Bantu group in Namibia,
were enslaved by the click-speaking Nama people and adopted their language, even though they are Bantu.
You see a lot of Khoisan influence in them like animal skin clothing and hunting techniques
And after the Bantu and Khoisan groups, you have the mixed peoples like the Coloreds, the Oorlams, the Basters.
WHAT'D YOU SAY?!
I know, I know, it sounds bad but that's literally what they call themselves.
These are the people that have both European and African ancestry to varying degrees.
They even develop their own communities and traditions much like those in South Africa.
And finally you have the Namibian whites, mostly Germans and Afrikaaners.
The German community of Namibians actually still holds a lot of tradition from Germany.
They have their own African-style Oktoberfest, which everybody takes part in because... beer.
Now there are many other smaller groups within the main 4, but these are probably the most noticeable ones that people will talk about in Namibia.
But wait you forgot to talk about the monarchs.
Oh, yeah! Uh, we don't really have too much time to get into it
but the country has over 30 traditional and constituent monarchs and 5 chiefs that rule over legally recognized areas
but they have little or no sovereign government power.
In the meantime, history. In the quickest way I can condense it:
Khoisan groups,
Bantu migration,
this Portuguese dude stops by but he doesn't really care,
Oorlam people cross over in 1800s,
they make peace with the Nama people,
Nama-Herero war,
Germany comes in,
it becomes German Southwest Africa,
the 2 groups that fought each other are now joining up and they fight the Germans,
the first genocide of the 20th century,
1915 South Africa takes over,
weird police zones and confining people groups to certain territories,
a separatist group starts and rebels thinking about an independent state
or as I like to call it "Na-maybe-a"
[laughs] [punch]
independence from South Africa in 1990,
multiparty democracy introduced
Caprivi strip tries to secede but Namibia is like, oh no.
And here we are today! Otherwise, some notable people from Namibia or of Namibian descent might include people like:
Anna Mungunda,
Sam Nujoma,
this musician and civil rights activist,
Michelle McClean,
Gwen Lister,
Frankie Fredericks,
Johanna Benson,
Ricardo Mannetti,
Gazza
Knowledge Katti and Harold Pupkewitz,
Paulus Ambunda,
Harry Simon,
Behati Prinsloo
Whoo! For a place with fewer people than Jamaica, they sure have quite a few notable people.
And speaking of places outside of Namibia, let's talk about their friends, shall we?
[♪♪]
If Africa was a family, Namibia would kind of be like the straight B student.
You know, they kind of coast by comfortably and keep things chill and everyone just kind of gets along with them.
For Germany, things are generally amicable, as Namibia has had the highest concentration of Germans in Africa for a while.
Tourists love coming, they give them lots of investments and machinery, considerable numbers of Namibians live in Germany,
and some have even become famous like Eric Sell, winner of "X Factor Germany."
Finland also surprisingly has great relations as they invest heavily in their forestry and environment sectors
which not only boosted trade but also prompted Prime Minister Nahas Angula to visit.
Cuba was a major player that helped them during apartheid and independence years, and to this day they still help with scholarships and medical support.
As a member of the SADC, they generally get along with all their neighbours.
Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi kind of winked their eyes as they passed by since they were also under the Germans as East Africa during occupation years.
However, every single Namibian I have talked to has told me that their best friends would probably be Botswana and South Africa.
Botswana is kind of like the slightly richer sister that always tags along for the adventures.
The 2 share much culturally especially in the Khoisan people groups found in the Kalahari Desert that they both share.
Trade and business is also huge between them.
South Africa though is kind of like the husband they divorced but then started to date again. The 2 are inseparable.
Not only is the vast majority of trade and business done with South Africa,
but so many Namibian and South Africans travel to see each other, often marrying each other, having families.
They both speak English and Afrikaans, they both love biltong, Namibia even stopped using Daylight Savings Time to match up with South Africa.
In the end they're a cute couple.
In conclusion, Namibia may be huge with lots of space, but with millions of colors, sights, sounds, tastes, and German beer, it's definitely not empty.
Stay tuned! Nauru is coming up next.
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