Namibia under eagle’s eye for adventure summit

The Inspection Committee of the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) is currently in the country for a site inspection - the final step before the announcement on whether the country will host the Adventure Travel World Summit in 2013.

Namibia has been short-listed as one of three finalists to host the Adventure Travel World Summit (ATWS), an international gathering of over 600 influencers in the adventure travel industry.

According to Maggy Mbako, Corporate Communications Practitioner at the Namibia Tourism Board, a team of six inspectors from ATTA arrived in the country on Tuesday afternoon to verify Namibia’s bidding documents.

On Wednesday morning, the inspection team met with various stakeholders in the tourism industry and was also treated to a display of more than 50 vehicles from various tour operators in Namibia. With the display, the tour operators intended showing the inspectors that they will be able to handle the influx of people that is expected in the country during the World Adventure Travel World Summit.

After a breakfast meeting, the team of inspectors was taken on a tour of Windhoek before being hosted on Wednesday night by Minister of Environment and Tourism Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.

The following day, the inspection team split up in three groups travelling to the country’s west coast, Etosha National Park and the Sossusvlei/ Twyfelfontein areas where they will do site inspections. All three groups will meet up in Swakopmund again as the proposed plan is to host the Adventure Travel World Summit Tourism summit at the coastal town, should Namibia win the bid to host the event.

The team will leave Namibia on Sunday.

Mbako also added that the ATTA President, Shannon Stowell will be in Namibia for a short visit and he will be the guest of honor during the official opening of the Namibia Tourism Expo on the June 6 at the Windhoek Show Grounds.

The tourism sector in Namibia will experience significant spin-offs should the country be chosen to host the summit. The ATWS summit has never taken place on the African continent and if Namibia hosts it, it is bound to position the country as a true leader in the tourism sector on the continent.

The Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), which organises the summit, is a global organisation and home to more than 20 000 businesses, destinations and media that focus on adventure travel.

Adventure travel is one of the fastest growing segments in the industry that represents US$89 billion in annual sales. The annual Adventure Travel World Summit sells out every year to over 700 executive level adventure tourism professionals.

The announcement for the summit host country will be made between June and August.

Author:
WINDHOEK - ELLANIE SMIT

India rejects Nam cheetahs

A MULTI-MILLION project to introduce Namibian cheetahs to India after 60 years of extinction there was halted by the Indian Supreme Court yesterday.

The court hearing was a result of objections filed by the state of Gujarat against the Indian government’s decision to undertake Project Cheetah, armed with a budget of about N$452,4 million, to restore the animal’s lost heritage in that country. The cheetahs were supposed to be reintroduced to the Palpur-Kuno sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh which is in the state of Gujarat.
In 2009 Namibia’s Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) was invited by the Indian authorities to participate in the planned programme, but the Supreme Court with its judgement yesterday killed the project in its tracks.
In the first phase 15 cheetahs would have been imported by the Indian government from Namibia and then supplemented every two to five years as needed. Overall about 45 cheetahs, donated by CCF, would have been reintroduced to India. The court said that the imports from Namibia would not have help conservation in India in any way, therefore, the project was being stayed.
“Why are you bothered about cheetah in Africa? Let us give priority to our own species,” the top court observed while hearing a case relating to the proposed shifting of a few Asiatic Lions to the sanctuary from Gujarat.
The court further stated that proper approvals were not given by the National Board of Wildlife.
“The cheetah reintroduction project is poorly conceived scientifically and has very little probability of establishing a viable population of wild cheetahs in India over the longer term. It therefore is a distraction and waste of scare conservation resources” says wildlife biologist Ullas Karanth of the Wildlife Conservation Society in Bangalore.
In the meantime Environment and Tourism Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah told The Namibian that she is aware that the Indian government was interested in importing cheetahs from Namibia.
However, she said her office did not receive any export application in this regard. “Cheetahs form part of the endangered species in terms of CITES’ classification and I have to give permission for the movements of these animals.”
Executive Director of the CCF Dr Laurie Marker is currently in the US and told The Namibian that she does not want to comment on the issue at this stage.

By: JAN POOLMAN
Derived from The Namibian

Fish River Hike opening postponed

Opening postponed … The Ministry of Environment and Tourism has announced that due to the strong flow of the Fish River, the canyon will not be opened on 1 May, as is usually the case. The new opening date is 15 May, 2012, depending on the level of the water. The canyon is now considered unsafe for hikers and because of the serious safety hazard, visitors will have to wait a bit longer to access one of nature’s great wonders.

Derived from: New Era

Namib dunes in contention for global heritage status

Namibia has submitted the ‘Namib Sand Sea’ for nomination as a World Heritage Site.
If successfully listed as a World Heritage Site, the Namib Sand Sea would be the second in the country, after Twyfelfontein, which was declared as a World Heritage Site in 2007.

The Namibia National Commission for UNESCO has submitted the Namib Sand Sea Nomination Dossier to the World Heritage Centre.

Although the entire Namib Desert, extending over 2, 000 km from South Africa through Namibia to south-western Angola, exemplifies elements of the natural criteria worthy of inscription, their integrity and management are not all as well developed as that of the Namib Sand Sea.

The boundary of the Namib Sand Sea lies within the Namib Naukluft Park, south of the Kuiseb River in central Namibia.
Starting from Sesriem in the centre of the eastern boundary, the envisaged site boundary extends southwards to a point where the boundary of the Naukluft meets the border of farms Kanaan and Kamaland.

It further extends west-southwest to Gibraltar on the coast before following the coastline north to the Sandwich Harbour Ramsar site.
The northern boundary then heads inland to the Kuiseb River, skirting an area earmarked for bulk water production boreholes, from where it bends along the southern bank of the dry Kuiseb riverbed before turning south, encompassing a small extent of gramadullas with incomparable vistas over the sand sea, past the Gaub River tributary to Sesriem.

The identified site is considered to be essentially pristine dune-scapes, entirely encompassed within the Namib Naukluft Park under the management of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.

The southern extremity of the Namib Naukluft Park and the Namib Sand Sea were excluded from the proposed property based on the presence of active Exclusive Prospecting Licences, the fossil aquifer, which supplies water to the town of Lüderitz and the intention to leave some of the area available for potentially destructive adventure dune tourism.

The Namib Sand Sea encompasses vast panoramas of majestic dune-scapes, strikingly crystallised in sharply silhouetted forms continually transformed with wind and time.

The Welwitschia Mirabilis is the next in line, which could be nominated as a World Heritage Site.

The plant can only be found in Namibia and some parts of Angola.

Derived from: New Era

Rising Kavango River closes Lodges

RUNDU - Lodges situated along the Kavango River have temporarily halted business operations due to threatening floods.
Most of the lodges are either surrounded by water, flooding some of the infrastructure, while others are worried that the situation may become uncontrollable.

National water utility NamWater said last week that the water levels have reached 8.07 metres, sparking fears that floods will soon reach some of the town’s accommodation facilities, especially those situated along the river banks.

The Sarasungu and Hakusembe River Lodges have already suspended operations, as roads leading to the lodges are flooded.
Currently all bookings are cancelled and tourists are referred to other accommodation facilities at Rundu.

Meanwhile, other lodges have sought alternatives to lessen the impact of floods on their businesses.
The Operations Manager at the Nkwazi Lodge, Peter Peypers, said they had started filling up the premises with sand since last November.

Peypers explained that all 13 rooms, the dining area and the bar are above the water level and only the camping site is affected.
He further pointed out that although it is a low season for tourists, those visiting the lodge are ferried in by boat.

Derived from: New Era