FlyWestair November 2019 by Venture Media

FlyWestair November 2019

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The Residents Special is available at all Wolwedans camps and lodges, excludes drinks, sustainability levies and park fees. Please visit our website for terms and

Wolwedans is more than a collection of camps. It’s a collection of dreams. Its ethos lies in setting an example in sustainability and continually fulf illing its commitment to the conservation of the NamibRand Nature Reserve. For bookings contact our reservations department at Tel: 061 – 230 616 or e-mail us at reservations@wolwedans.com.

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Stories in FlyWestair Magazine.

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A membership-based organisation established as a voluntary association to support and promote the interests of environmental NGOs and their work to protect Namibia’s environment, biodiversity and landscapes. The NCE currently has 65 members and associate members, comprising environmental NGOs and individuals running nationally significant environmental projects and programmes.

www.n-c-e.org

Xenia Ivanhoff-Erb

- Fyodor Dostoevsky

Promoting and supporting conservation of the natural environment.

Anchor Sponsor:

Cover image:

Shawn van Eeden

See more on pg. 44

CONSERVATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN NAMIBIA

A R E N A M I B I A’ S C A R N I VO R E S AT R I S K?

MINING AND THE

ENVIRONMENT

H U M A N -W I L D L I F E

CONFLICT

GA INING INSIGHTS INTO GAINING INSIGHTS INTO

2019

Venture Publications (Pty) Ltd. PO Box 21593 Windhoek Namibia info@venture.com.na

Also proudly supported by:

CONSERVATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN NAMIBIA

“But how could you live and have no story to tell?”

2019/20

Vo l 2 8

is for Awesome... and Ads.

NETWORK

THE GREEN ECONOMY A review of Namibian Trade and Industry

A Manufacturing Basket ﬁlled with Opportunities...

NAMIBIA TRADE DIRECTORY 2019/20

Read this issue online!

This is us. extraordinary Namibian stories. publishing. content generation. content marketing. print. film. digital.

CONTENT IS

are compiled by Venture Media’s content team, in partnership with Tribefire Studios and freelance contributors.

THE SECRET LIVES OF WILD ANIMALS

and also

by Tribefire Studios

contents

Table of

CONTENT IS FIRE

And collaboration is the future. FlyWestair Magazine is a compilation of Namibian stories sourced by Venture Media that entertain and surprise with interesting topics, introducing you to a new generation of trendsetters and Namibian influencers.

WELCOME ON BOARD 10

Read more about travelling with FlyWestair – a scheduled passenger service by Namibian-owned Westair, the first private company to achieve this historic milestone.

THE PEOPLE BEHIND FLYWESTAIR

We share the stories of the individuals who are the real force driving the success of the airline, from the pilots to the crew to the maintenance team.

EXPLORE THE CITY MARKETS

Every month with Charene Labuschagne. November features the Bio Market in all its home-grown goodness!

FLYWESTAIR DESTINATIONS

We celebrate FlyWestair destinations and give you some top tips of what to do, see and discover when you fly with us. In this issue: 5 cool things to see from the air.

GINNING WITH STILLHOUSE 12

You’ll be pleasantly surprised by the amount of unique culinary and beverage artisans that can be found in Namibia. The ever-growing gin trend hits our cool Atlantic shores...

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Find out where you need to be this month. Send us your event suggestion to fly@venture.com.na and we will be sure to feature it in upcoming issues. Please note that event suggestions need to be sent two months in advance.

ART-IST

Breaking away from mainstream art mediums is what brought this month’s featured artist and her craft to our pages. Living art on living things - this is the art of tattooing.

ROYAL HUSTLERS

Lazarus Jacobs talks business and creativity in this issue, based on the Royal Hustlers radio show on 99FM.

MASTER YOUR DESTINY 21 4

Recipient of the Namibian Disabled Sportsperson of the Year Award and appointed as an International Global Messenger in 2010, Deon Namiseb is exceptionally able.

THE TRIBE

Top Cheri sits down with #TheTribeFeaturing to talk music, rebranding and finding her way in an industry that isn’t always as glamorous as it seems.

ECONOMIC PULSE

Local economic researchers from IJG discuss Investing against Emotion in the Namibia Trade Network’s Economic Pulse, a monthly series on finance and the economy.

LUX LIVING

Indulge in a new range of luxurious handbags with Amâna - Style that lasts.

FASHION FIERCE

Fashion fundi Rukee Kaankunga puts the Katutura and Windhoek Fashion Weeks in the spotlight in this month’s issue.

LOOKING GLOBAL

Global issues with local impact. Seasoned Namibian journalist Willie Olivier delves into the heated topic of bush encroachment and discovers how this problem has become an economic enterprise.

A PLACE TO CREATE

Remy The Quill entertains us with his take on Windhoek. Engaging, funny and offbeat; his unique writing style and honesty is a breath of fresh air.

6 SANITY-SAVING TIPS TO SURVIVE THE FESTIVE SEASON

Klara motivates tired, uninspired urbanites to take back their personal health. She (mostly) practices what she preaches.

PHOTOGRAPHY FEATURE

Creative is the word of the day as it pertains to this acclaimed Namibian photographer. From landscapes to portraiture, commercial photography and so much more, CreativeLab owner Shawn van Eeden shows us how it’s done.

MS KNOW-IT-ALL

Random facts that will leave you smiling...or just scratching your head.

WELLNESS ON FLYWESTAIR

Kirsty Watermeyer emphasises the dangers of people pleasing and, in turn, the importance of putting yourself first.

FAST FACTS

For a quick lowdown on Namibia, check out FlyWestair’s Fast Facts. Did we miss something? Send an email to fly@venture.com.na.

INSTAFAMOUS Your chance to become Instafamous. Share your pics using the hashtag #flywestair and you could see your image featured here next month.

55 26 5

NEED TO KNOWS www.ﬂywestair.com

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it back and enjoy your flight with FlyWestair. We take it that you have arrived at Eros Airport in time to relish your complimentary coffee at our SkyLounge after checking in. Now you can relax and let yourself be pampered by our friendly staff.

Our journey thus far might not have been turbulence-free, but the Westair Management Team has certainly risen to the challenge since we decided to launch FlyWestair two years ago. Under the Bilateral Air Services Agreement between the governments of South Africa and Namibia each country may designate three airlines per route. To qualify as a designated carrier you have to comply with a lengthy process. Before FlyWestair started the new service from Oranjemund to Cape Town International, South Africa was represented by three designated carriers. Now Namibia can proudly say that we are represented by two. We are proud of our status as the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first privately owned scheduled passenger airline. This means that our airline does not cost the Namibian government a single cent, while stimulating much needed economic growth, fostering job creation and empowering local enterprise. We strive to maintain a reputation as an airline that operates on time, pays its landing fees, parking fees, approach fees, navigational fees, security fees and passenger tax, without fail. Our growth in passenger figures indicates to us that we are doing something right. It was unfortunate that we had to change the frequency of the Eros to Oranjemund to Cape Town route, and we apologise for that. The present capacity

on the ground at both Eros and Oranjemund cannot cope with the increased passenger numbers. Westair is in discussion with Home Affairs to find an amicable solution. You may well ask why we service Oranjemund. The town has been the base for a hugely profitable onshore diamond mining operation run by Namdeb and its predecessors for decades. As with all mining operations there is an end to a mineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lifespan due to extractable resources having been exhausted. There was a possibility that once the diamonds were depleted, Oranjemund could turn into a ghost town. Fortunately, there are powers at work preventing this. Oranjemund is now an open town and visitors no longer need an invitation or police clearance or to be screened upon entering the town. This will give Oranjemund a new lease on life. No better way to achieve this, than by connecting the town directly with Eros Airport and Cape Town. Our Oranjemund inaugural flight landed on Wednesday, 24 July, with dignitaries, the press and travel agents on board. We were warmly welcomed by the Mayor, Henry Coetzee, and Regional Constituency Councillor Lazarus Nangola. During a lunch meeting, Retha van der Schyf, MD of OMDIS (a private agency hired as an economic development accelerator), enlightened our guests about the plans to transform Oranjemund into a town with a diversified economy. For this to happen and to stimulate tourism and private enterprise, Oranjemund needs easy access to the rest of Namibia and South Africa. Westair is proud to be a partner in this transformation. Wolfgang Grellmann - Chairman, Westair Aviation 7

Who is the Real Force behind Westair? In the next few months those who make FlyWestair possible will be introduced to you, one by one. You will meet our pilots, our ground-crew, those who work behind the scenes in finance and operations, in maintenance, as trainees and strategists, deal-makers and groundbreakers. Meet the first of many faces behind Westair.

