Namibia's Kunene Region - places of interest that make it attractive to tourists

Photo: Hand-crafted Himba dolls and adornments at a street market

Namibia Country & Travel Info

Read about places of interest in Namibia for sightseeing, game viewing and other holiday activities - select a region to see details:

Namibia's 13 Regions - in alphabetical order:

Caprivi - Katima Mulilo, Kwando River, Mudumu, Ngoma

Erongo - Erongo, Omaruru, Skeleton Coast, Swakopmund

Hardap - Kalahari, Maltahöhe, Namib Desert, Sossusvlei

Karas - Fish River Canyon, Kalahari, Keetmanshoop, Lüderitz

Kavango - Bushmanland, Divundu, Kaudom Game Park,

                       Mahango, Okavango River, Popa Falls, Rundu

Khomas - Khomas Highlands, Windhoek

Kunene - Damaraland, Kaokoland, Kunene, Twyfelfontein

Omaheke - Buitepos, Gobabis, Trans-Kalahari-Highway

Ohangwena - Oshikango

Omusati - Ombalantu

Oshana - Ondangwa, Oshakati, Nakambale

Oshikoto - Etosha National Park, Tsumeb

Otjozondjupa - Bushmanland, Otjiwarongo, Waterberg

 Here you'll find essential Namibia Travel Info

Where to stay for overnights in Namibia and at travel destinations around neighbouring countries is listed under Recommended Accommodations. 

Unique Tours & Safaris, Namibia

Contact Heike by Email:
info@unique-tours-safaris.com

Web: www.unique-tours-safaris.com

P. O. Box 1301
Swakopmund/Namibia
Cell:  +264-(0)81-2122580
Tel/Fax: +264-(0)64-406313
NTB-Registration: TFA 00107

Complete safari proposals can be found under

Suggested Itineraries

Namibia - country & travel info - PLACES OF INTEREST

Quick links to info
on places of interest
in other
Namibian Regions:

Caprivi
Erongo / Hardap Karas / Kavango Khomas / Kunene Omaheke / Omusati  Ohangwena
Oshana / Oshikoto Otjozondjupa

Kunene - a region in Namibia's north-west that has two distinctively different parts:

• Damaraland - the southern half of the Kunene Region

• Kaokoland - the northern half of the region

Kunene Region

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Damaraland (southern half of the Kunene Region)

Burnt Mountain
The Karoo lime stone that formed the mountain were deposited around 200 million years ago. About 120 million years ago, the same period when the Organ Pipes were formed, volcanic lava intruded the lime stone and caused metamorphism giving the mountain its distinctive colour.

Damara
The Damara people share the Khoekoe language but not more than that with the Nama. Not only are the Damara taller, sturdier and darker in skin colour, they also have different believes. It is conjectured that their ancestors were “pure” or “true” Black Africans originating from West Africa where they had joined the first Khoekoe into Namibia before any Bantu speaking people had done so. Whether this is true remains unknown until today. Originally, the Damara have been hunter-gatherers like the San but large numbers of them were kept in servitude by the Nama who gave them the name Dama or Daman. The Damara call themselves ≠Nu-khoin (Black People). Part of the Damara population used to be known as Bergdama who had found refuge in mountainsides where their families foraged, hunted and kept a few goats to survive. Under colonial rule, the Damara were given a homeland, Damaraland. This area is no longer reserved for their exclusive occupation, though most of the inhabitants are Damara people farming with cattle and goats. Most of the Damara live outside their former homeland and many of them are found in high office, like the first Prime Minister of Namibia and his immediate successor.

Organ Pipes
The site is called the Organ Pipes because the rock columns found there resemble the pipes of a large church organ. These were thought to have formed about 120 million years ago when the dolerite shrank as it cooled, forming these marvellous angular columns up to 5m high in the process.

Palmwag Concession / Veterinary Fence
The Palmwag Concession is an area of 5,500 km² in north-western Namibia's Kunene Region. This region is home to a variety of rare species of plants and animals, including those adapted to the semi-desert conditions such as elephants, mountain zebra and giraffe. The Concession also supports nearly 70% of the world's largest free-ranging population of black rhinoceros and functions as the crucial core area in the region. The unique fauna and flora within the Concession is a national, regional and global attraction.
Travellers on their way north have to drive through a Veterinary Fence at Palmwag, which, prior to Namibia's independence, used to demarcate the border between privately owned and communal land. The early fences were mainly directed at the control of foot and mouth disease but, as veterinary research progressed in the latter half of the twentieth century, it became apparent that numerous other diseases affecting cattle had to be considered too.

Petrified Forest
The "forest" lies on a small sandstone rise and covers an area of 800m by 300m in the Aba-Huab River valley. The trees occur in sandstone of the Ecca Group, a subdivision of the Karoo Sequence, and are about 260 million years old.

Twyfelfontein
The site was declared a national monument in 1952, but sadly this did not prevent many of the engravings being defaced or stolen, and local Damaras are now employed as guides to protect the rocks and inform the visitors. In 2007 the site was declared a world heritage by the UNESCO.

Vingerklip
Vingerklip, a tall monolithic rock - resembling a finger - that dominates the landscape of the Ugab Terraces between Outjo and Khorixas.

Kunene Region

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Kaokoland
(northern half of the Kunene Region)

Epupa Falls
The Epupa falls o the Kunene River are a series of drops which total some 60 metres over a distance of about 1.5 kilometres.

Fort Sesfontein
A gab in the mountains gives access to the valley basin of Sesfontein (six fountains), where lush green gardens give the landscape its special oasis character.

Sesfontein is situated where Damaraland, the former homeland of the Damara people, becomes Kaokoland, the home area chosen by the Ovahimba when they separated from the core of the Herero tribe.

Khowareb Gorge
The Hoanib River has dug itself a scenic gorge which is up to 500 m deep and about 23 km long. Experienced 4x4 drivers can explore the gorge during the dry season.

Kunene River
It flows from the Angola highlands south to the border with Namibia. It is one of the few perennial rivers in the region.

Ongongo Waterfalls
A few kilometres outside the little settlement of Warmquelle water from a lukewarm spring cascades over a small waterfall into a natural rock basin.

Opuwo
Surrounded by low-lying hills, Opuwo, which means 'the end' in Herero, is a small town in the middle of the bush with the typical characteristics of a far-flung outpost. 

Ovahimba Nomads
The Himba are an ethnic group of about 30,000 people living in northern Namibia, in the Kunene Region (formerly Kaokoland). They are a nomadic, pastoral people, closely related to the Herero, and speak Otjihimba, a dialect of the Herero language.

Peet Albert Koppie, rock engravings
The rock engravings at the Peet Albert's Koppie, close to Kamanjab, are a magical sight.

Ruacana Hydro Power Station
The water of the Ruacana Falls drops almost 134m down vertical shafts into the heart of the mountain, where it drives the turbines before rejoining the Kunene from a discharge tunnel. When in full operation, the three turbines can generate about 240 Megawatts, which is fed into the Namibia Power Grid at 330 000 volts.

Swartbooisdrift
The monument commemorates the settlers who trekked north from South Africa due to strife with the Zulus and subsequent annexation by the British.
 

Continue with
Omaheke Region - Gobabis & Trans-Kalahari-Highway

or read about places of interest in other Namibian Regions by using

the quick links above