Art & Impressions

26 Jan 2012. Interesting video recording by Anna-Marie Huester. Click on photo below

27 April 2008

An essay by Bianca Green (age 17)

"Mowe Bay"

I went to a place unspoilt and pure, where
waves like white horses gallop ashore
pebbles and whale bones can be found there
and winds rattle the old, wooden cottage door.
When going on a walk you might find
Hyaena footprints and those of lions too,
Broken seashells and stones of every kind
The colour of the sky in pinks and blue.
But mixed among the pebbles are quite a few
bones of many a long forgotten beast
Wind and sand have left them as a clue
This elephant graveyard, on which guilty eyes may feast.
I yearn that at least this harsh place of bones, sand and dew
Remains in my dreams a place unspoilt and true.

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15 June 2007

An essay by Tamarind Nott (age 16)

"My Escape "

It is my favourite place in the world. For a long time I had felt that it only belonged to me. I had been going there since I could remember. It is a place so vast and beautiful you had to see it to believe such a place could really exist.
It is a river that hardly ever flows purely because it lies in the middle of the desert. Every time I try and tell people about this place it would be so difficult to explain what it actually looks like and how remote it actually is. When I am there I feel I am the only one amongst the wild, I am a stranger to the magnificent creatures living there. The creatures that survive in one of the most harsh places in the country and I am privileged to be amongst them. Days would go by and you wouldn’t see a soul. I would be lost in this world separate from our own, separate from the world of criticism and judgement, a world that I am so grateful to have experienced. It is places like these that me proud to be a Namibian. I would love for other people to experience this place and see its greatness, but the more I think about that the more I start to wonder if that is really what I want.
Recently I returned to the river. I hadn’t been there for a while and I was boiling with excitement. The journey there took long, as usual and it was hotter than ever before. We were getting closer and the small road we were driving on looked bigger than I could remember. We were driving down one of the many washes going to the river. We were not far from the huge thirsty snake that creeps through the desert when I spotted something on top of one of the mountains overlooking the river. At the top of the mountain I could see the frames of buildings being built, I got this sudden feeling over me, a feeling I can’t explain. It’s hard to understand this, even for me and for many people it might seem pathetic but this feeling of sadness hit me so hard I couldn’t even believe it. Tears filled my eyes, it was at this moment that I realised how lucky I was to have been a part of a world like this, because today these places are so unbelievingly rare.
We found out that a lodge was being built and that further up the river a campsite had also been constructed. I had come back to a changed place. Slowly I could see how this awesome place was being destroyed.
Every time I return new car tracks will appear, cars will have driven off the roads and in the desert those tracks will never fade, the desert will be branded. The mountains, trees, desert sands and rocks will be destroyed because of one person’s ignorance and greed. The river will become a playground to generate money.
I had lost a place where you could hear the sound of the untouched desert, where you could see an unbroken horizon and where you could breathe in the clean air. When I return again a car engine will break that silence that is so hard to find, a roof or power lines will ruin the clear horizons and the air will become the filthy gasses we breathe in everyday.
I will never be able to return and be separate from our world. My special world is now part of something I try to get away from. The river is still magical and still contains its exquisite features, only now I have to learn to share it but the only difference between me and the others is that for them this river is just another holiday destination, for me it is my escape. People come and go but I always return. This river will never be the same again. My untouched, undeveloped place is slowly being taken and there is nothing I can do except be grateful that I once had a place that many spend their whole lives looking for. The Hoaruseb River will always be a part of who I am.
Many people ask me why I speak so passionately about this place. The simplest way to say it is: “For a moment in time I saw the beauty that lay in nothingness.”

25 September 2007 Paintings by Anika Ramey (age 11) These drawings were inspired by Anika's experiences and observations on the two lionesses in the Hoaruseb River.

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NOTICE! 15 Aug 2012. Because of problems sending emails a few important messages will be posted here for the interim.

Peter Sander -18 Aug 2012. Got your email, thanks. Will standby for Rod and make an effort to meet with him. Xpl-68 has been present when a number of his pride-mates were shot in the SB, so that could explain his abrupt departure – a pity if that were the case because the Huab lions had a good thing going for tourism.

Peter Sander -17 Aug 2012. Thanks for the call. Could you please pass the information below on to Russell & inform him of this means of communication. Thank you.

KCS Russell 15 Aug 2012. The Van der Schans visit is fine with me, although on my calendar that period is blocked out as a DLS (6-11 Aug 2012)…?