Wepner Mulder - Flight Operations Manager

Martha Joshua Check-in Management

Career growth offers new opportunities and new challenges. For a pilot it means never stagnating, always seeking to explore new horizons. Wepner Mulder followed the trajectory of prop-planes to ever bigger aircraft until he was piloting jets in Angola and caught the attention of Westair’s management, who at that time was looking for experienced pilots for the Embraer Jet, Tatekulu. The evolution of the company was an attractive proposition and made him settle his family permanently in Namibia. “There’s no place I’d rather be,” he says. Three years on and Wepner’s role has evolved into not only managing aircraft and pilots but also helping train the next generation of jet pilots to support the company’s growth.

“Do your work for the Lord, not for the company, then you will always be diligent.” This is the guiding philosophy of Martha Joshua, who has worked at Westair since 2016, starting out as a student at Signa before becoming the Girl Friday in the office. She now works at FlyWestair’s check-in desk. Working with passengers can be difficult, she says, especially as paying for something raises certain expectations. And yet she enjoys meeting the faces behind the names on the passenger list, meeting the people she has spoken to over the phone. The best part of her work, though, is being part of the company’s growth.

Petrus Barlow Ground Staff

Some elements make success inevitable. The first is a willingness to learn. The second, a type of perfectionism that abhors failure but learns from mistakes. And the last is taking responsibility. At thirteen years old Petrus Barlow needed an income and offered to work in the garden of Gustaf Holz, one of the first partners of Westair. Barlow describes the relationship that ensued as becoming adopted by Gustaf, and it was this serendipitous meeting that led Barlow to Eros, where he trained as a fuel technician for BP, the supplier of avgas to the airport. It’s a dangerous occupation with strict procedures, and Barlow went through numerous courses and training sessions. All the while he was asking questions, curious about the activities around him, about stock-taking and ordering and all the admin that comes with it. When BP left Namibia the company was bought by Westair and renamed Eros Fuel. It was then that Barlow was offered shares in the new company. “It was the feeling, ‘I am alive’,” he remembers. This tangible recognition of his hard work was a turning point in his life.

Deslan Kondja - ERJ Engineer

Fred Ribeiro - Business Development Manager

Sometimes it takes a roundtrip to get to your final destination. Fred Ribeiro made a couple of stops around the world before finally landing at Westair. Born in Luanda, Angola, Fred’s family moved to Namibia when he was twelve and couldn’t speak a word of English. At fourteen he was working in his parents’ guesthouse, assisting with clients and learning about the hospitality industry. He can therefore be forgiven for immersing himself in the industry, first in Britain, then Cape Town and the Middle East before heading home. By then his aptitude for marketing was showing, as was a growing passion for aviation. The family business was no longer an option, and instead Fred began to work towards his Commercial Pilot License at Signa. It was then that he caught the attention of management, who quickly scooped him up and threw him in at the deep end. “Those first three months were a struggle,” he admits, but then it all fell into place quickly. As the Business Development Manager he regularly gets feedback from clients, and loves it. “It’s like a roadmap of what to do.”

Ghana, Burkina Faso, Italy. Just a few of the places where Deslan Kondja has been based. Taking a year off after matric to improve his final marks, Deslan worked parttime at Eros Airport and became an assistant mechanic. He was lucky, he says, because at that time the company he was working for, COMAV, needed to train a black engineer for BEE compliance and funded his studies. Deslan went on to obtain an EASA licence and B1B2 for the 135, working for Air Namibia, picking up skills and being challenged constantly. Later, after his contract with an Italian company ended he came home for a little vacation, which was when he was approached by Westair to become the project leader for the maintenance of Tatekulu, then the company’s first and only Embraer. Deslan had the necessary qualifications. “An airplane is not a one-man job,” he says, ”Maintaining an airplane is the result of a team of people working together.” Working with people is the most important part of his job, he says.

Ondangwa - Toivo ya Toivo

Eros Airport

Oranjemund

W NE

Cape Town

NE W

! now fl yin g to Cape Town FLIGHT SCHEDULE: FROM

DAYS

DEPARTURE

ARRIVAL

Eros Windhoek

Ondangwa - Toivo Ya Toivo

Mon, Wed and Fri

06:30

07:30

Ondangwa - Toivo Ya Toivo

Eros Windhoek

Mon, Wed and Fri

08:00

09:00

Eros Windhoek

Ondangwa - Toivo Ya Toivo

Mon, Wed and Fri

17:45

18:45

Ondangwa - Toivo Ya Toivo

Eros Windhoek

Mon, Wed and Fri

19:15

20:15

Eros Windhoek

Ondangwa - Toivo Ya Toivo

Sun

17:00

18:00

Ondangwa - Toivo Ya Toivo

Eros Windhoek

Sun

18:30

19:30

Eros Windhoek

Oranjemund

Mon, Wed and Fri

09:30

10:40

Oranjemund

Cape Town

Mon, Wed and Fri

11:15

12:30

Cape Town

Oranjemund

Mon, Wed and Fri

14:20

15:30

Oranjemund

Eros Windhoek

Mon, Wed and Fri

16:00

17:10

Eros Windhoek

Oranjemund

Sun

13:00

14:10

Oranjemund

Cape Town

Sun

14:40

15:55

Cape Town

Oranjemund

Sun

16:50

18:00

Oranjemund

Eros Windhoek

Sun

18:30

19:40

Schedule as per date of going to print. Please check the FlyWestair website to stay updated on flight destinations, routes and schedules.

Explore Windhoek’s markets

Focus: Bio Market

aturday mornings should never be dull, and paying a visit to this weekly, authentic German market should do the trick!

The New Apostolic Church across from Wilde Eend Bistro in Klein Windhoek plays host to this organic market. The setup is quaint and humble with stall vendors eager to chat and introduce you to their products. A small café run by the church itself sells yummy brötchen (buns), cake and coffee all morning long and offers seating under big sun umbrellas – that’s if you’re lucky enough to find an open spot.

Budding artists and small-scale entrepreneurs sell all kinds of goodies.

Budding artists and small-scale entrepreneurs sell all kinds of goodies. You can expect handmade jewellery, recycled glass beads, veggie farmers, handmade throws for winter and the stall of Krumhuk,the well-known organic farm, stocks healthy tinned dog food. There are also quite a few food vendors with cheese and olives in addition to salamis and other air-dried cured meats, free range chicken and even freshly squeezed fruit juices. The entire market is quite an early affair – in true German fashion – and it wraps up around lunch time. Health nuts who’d like to support their local farmers will seriously benefit from visiting this market and stocking up on organic goods for the coming week’s menu. The Bio Market is held every Saturday morning from 8h30 to 12h30 at Kenneth David Kaunda street, Windhoek. Charene Labuschagne

Paul van Schalkwyk

FlyWestair Destinations

5 Cool Things To See

FROM THE AIR

Paul van Schalkwyk

n a FlyWestair flight between Windhoek, Ondangwa, Oranjemund and Cape Town you get to see some stunning scenery from up high, ranging from expansive dune fields to famous Table Mountain and heaps of landmarks in between. Naming all the cool things to admire from above could probably fill an entire FlyWestair magazine. Here are five of them just to whet your appetite: A HUGE PAN On your way from Windhoek to Ondangwa that enormously large white thing you fly over just before landing is the Etosha Pan. At 130 km long and up to 50 km wide in places, it is Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest salt pan and can even be seen from space. The pan is also the main feature of Etosha National Park, which is home to 114 mammal and 340 bird species. Ready for a stop-over? DESERT SAND On the Windhoek to Oranjemund route you fly over some desert sand. Well, actually loads of sand. The Namib Desert is the oldest desert in the world and stretches for 1900 km along the Atlantic Coast, from Namibe in Angola all the way down to the Olifants River in the Western Cape in South Africa. The flight will take you over some extraordinary landscapes of black and blue mountains surrounded by red sand and dunes to the west.

AN ISLAND One of the world’s most famous islands, which housed one of the world’s most famous prisoners, comes into view on the descent into Cape Town International Airport. Robben Island is best known as the place where former South African president Nelson Mandela was jailed for 18 of his 27 years as a political prisoner. The island is a South African National Heritage Site as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A RIVER With a total length of 2 200 km the Orange River is the longest river in South Africa. It originates in the Drakensberg Mountains of Lesotho, flows west through South Africa and ends at Alexander Bay in the Atlantic Ocean. Passengers on a FlyWestair flight can see the Orange River mouth which is a Ramsar site (a wetland of international importance). It supports a wide variety of plants and animals and is considered the sixth-richest wetland in southern Africa. Up to 26 000 birds have been counted there at the same time, including 14 rare or endangered species and 57 wetland species found nowhere else in the region. You can always get off at Oranjemund and see for yourself. THE CHOICE IS YOURS Okay, so this one might be cheating a bit but apart from the scheduled flights Westair Aviation also offers a wide range of air charter options across southern Africa. Operating a large fleet of different-sized aircraft that are capable of flying to even the remotest areas in Namibia and further afield, and landing on unimproved airstrips, means that you can get a bird’s eye view en route to any destination. Le Roux van Schalkwyk

FlyWestair now offers flights from Eros Airport to Cape Town International, via Oranjemund. See our flight schedule on pg 9.

F E S T I V E

S E A S O N

Special

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Ginning with

STILLHOUSE

raditionally it has been referred to as an “old ladies’ drink”, but in recent years gin has exploded into the trendiest drink to order at the bar. With the countless craft gin distilleries that have sprung up to capitalise on this ginboom,and therefore also a lot of subpar gins entering the market, it can be quite hard to find the tasty ones. The good news is that you have to look no further than the sleepy coastal town of Swakopmund, the home of Stillhouse Atlantic. Established in 2017, Stillhouse is a boutique distillery owned by Sandy and Pierre le Roux. It all began as a hobby for Sandy who is responsible for distilling these delicious juniper infused spirits. Starting at home with a 20 litre pot still, she experimented with various spirits, but mainly gin. She decided to increase her knowledge of the process by doing a course on gin making in South Africa. This was the catalyst that ignited her passion for distilling and soon afterwards she completed the master distillers course. When she upgraded to a 100 litre still she realised that her hobby was taking up too much space in her house: the seed for starting a small distillery was planted. An opportunity for this dream to become true presented itself soon enough and Sandy decided to leave the world of graphic design and focus on producing spirits.

10 are found locally. While the other botanicals produce the floral and citrus notes, the !Nara has a cucumber and earthy flavour that brings the gin together nicely. With Namibia’s shores known as the coastline where dunes meet the sea, the pairing of the !Nara, growing on the dunes, with sea lettuce is not only symbolic but each of them also adds its own unique characteristics that give Stillhouse Gin its distinct flavour. The Stillhouse Wild, launched recently, is softer in flavour and not as robust as Stillhouse Gin. Its distinct light pink colour is the result of wild hibiscus being one of the ingredients. Pink-coloured gins are usually infused with rose petals and somewhat overdone, whereas the Stillhouse Wild is thankfully unpretentious and offers a much wider flavour profile than those gins. Other ingredients that add to the complexity of this particular Stillhouse include pink pepper, African rosemary and cascara coffee cherries.

...in recent years gin has exploded into the trendiest drink to order at the bar.

The next step was deciding on a name. A stillhouse is an old-fashioned term for a distillery that originated in the United States and it means exactly what it says: a place of distilling. Living at the coast and being a family of surfers and therefore very close to the ocean, Atlantic was added. The distillery’s flagship product is the Stillhouse Gin. When developing this gin the focus was on blending traditional botanicals with Namibian botanicals like the !Nara melon, hand-picked sea lettuce and plants endemic to the world’s oldest desert. Of the 14 botanicals contained in the gin,

The third member of the Stillhouse range is not a gin, but a liqueur and the recent recipient of a gold medal at the Michelangelo International Wine and Spirits Awards. The Umber Coffee Liqueur is a cold brew liqueur, made by infusing the spirit of Stillhouse Atlantic with rich freshly roasted coffee from fellow Swakopmunders, Two Beards Coffee Roasters. The result is a liqueur with earthy, chocolatey flavours complemented by notes of summer fruit. It is an excellent choice for Dom Pedros or even an addition to milkshakes. Stillhouse Atlantic is situated in Unit 5, Kornblum Eastern Concepts, Einstein Street, Swakopmund. To book a tasting or for more information email Sandy at info@stillhouseatlantic.com. Le Roux van Schalkwyk

1 November 2019 Month-end and weekends - name a better duo. I dare you. Despite it being Halloween weekend, we do not foresee many dressing up as pumpkins but rather taking in music and sunshine wherever one can find it. This November we’re living our best socialite life, with not one, but two neighbourhood markets tempting patrons. El Barrio hosts its 6th Neighbourhood Market, with the fitting theme Dia De Los Muertos (Day Of The Dead) on Friday, 1 November from 16h00 till 22h00.

What’s happening. It’s getting hot. Temperature soaring, the sun’s rays relentless and we’re nearing elections - it’s getting hot! Windhoek will no longer be our little haven, soon we’re all going to run off to the beach, escaping for the cool breeze at the coast. So instead of taking the weekend elsewhere, let’s fall back in love with our capital city this November. Let’s enjoy her allure, it sure is a busy month with plenty of choices to keep you entertained.

1 November 2019 On the other side of town, the City Market beckons all to come and enjoy local and international delicacies at the market’s new home, the Windhoek Country Club and Casino. Doors are open from 16h00 till 22h00. Why don’t you try to make an entrance at both events?

2 November 2019 As if this weekend isn’t busy enough and you’re looking to boogie in the sweltering heat, the Jazz Festival, the annual celebration of rhythm, blues and afrofunk is back on Saturday, 2 November 2019 at the Independence Stadium. This year’s headliner is the icon, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, joined by Vusi Nova and our favourite crooner, Sean K. Gates open at 12h00. It doesn’t stop there.

2 November 2019 A little meander out of the city will lead you to the Midgard Taste Festival. Midgard’s pristine country backdrop is the perfect setting for a family fun day, with a taste experience waiting to happen. This one is for foodies, and the lucky fans of Freshly Ground, as the afro-fusion band will be headlining. Don’t worry, Midgard’s Taste Festival starts at 09h30 and wraps up at 23h00 before the night gets too rowdy.

5 & 6 November 2019 Nataniël, the charismatic South African performer, comes back to Windhoek to serve us stories and great outfits galore, this time accompanied in concert with Charl du Plessis. The two-night event will take place at Windhoek Afrikaanse Privaatskool on Tuesday 5 and Wednesday 6 November 2019. Get tickets as soon as you can!

9 November 2019 Not long after and in need of more live music, the quirky and eclectic The Gin Room, will be hosting an intimate performance by one of Namibia’s greats, John Rock Prophet, on Saturday, 9 November 2019. Make your way for a gin or two before he hits the stage at 19h00.

9 November 2019 All the Christmas enthusiasts will be pleased to know that Omeya, the residential and golf estate south of the capital, will be hosting a Christmas Market on Saturday, 9 November 2019 from 09h00 till 15h00. Before you begin to unearth all your decorations, use this opportunity to find some new tree ornaments, stockings or finally mingle with Christmas enthusiasts such as yourself. You go, get that spirit.

23 November 2019 To all the sisters (and sometimes the brothers) who love their kinks and curls, African Naturals Hair & Skin Products is back with another Natural Hair & Beauty Expo! The fro-loving expo brings African aesthetics, art, natural products and delicious food to The Bank Windhoek Theatre School on Saturday, 23 November 2019 from 10h00 till 17h00. Come prepared to slay, the theme is AfroFuturism.

Hentie Burger

29 November - 1 December 2019 We end November by celebrating a true Namibian hero - meat. Yes, October had Oktoberfest, and in our minds November will go down as Kapana month with the 3rd Kapana Festival on Friday, 29th November 2019 at Khomasdal Stadium. Gates open at 12h00 and there will be plenty of meat on offer, but the live performances and crafts are worthy of your attention too. Plus more meat... did we mention meat? It’s all about the meat. What a way to end the month, celebrating Namibia’s love of searing meat on the grill. The festival ends on Sunday, 1 December 2019, gates closing at 23h00.

With so much to choose from, don’t ever say Windhoek is boring! Get out there, take it in, one last hurrah before we turn Windhoek into a ghost town come December. Lavinia Kapewasha

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art-ist The Art of Tattoos

attoos have long been seen as something that only sailors, prisoners, the rebellious types and Pacific Islanders would dare have. Over recent years however, what was once a subculture has become mainstream fashion. According to a 2016 US survey, 29% of the respondents had one or more tattoos; nearly half (47%) of the millennials said that they have been inked. Funnily enough, even though they had a bad rep for a very long time, tattoos are one of the oldest forms of art. And a rather unique one as it came up in different parts of the world roughly the same time but practically in isolation. The oldest tools used for tattooing are about 12 000 years old and the oldest remaining tattoos were found on a mummy discovered in the Ötz valley in the Alps and date back to between the 5th and 4th millennium BC. What really sets tattooing apart from other art forms is that it is applied to the human skin.

artistically inclined and taking art as a subject at school she developed a keen interest in tattoos. After completing an apprenticeship at The Crows Nest in Greenside, Johannesburg, she moved to Windhoek and opened Kissing Cousins Tattoo Parlour.

“I’ve never liked mainstream art, it always seemed so overrated - the fact that everyone was into it. I have always preferred the more alternative styles so it made sense for me to go into tattooing,” Kelly explains. She describes her style as being influenced by the music she listens to, album cover designs and graphic I’ve never liked novels, especially horror fiction. Always mainstream art, looking for something different than what it always seemed everyone else does and likes, playing with different paradoxical combinations that at so overrated first seem to be worlds apart but end up complementing each other. the fact that

everyone was into it.

Kelly Reissner is a young artist who has chosen tattooing not only as an art but also as a profession. Since setting up shop in 2017 she has quickly made a name for herself with her exquisite work and bold designs. Originally from South Africa, Kelly got into tattooing after her plans to study fell through. Having always been

Kelly describes the technique of tattooing as being similar to painting. “You use the same kind of muscle memory, just different techniques. Obviously the canvas being skin makes it a lot different. It’s not a flat surface. It’s moving and it’s alive. Being able to create something on this medium that makes the client happy and that looks good is not only a challenge but also very rewarding,” she says. To see Kelly’s work, follow her on Instagram at @khells_bells Le Roux van Schalkwyk

ROYAL HUSTLERS

Lazarus Jacobs on Business and the Creative Hustle n 2009 Lazarus Jacobs was inducted into the Business Hall of Fame, a platform created specifically to recognise outstanding Namibian entrepreneurs.

his personal assistant, a career highlight that Jacobs regards as a turning point. This was followed by a stint at Namwater.

He was admitted in recognition of his contribution to the economic development of Namibia through his company, Paragon Investment Holdings, and found himself in the company of notable captains of industry.

These appointments changed his path for him, drawing him away from his performance career.

Lazarus Jacobs has built his career in the most diverse fields. He worked as a television and radio presenter, he is a celebrated stand-up comedian with many sold out shows to his name, he is a motivational speaker and, above all, a seasoned entrepreneur.

Together with his business partner Desmond Amunyela he bought shares in an advertising agency and after that, Paragon was born about 16 years ago.

The eighth out of nine children, Jacobs was born and bred in Grootfontein. Schools were still segregated under the Apartheid regime, and because there was no school for black children in his town he was forced to go to school in Swakopmund. “It was a predominantly coloured school but black students were also allowed to enrol. I joined theatre classes at that school, and we started a theatre group which was very successful and won all kinds of competitions. We had a very good drama teacher who basically moulded us and encouraged us to take part in performances,” Jacobs recalls.

From the world of governance he headed into business.

With all that he has achieved during his long career, Jacobs has remained a hustler and creative by nature.

He has done so well for himself that many young people look up to him and aspire to be as successful as he is. However, Jacobs considers success to be a finite concept. “I don’t think that I don’t think that we get to a point where we say ‘okay I’m we get to a point successful’, because to me, success is not where we say ‘okay about how much money you make or how many businesses you’ve created. Success is I’m successful’, about the good person that I can be to my because to me, family, my community and my country. If I can make a contribution on those three levels success is not of life then I’ve been successful,” he says.

about how much money you make or how many businesses you’ve created.

So it was only natural that by the time he finished school, filmmaking was one of his first choices. But this dream was cut short because he could not secure a scholarship. He then opted to work while he looked for a solution to his funding predicament, and became a clerk at the Department of Water Affairs.

Despite having to settle for this job, his dream remained. It wasn’t long before doors started opening for him. “Being a clerk was a very monotonous job but in the evenings I was writing plays. I entered a theatre competition and won third prize and a first prize, but for acting I won best supporting actor. The NBC took note and offered me a job.” Jacobs started off as a continuity script writer, then became a radio producer and later on a television producer. With things just getting better from then on, he was soon approached by the Minister of Finance to become

Jacobs is hopeful for the changes that Namibian youth can bring to the country. “Young people are the biggest asset we have in our country.” he says. “So what do you do, you invest in them. When we talk about our opportunities I don’t think we should necessarily talk about a business deal, a tender or whatever. We need to invest in human resources. Successful countries have been built by investing in their people, and that’s the opportunity. An opportunity we should not waste.” While he has been away from the comedy scene for some time, he is returning with a bang with a follow-up on some of his best moments on Twitter. Titled ‘Sii New’, the show is a satirical roast of Namibian celebrities and influential personalities. This article is based on an interview with Lazarus Jacobs on 99FM. Tune in to The Royal Hustlers on 99 FM every Monday to Friday at 07h35.

THE ENERGY THAT

KEEPS NAMIBIA MOVING

Opening soon in Ongwediva Tel: +264 61 204 5000 | Email: info@namcor.com.na | Website: www.namcor.com.na

eon Namiseb is exceptionally able. He is a recipient of the Namibian Disabled Sportsperson of the Year Award and as an International Global Messenger in 2010 he was selected to represent millions of athletes with intellectual disabilities, raising awareness around the globe of the power of sports.

In 2018 he received a recognition award from Special Olympics Africa. Closer to home, Deon has helped his mother to establish and run the Dolam Children’s Home in Katutura. He continues to challenge perceptions while advocating equality for disabled individuals.

them and myself ready for school. Today I can tell people: Whatever you can do, I can do. MYD: How did you get into the Special Olympics? I went to Dagbreek School. That school really opened my eyes as to where I should go. I am a good soccer player, and in 2007 I was given a chance to participate in the World Games in Beijing, China. It was my first trip out of the country and I was so happy and also a bit scared. We had to play against all the African and European countries. We made it to the final but lost against Iraq. I couldn’t believe it, I still can’t, but I was appointed Man of the Match, and that trophy is standing in my mom’s sitting room, always reminding me of 2007.

Deon Namiseb: Everybody’s able

MYD: It’s quite a journey that has brought you to being an ambassador for Namibia today. Tell us about your childhood. I was born in Namibia, in Katutura, in 1978. I was a normal baby boy, but I got sick. At the hospital the doctors gave me oxygen, which made my brain swell, and then my one side became paralysed. I was also blind. The doctors left me for dead. They said they couldn’t do anything for me. They told my parents that I wouldn’t live and that they should prepare for a memorial. But the God we serve is wonderful. My mom’s sister was a cleaner at the hospital. She rescued me and cared for me as if I were her own son, so I was raised by two parents: my mom and my aunt. My dad was not there. He was nowhere to be found. With time I got my sight back, but my life had changed. When I turned seven years old, my mom said, “Deon, it is time. You should pull up your socks and cope on your own. I won’t be there every day to guide you or to help you with everything.” It was a difficult time. I have two sisters who were very little girls then. I was only seven years old, but I now had to take care of them, too. I started to clean the house, cook for my sisters, get

MYD: Deon, do you believe that if you expect greatness from yourself, you will achieve greatness? I have received so much – the greatness of being a person, the greatness of being loved by a wonderful mom. I now want to be the person who people with intellectual disabilities bring their problems to, and want to help solve them. MYD: Deon, what is your message for anybody struggling to find inspiration? I would say that God made you for a reason. You have something unique in yourself that no one else has, so bring that uniqueness out. I know there is a shining star in everyone’s heart. Let the wall not stand in front of you. Break down that wall, be the person you want to be and tell the world, “this is my time.”

Deon’s story is part of a series celebrating Namibians in partnership with Master Your Destiny. Read more in the MYD Journal at: www.issuu.com/99fm/docs/99fm_myd_ book_2018

THE TRIBE

Photo credit: Nawzone

A Moment With Top Cheri

ormerly known as Monica Moroki, Top Cheri has brilliantly transformed her brand over the past few years. She went from being a writer, a journalist and even a social media star with thousands of fans following the witty and often scandalous fictional stories she’d post online, to becoming a famous Namibian singer.

Touching on what the Namibian entertainment industry is like behind the scenes, Top Cheri reveals that it’s not always as rosy as it seems.

Top Cheri sat down with #TheTribeFeaturing to talk music, rebranding and finding her way in an industry that isn’t always as glamorous as it seems.

She also points out how difficult it is to get into projects with certain producers and musicians. “When you want to do a project, they first ask you who’s going to be there, who is involved.

Called different names by different people, be it Top Cheri, Monica Morocky or Monica Pineas is one of the most recognised women in Namibia right now. Born and raised in Walvis Bay, Top Cheri finished her schooling at the coastal town and moved to Windhoek after grade 12. “When I came here I met people, the right people. I started managing Mushe, we worked hard but we had to end it there, I had to move on. My life in Windhoek is like a movie. I still sit back and I’m like... what?,” she says, recalling her first few years in the city of lights.

“I think there’s a serious virus in the industry. I don’t know where it’s coming from, I don’t know who’s the mother of it but for some reason everybody wants to be Beyonce,” she says.

I think there’s a serious virus in the industry. I don’t know where it’s coming from, I don’t know who’s the mother of it but for some reason everybody wants to be Beyonce.”

These experiences inspired her to get into writing, and in no time she wrote her first book titled Modern Relationships. The book, written in 2012, centres around the dynamics of modern relationships. “Relationships are not like they used to be back then. These days, there are too many people involved,” she says. She penned a second book, Love, Sex and Flight Tickets in 2017, which she describes as an “adult” version of her first book.

On possible future collaborations that she’s eyeing, Top Cheri has an equally talented African songstress, Yemi Alade, in mind. Her message for young women who dream of breaking into the music industry is simple: take it slow. “Don’t let anybody tell you to do it now, a lot of people mess up things because they are rushing into it. You need to make sure that it is perfect for you, for your ear, for your eye, for whatever it is you are doing.”

Top Cheri has laboured hard and long and her efforts have begun to reap rewards. She has received countless award nominations and in September walked away with the ‘Best Newcomer’ and ‘Best Album’ awards at the Namibian Annual Music Awards. Watch The Tribe on One Africa TV (GoTV 90, DStv 284, DStv Now, TV2Africa.com) every Friday at 21h30 and repeat shows on Wednesdays at 07h00 and on Saturdays at 17h30. Alternatively, listen to The Tribe on 99 FM every Friday at 19h00, and follow The Tribe on Instagram @thetribenamibia and on Facebook @TheTribeNamibia.

Investing Against

Emotion

eason is probably one of the biggest distinctions between humans and animals. It has given us the ability to learn from different circumstances and to adapt over time. These lessons sit deep in our subconscious minds and instinct / emotions /intuition allows us to react quickly without having to reason ourselves out of every situation, especially if time is of the essence. We are also creatures that like to operate as part of a group and therefore tend to look for guidance from the majority of the herd. This all makes sense and is part of what has allowed humans to evolve and survive over time. However, intuition (even though not necessarily inferior to reason) is the “lazy” part of our brain and sometimes this lazy thinking can cause us to take suboptimal decisions driven by emotions or irrational herd behaviour.

good memories and easily forget the difficult times of the past. It is striking how rational we tend to be when it involves comparing prices in a shopping mall and how irrational we can be when it comes to comparing prices of investments. This often leads to emotional behavior that causes people to think that when things are going up (perceived safety), it will continue to go up and when things are tough it is all doom and gloom and prices will fall indefinitely (perceived danger). The result is that we buy high and sell low, exactly the opposite of what reason would suggest. Making an investment into a good asset when the price is low is probably the safest time to invest.

The herding behaviour drags our emotions up and down the roller coaster of economic cycles with the result that we are often overoptimistic when things go well and overpessimistic when times are trying. It is as though we suffer from Alzheimer’s as we mostly remember the

Volatility(things moving up and down) and probably best described through stock markets, tend to fuel irrational behaviour. Markets reward investors who are willing to take on more volatility through higher potential returns. What we have learned is that we can dissect clients’

At IJG we realise that we are human beings subject to the same pitfalls. We therefore make use of a risk management framework that helps us to stay more rational through cycles:

Economic Pulse

...herding behaviour drags our emotions up and down the roller coaster of economic cycles...

over different geographies. If an unforeseen event takes place, you haven’t lost the farm. (2) Paying more for something than what it is worth is often a stumbling block for most, as the emotions described above, can cause people to pay more for something than what it is worth when things are great and selling something for less than what it is worth when times are tough – irrational behavior. The property market in Namibia is a great example of this principle. People were swept up in the hype of the property bubble (over valuation), and when the economic cycle turned, pessimism caused prices to fall along with the increases in vacancy rates leading to forced sales and ultimately permanent partial losses of capital. Even if people overpaying were to wait for the cycle to turn, they most probably will still be making partial permanent losses of capital due to time value of money (inflation and opportunity cost).

overall dreams into more tangible objectives. Once we have done this, we can match time horizons of those objectives with the time horizons required by different investment solutions and therefore optimise our ability to take advantage of the return rewards of volatility. Permanent loss of capital is probably the most important risk that one needs to consider. We believe that the probability of making a permanent loss of capital increases in the following 2 instances: (1) No adequate diversification is a concept that most of us are familiar with through phrases like “don’t put all of your eggs in one basket”. This doesn’t mean that one needs to have 10 different funds or wealth managers or even need exposure to different asset classes (investment solutions). Rather, the identified objective’s associated time horizon will guide you to choose the applicable investment solutions needed and within those solutions one should diversify. For example, if you have more than 7 years as your time horizon, equities could be a great asset class to consider, but it could be wise to have for example 30 stocks diversified

If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that the world is full of binary outcomes that we could never accurately predict on average. Constructing a portfolio around binary outcomes will result in you chasing your tail and paying brokers unnecessary trading fees. How easy was it to predict that Trump would be president of the biggest economy in the world, or that Ramaphosa would become president of South Africa? These things are often not that important to predict. What is important is that you understand what you want to achieve (broken down into tangible objectives) and decide what investment solutions will match your objective’s time horizon. Thereafter, you can sit through volatility and protect the permanent loss of capital as you compound over your investment horizon by being adequately diversified and always paying the right price. By René Olivier, CFA (MD, IJG Wealth Management) René Olivier(CFA) is the Managing Director of Wealth Management at IJG, an established Namibian financial services market leader. IJG believes in tailoring their services to a client’s personal and business needs. For more information, visit www.ijg.net.

To sign up for the Economic Pulse newsletter, send an email to: daleen@venture.com.na www.namibiatradedirectory.com

NETWORK

CONTINUING TO CREATE A POSITIVE LEGACY IN NAMIBIA TODAY AND TOMORROW.

Throughout Namibiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rich diamond history, Namdeb has played a significant role since 1994 in contributing to the socio economic development of the country. Every facet of our diamond mining process is aimed at creating value to make lasting contributions safely sustainably and responsibly. GOOD TODAY. BETTER TOMORROW.

Photo Credits: Tara Mette

Lux Living

Amâna: W

e live in a world where consumerism has driven the earth over its tipping point. Unless we drastically change the way in which we consume and what we buy, global warming will drastically affect our lives for the worst. Fashion, changing with every new season, is one of the factors that contribute to the degradation of the earth and its resources. Some brands are even known to burn tonnes of unsold garments when trends change. One of the ways in which to combat this tendency is ‘slow’ fashion. Slow fashion basically means buying better quality garments that will last longer and to value fair treatment of people, animals and, importantly, the planet. One young Namibian designer aims to make her contribution to the slow fashion movement by introducing the art of buying less through a range of quality leather handbags. Elzane Ludeke recently launched her brand Amâna. “I didn’t want to start a brand that only models can wear or look good in,” she explains. The name of her brand, Amâna, is a Damara word that means truthful an excellent fit for a company that aims to create a truthful product that anyone can wear and look good in. According to Elzane, a good quality leather handbag will last years with the correct care and attention. “I started my handbag label with the idea that one really needs only one handbag. One functional, practical

Style That Lasts

eight-to-late handbag which suits every occasion and outfit.” Having fallen in love with leather, and especially the production of leather accessories, as a fashion design student, it made sense for her when she started her own line that it would be based on leather. As a designer she knows that she cannot change mass tanning processes and manufacturing outputs that go hand in hand with leather production. But by using leather she can create a strong, long-lasting product that is a lot more sustainable than items made of imitation materials. Amâna targets modern professional women. Each bag is intended to be the perfect companion whether you are constantly on the go or whether you are the more casual laid-back type of person. The handbags are designed to be comfortable and practical yet at the same time stylish with a minimalist design that will stay in fashion regardless of changing fashion trends. Currently Amâna offers four bags, each named after and inspired by a strong independent female role model in Elzane Ludeke’s life. The Maggie is named after her mother and Jeanne, Alexandra and Carla are friends. Visit www.amana.design for Amâna’s online shop. Le Roux van Schalkwyk

34 Hildegard Titus

Hildegard Titus

Photo Credits: Katutura Fashion Week, Jonathan Solomons, Walter Kariko.

Spoilt For Choice With Namibiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2019 Fashion Frenzy

f there’s anything the last couple of years have proven, it’s how much Namibians love their fashion. To keep up with that growing appreciation and demand for local fashion, more and more fashion events are becoming regular features on events calendars, bringing with them not only style and flair but most importantly a sense of pride and ownership of our fashion talent . Here’s a brief look at the two biggest fashion events of the year, Katutura Fashion Week, which took place in September and the annual Windhoek Fashion Week in November. WELCOMING KATUTURA FASHION WEEK

Fashion Week (WFS) representative Kalistu Mukoroli says that this time around, a host of new talented designers are lined up alongside some of the biggest names in fashion, including Namibia’s Ingo Shanyenge and South African designers David Tlale and House of St Luke. What’s particularly different about this year’s WFW is that there will be an increase in accessories designers and a wig designer from Zambia will also be headed for the event. “Many designers received invitations to other fashion weeks after showcasing at Windhoek Fashion Week,” says Mukoroli about the opportunities that have opened up for participating designers after the event over the years.

One of the biggest highlights of 2019 for any Namibian fashion enthusiast is no doubt Katutura Fashion Week (KFW). This spectacular showcase of inclusive fashion was hosted in the heart of Katutura. proving that The site of the runway shows was the historical fashion need Katutura Community Art Centre (KCAC) which served as a hostel for contract workers not discriminate during the Apartheid regime. Models of all ages, body types and sizes took to the catwalk, as well as a number of models with disabilities - proving that fashion need not discriminate and should instead unite and foster acceptance and tolerance.

and should instead unite and foster acceptance and tolerance

Established solely to recognise and award those who have been underrepresented in Namibian fashion, KFW wrapped up in style with a glamorous award ceremony at the National Independence Memorial Museum Restaurant. Jati Indongo from the Public Relations team adds that the event also aims to promote fashion designers from all 14 regions and catapult them into the market. “The end goal of KFW is to have fashion designers from around the continent wanting to come and showcase their skills in the land of the brave,” she says. A BIGGER AND BETTER WINDHOEK FASHION WEEK In an exclusive interview with FlyWestair Magazine, Windhoek

WFW directly provides employment to an estimated 150 people since its inception in 2016. Leading up to WFW, designers have been given retail space this year at Maerua Mall to sell their garments at Pop Up shops.

Workshops, runway shows and industry parties will keep fashion enthusiasts busy during the one-week event. The industry workshops in particular have been a hit in the past, and have served as skills exchange and networking platforms which foster collaborations between local creatives. Last year a workshop featuring Zambian PR firm PR Media resulted in Namibian designer Melisa Poulton receiving an invitation to showcase her work in Lusaka. Encouraging Namibians to support the event in order for it to reap greater rewards for the country, Mukoroli says, “Namibians should look at fashion as another industry contributing to the economy with employment and skills focus. Take the opportunity to learn about the fashion industry at large and not only look at it as being a glitz and glam affair.” Rukee Kaakunga is a Windhoek-based Concept Engineer, PR Consultant and fashion writer. Contact her via Twitter @rukeeveni or Instagram @rukeekaakunga.

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our company manages SIMs in M2M, IoT and mobility devices, but this comes with some pain and unplanned costs. To deploy SIMs at a faster pace with better management and monitoring is becoming more and more important for todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s technology-rich companies. Whether you are in security, logistics, banking, vending or agriculture the need for better management of GSM SIM cards is clear. More traditional industries are starting to deploy data-connected devices to assist in monitoring and running their operations. The two important aspects when it comes to SIM management is to control your risk as well as cost, while making sure devices are always online and in good health. As a technology executive, the sourcing, provisioning, installing and testing of data SIM cards for your mobility devices can be a challenge. It often seems like the simplest piece of the overall solution puzzle, but donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be fooled. Just like with any other aspect of technology, as soon as something is done at scale, it presents new challenges. Many large device deployments are very painful and time-consuming due to inadequate SIM management tools. Some of the most common issues encountered time and again are mobile data bill surprises, technical

issues relating to SIM provisioning, SIM theft and abuse and not being able to see exactly how SIMs are behaving day-to-day. When it comes to deploying large numbers of device SIMs, often into remote locations, the risks start to multiply fast. This is where you need a proven online business tool to reduce your risks and ensure quick and easy deployment. The SIMcontrol service helps companies to easily monitor and manage large numbers of deployed SIMs in a quick, easy and cost-effective way. Various SIM management issues can be understood, anticipated or prevented by using the platform. Having real-time control and management capability over deployed SIMs becomes a critical success driver for both technical reliability and cost management. SIMcontrol works with major mobile networks in Namibia. The SIMcontrol service is offered on standard (existing) network SIMs, putting you in control of your SIM base. As IoT technology improves, so will the need to ensure device connectivity is properly managed. To find out more about SIMcontrol, visit www.simcontrol. com.na, e-mail sales@simcontrol.com.na or call +264 81 124 0156 / 081 127 8659.

Virtual Reality - the future of pilot training

light simulators have been used to train pilots for more than 80 years. There have been many breakthroughs in aviation technology during that time. Now Virtual Reality (VR) is to usher in a whole new era of professional pilot training, with far-reaching safety enhancements for the aviation industry. In the last decade virtual reality has gone from the stuff of fantasy to a mainstay of the video gaming industry. More than 230 companies were developing VR-related products by 2016, including big-name brands like Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Sony and Samsung. Current VR technology uses headsets or multi-projected environments that simulate a user’s physical presence in a virtual environment. But the device that’s advancing VR pilot training most significantly is known as a haptic system, also called “force feedback” in civilian and military training applications. It has the ability to transmit vibrations and other sensations to the user. Advancements in the virtual world have seen the US Air Force using the technology as part of their training systems. This technology is also being used as a supplement to Motion simulator training at Signa Aviation Services. In our continuous drive to enhance aviation safety we have invested in the future of aviation training by bringing these advances to the sub-saharan aviation market. Recently we have been using the Oculus Rift platform with great success in the field of advanced jet training. So the next time you fly on a FlyWestair aircraft, you can rest assured in the knowledge that your pilots have been trained by state of the art technology to an industry-leading standard by Signa Aviation Services. The Future is Virtual, and it’s here! Petrus Weinrebe

Bush Encroachment:

FROM CHALLENGE TO OPPORTUNITIES

Dirk Heinrich

What was until fairly recently considered a scourge by commercial and communal farmers in Namibia has found a use for a range of value-added products with an estimated net value of N$8 billion over 25 years â&#x20AC;&#x201C; encroacher bush.

ush encroachment can be defined as the excessive invasion and/or thickening of undesired woody species at the expense of other species, especially grasses. Swarthaak (Senegalia mellifera), also known as Black Thorn, is the most common encroacher species, but at least eight other invasive species have been identified in Namibia.

Encroacher bush has invaded more than 30 million ha of the country’s rangelands – or close to 30% of Namibia’s total land surface – in ten of the 14 regions. Although there are several factors responsible for this, overgrazing as a result of overstocking livestock has been identified as one of the main causes. Other factors include the increase in carbon dioxide levels which favours the growth of bush over grasses, the displacement of browsing game species and the introduction of domestic livestock which are grazers, as well as periodic droughts and changing rainfall patterns as a result of climate change. The negative impacts of bush encroachment are, amongst others, the reduction of grass cover and the availability of food for grazers, reduced groundwater recharge and soil moisture content and a reduction in biodiversity. Research has shown that the carrying capacity of encroached land is 17 ha per head of cattle, but improves to 10 hectares per head of cattle four years after bush thinning.

CHARCOAL EXPORT

Otjiwarongo, began producing the “Bushblok” in 2004 by harvesting encroacher bush in order to open up rangelands for cheetahs which require open savannas. The fuel log is made from chipped wood which is compacted with a press and offers an environmentally friendly alternative to wood and coal fires. It not only has a much longer burning time than wood (up to one-and-a-half hours), but produces very hot temperatures, is smokeless and leaves surprisingly little ash.

FOSSIL FUEL ALTERNATIVE Some manufacturers have already reduced the use of fossil fuels by incorporating biomass fuels. Wood chips and pellets are increasingly being used as an alternative to fossil fuels which must be imported and have a high carbon footprint. The four industrial combustion chambers of the Ohorongo Cement Factory, north of Otavi, are fired with wood chips made from encroacher bush instead of diesel and the factory plans to eventually generate 80% of its energy requirements from this source. The biomass boiler of Namibia Breweries in Windhoek became operational in mid-2016. The boiler, the largest in the country, uses wood chips instead of heavy furnace oil and generates 80% of the breweries’ heat demand.

Encroacher bush has invaded almost 30% of Namibia’s rangelands

Namibia’s charcoal industry has been converting biomass to a value-added product for over 30 years, but with the utilisation of encroacher bush as its feedstock the industry has boomed over the past decade. The country now ranks as the largest exporter of charcoal in the world and volumes are projected to reach 200,000 tonnes by 2020. Extensive research in recent years has shown that there are numerous other economic opportunities and valueadded products that could be derived from the bush encroachment scourge. These products range from compressed firewood, wood chips and pellets and animal feeds to thermal power generation and the generation of electricity, as well as a number of other products. The good news is that only a fraction of this almost inexhaustible biomass, estimated at between 200 and 300 million tonnes, is currently being utilised.

BUSHBLOKS FROM WOOD CHIPS Compressed firewood, made by finely grinding and compacting wood chips, is one such product. Known under different names internationally, the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), located northeast of

BOSKOS AND BIOFUEL

Necessity is the mother of invention and when Namibia was gripped by the worst drought in almost a century following the poor rainy season of 2018/2019, the production of animal feed from encroacher bush gained traction. The chipped raw material is mixed with different additives such as molasses, providing a vital source of feed during droughts. Biofuel, renewable energy from encroacher bush, has enjoyed considerable attention in the past few years. NamPower, Namibia’s electricity utility, plans to build a 40 MW biofuel plant near Tsumeb at a cost of N$1.9 billion. The plant, which is scheduled to become operational in 2022, will require over 200,000 tonnes of biomass a year, or 5 million tonnes over its 25-year lifespan. What was once seen as a challenge has been turned into numerous opportunities that will not only restore degraded agricultural land to productive rangeland, but will also increase the soil moisture content and groundwater recharge, as well as the biodiversity of more than a third of the country’s land surface. It also creates jobs, reduces the importation of fossil fuels and electricity as well as the carbon footprint. Namibian freelance journalist and travel writer: Willie Olivier

Cruise

Ocean

N$12,949 per pers on 4 nights’ cruise

on the MSC Orchestra

Itinerary: Durban (South Africa), Pomene (Mozambique), Durban (South Africa) Departing from: Durban 16 - 20 March 2020 Duration: 4 Nights Package inclusions: Flights from Windhoek to Durban on Air Namibia, Airport and Cruise Transfers, 1 Night pre-cruise Accommodation in Durban, cruise fares, port and service charges, cruise insurance 4 Night cruise on the MSC Orchestra in a Balcony Suite for 2 adults

paulina@trip.com.na www.trip.com.na +264 61 285 5700 /TripTravelNamibia

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A Place To Create

Namibia as an artistic place

f the many fascinating things that Windhoek is, it is not New York. It is not London. It certainly is not Paris. You can be sure it is not Rio De Janeiro, Buenos Aires, or Tokyo. Windhoek is in no way like any of the big places in the world. New York is touted as the greatest city on Earth. “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere,” we are told by rappers and business tycoons. Paris is the city of love and baguettes and haute cuisine - that is what films and cookbooks say. Rio has the carnival, Christ the Redeemer and Copacabana Beach. Tokyo is a tech mecca, a place of traffic and trains, Harajuku, anime and cherry blossoms.

the big cities made. When it was my turn to express myself through my craft, it was the big cities I channeled and attempted to imitate. I failed dismally. Whenever I tried to write a corporate espionage thriller I failed because I did not know the nuance of a New York minute. I did not know the smell of the air in Lisbon on a cold day. I had never felt the breeze blowing off the Spanish coast. I knew the white cliffs of Dover, but I did not know what it felt like to be part of their history. All I knew was Windhoek’s extreme temperature and its languid pace of life. I thought those were the poorest mediums for artistic creation.

I have learnt about these big cities in travel documentaries. I was wrong. Terribly wrong. I have read about them in literature and seen them in films, or heard about them sung in songs. They hold particular What the city lacked in terms of noise, clutter, speed and places in popular culture and creative size, it more than made up for with solitude imagination. They have T-shirts dedicated to and space for independent and reflective What the city them, monuments that straddle postcards, creation. It freed me from the distractions and nicknames every child in the world knows Cape Town or the hustle of Johannesburg. lacked in terms of about before they finish the seventh grade. It was, dare I say it, like being in a writer’s of noise, clutter, residency, with peace and quiet from which to Windhoek is… speed and size, mine my own artistic vision. For the true artist, the creation of art lies not in the pursuit of it more than …it is… existing art spaces, but to create them from nothing, to push on into foreign frontiers to made up for Yeah, Windhoek is a blank slate. A flat explore the self and the community. with solitude heartbeat line - it is terminal. While all the big places in the world are and space for Whatever Windhoek is, it is none of these big saturated with creators and dreamers and independent places. It cannot be. Because those places doers, Windhoek is fresh ground. It is still and those spaces are already taken. Lagos is finding its own identity, and the chance to be and reflective the only Lagos. Only Johannesburg can be a part of it, is a different kind of thrill. creation. Johannesburg in the special way that it is - that big, gritty city in neighbouring South Windhoek is far from the madding crowd. Africa. Windhoek’s character is quite different, it is shaped by its particular geography (arid for the most part, It is artistic terra nullius. which gives it vast, bleak and beautiful landscapes); its history of struggle and liberation (which makes the people fiercely Windhoek is… a place to create. independent); its unique outlook on the future (hopeful and quietly optimistic); and its own way of doing things (slow and Rémy Ngamije is a Rwandan-born Namibian novelist, relaxed - this is non-negotiable). columnist, essayist, short-story writer and photographer. He also writes for brainwavez.org, a writing collective based in As an aspiring writer and photographer, the majority of my South Africa. He is the editor-in-chief of Doek!, Namibia’s youth was spent consuming art from the metropolises of first literary magazine. the world. The impressive big cities formed my perceptions of what was good writing, transcendental music, arresting His debut novel The Eternal Audience Of One is available photography, and dance that could be a universal language. from Blackbird Books and Amazon. I thought a street could not be called a street if it did not have a long row of brownstones on it or that fields had to His short stories have appeared in Litro Magazine, AFREADA, be the quintessential English pastoral landscape. I thought The Johannesburg Review of Books, The Amistad, The Kalahari I could not write unless I had spent a day smoking and Review, American Chordata, Doek!, and Azure. More of his drinking coffee in a Viennese café. Art, for me, was what writing can be read on his website: remythequill.com

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The drive isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t too long from Windhoek, only about two-and-a-half hours on the B1 south through Rehoboth. Or via the mountains on the C26 gravel road for about the same amount of time but with less traffic and more views. Take half the day off on Friday and be there before sunset. The campsites at NamibGrens are tucked at the foot of massive bouldered koppies that shield them from the sun for most of the day. Scramble up the ancient slope the next morning to watch the sunrise from the top. No flashing lights, no honking cars, neon signs, blinking notifications or devices screaming for your attention. Pink skies unfurl over the landscape that seems to go on forever to the soundtrack of birdsong, scented with fresh air. Breakfast is a simple affair. All the campsites have concrete prep areas and fire pits with builtin seating. Not to mention intriguing ablutions between the burnt amber rocks where only the geckos can see you. Nights are spent by the campfire under a clear night sky dotted with brilliant stars. The heat of the day gets shaken off with dips in the splash pools around the camping area, which become the designated meeting point after hikes, walks and bicycle rides in the surroundings. The villas dotted along the horizon are the popular glamping options. Fully furnished, complete kitchens, deep bathtubs and bedroom views of the surroundings. The same indulgence in nature, with a little less effort and a little more luxury. A weekend spent camping or renting a villa, being immersed in nature at NamibGrens, will leave you refreshed, recharged and ready to take on the last few weeks of 2019.

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SANITY-SAVING TIPS

he December holidays are all fun and games until somebody gains 4 kg, develops a new family grudge, and starts the year off bloated and annoyed... I’m not a fan of holiday rules and restrictions - obsession only draws us closer to the thing(s) we’re attempting to resist. But here are my 6 non-negotiables in an otherwise no-rules time of freedom, abundance and second servings: 1. Step away once a day. Disengage from the festive hurricane every so often to touch base with your inner stillness for just one stolen moment a day. Above the noise and all the usual business your body and brain can’t tell you what they need. So find a quiet place and just breathe alone for a while.

TO SURVIVE THE FESTIVE SEASON

by a qualified hungry Nutritionist.

have a green smoothie in the morning, even if it is followed by a latte and croissants. I’m serious!

4. Embrace the lack of routine, don’t fight it.Surrender to this vacation and release your inner easy-goer. Run with the experiment of not being in control of your days. Pick it up again in Jan, but until then go where the breeze blows. 5. Acknowledge your feelings. Ever heard of toxic positivity?Avoidance can feel comfortable on the surface but it’s ultimately not the solution to a lighter life. It’s only when we acknowledge all parts of ourselves that we start to feel rested and free. Denial and perfectionism are exhausting and there is no place for them at the holiday table.

- obsession only draws us closer to the thing(s) we’re attempting to resist.

2. Remember it’s your body’s time off, too. Your mind might want a million indulgences / distractions / adventures / parties but don’t forget your body also deserves a rest after this mad year. What can you give it? A drink-free day every other day, a massive bowl of freshly-made organic vegetable soup, more water, more raw veggies, an epsom salt soak, a nap after breakfast?

3. Burn your forbidden foods list. Eat anything. Food freedom, ironically, often leads to better food choices. Aim to stick to 2-4 cups of vegetables a day (especially leafy dark green veggies) regardless of whatever else you’re eating. Even if this means you’re ordering a plate of fries with a big salad to share. That’s #balance. Or

6. Drink your preand probiotics and eat delicious fermented foods. Kombucha, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi and more! Beat the bloat with gut-friendly foods. Support digestion and boost your immune resilience. Let the good bugs have their festive feast, too. Your body will thank you in the New Year!

Klara Mudge is a Nutritionist and Health Coach who works in Windhoek and Cape Town with corporates and individuals to optimise wellbeing and boost productivity. She writes for a number of leading health and wellness publications and speaks a lot about the physical effects of psychological stress. Her gift is to distill the principles of optimal health down to their most fundamental basics, ones that are accessible and easy for us all to follow. Find Klara on her offbeat Instagram feed (@bothsidesbuttered) where she shares straight-forward, evidence-based nutrition and lifestyle advice.

TODAYon

CREATIVITY

through a lens

hawn van Eeden is an international award-winning photographer based in Namibia who specialises in lifestyle and commercial photography.

Shawn started his career as a designer. After moving to the UK he worked in London for agencies both small and large until he ended up at Leo Burnett. After 12 years in London he decided to return to Namibia. He joined a local agency and a few years later finally turned his passion for photography into his profession. Never one to miss out on a challenge, he is always looking for new and exciting photographic opportunities. In his time off he loves nothing more than travelling around Namibia to capture the amazing landscapes, armed with only coffee and a tripod under his arm.

Namibia is such a harsh yet at the same time stunningly beautiful place Being a photographer makes you more observant. You start to look at places, people and objects in a different way to try and create dramatic images. Namibia is such a harsh yet at the same time stunningly beautiful place and it is exciting to be there as a photographer.

Facebook Instagram Twitter Website

@creativeLABNamibia creativelab_namibia @CreativeLAB10 www.creativelab.com.na

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Standard Bank Sky Lounge at Eros Airport

ituated in the heart of the Namibian capital Windhoek, Eros Airport is to many Namibians a modern meeting place. It is a place where tourists, politicians, bankers, lawyers, miners, families and aviation enthusiasts come together. All having a common need or interest in aviation or to just travel by air. Eros Airport does not carry its relevance in terms of its share of global air passenger volumes; it does however carry enormous relevance in Namibia for Namibia. On a daily basis scheduled passenger flights operate out of Eros Airport linking the Namibian capital with Ondangwa, Rundu, Katima Mulilo, Walvis Bay and Oranjemund. Passengers are Namibian icons, role players, movers and shakers with some returning home to North for the weekend, whilst others may return from their latest development project at the coast. Eros Airport is also the corporate airport of choice for most business and corporate aircraft entering and leaving Namibia. Business jets from around the world carrying high net worth individuals, corporate executives and politicians descend into Eros as the most convenient corporate airport in Namibia.

The Standard Bank Sky Lounge is the first and only available passenger leisure and VIP lounge facility at Eros Airport. Having identified a need for luxury facilities aimed at the executive end of the Namibian domestic and international passengers; Standard Bank Sky Lounge is positioned to service all local and international VIP passengers moving through Eros Airport. The Lounge is situated on the top floor of the terminal building with views out onto the flight line and mountains surrounding Windhoek. Services inside the lounge includes free wifi, bar service, coffee supplied by Deluxe Coffeeworks and a wide variety of food and entertainment options.

Offering to passengers and lounge visitors a comfortable and relaxed airport experience with comfortable seating and facilities. Passengers are greeted at the check in counter. Ushered to the lounge and when it is time for their departure; taken by a Sky Lounge representative through security screening to the aircraft. Aimed at offering a hassle and stress free travel experience.

For further information or bookings you can reach us at: Standard Bank Sky Lounge and Cafe - Eros Airport 081 124 1575/081 291 4362 annagret@theskylounge.net/ jamie@theskylounge.net

Ms Know-It-All

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FlyWestair October 2019

British bowler hats made for men.

olivian women are famous for wearing bowler hats with their stunning traditional dress. How did this come to be? How did an object as arcane as the black hat come to be so widely taken up in a country halfway across the world? The answer is actually quite simple. A couple of years ago, chickens made headlines in South Africa. Not just any chickens. South American chickens. Local chicken producers were fuming over the fact that South American producers were “dumping” their cheaper (and, they said, lower quality) frozen poultry products in the South African market, forcing local producers between a rock and a hard place. At the time, I was astounded that this was going on. That a surplus of product in one country could be “dumped” on another country that actually doesn’t need it, thank you very much, potentially rocking an entire sector of the economy. And then I learnt about the history of bowler hats in Bolivia (and a few other South American countries). Basically what happened was that a company in England that manufactured hats sent a consignment of bowler hats over to South America for the British railway workers there. But when the guys got their headgear, it was found to be way too small. (How a hat company could get this wrong, I don’t know. Did they think railway workers somehow have smaller head circumferences?) So the hats were stuck in South America, unsold. Aha! Now here comes a great idea! Why not convince the locals to buy them? And that’s what they did.

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Lucky for them, the hats were enthusiastically taken up by the women and now it seems that the hats are so much a part of Bolivian culture, one could easily assume it’s always been there. But it was all down to one sly sales person who managed to push a product onto a new market.

READ ONLINE

As to why it seems to be only the women wearing the hats, that I can’t tell you. Next time you’re in South America, ask them for me, won’t you?

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Help yourself

ou will have heard on this flight that in an emergency situation, before trying to help anyone else, you need to first put on your own oxygen mask. This is a principle of airplane safety and of our emotional lives. If we try to help others without helping ourselves first, nobody might get oxygen. Which is why we’ll be taking a moment now to contemplate people pleasing, also known as fawning.

You’ve heard about fight, flight and freeze? But do you know about fawning? If we feel threatened, our bodies immediately respond with the underlying goal of minimising, ending or avoiding danger. We do this by either springing into fight, flight, freeze or fawn mode. This happens because our nervous system is feeling overwhelmed or threatened and wants to get back to a state of calm. It’s an unconscious defence mechanism in reaction to feeling unsafe and overwhelmed. To fawn is to people-please. It’s a technique we unconsciously use to feel more secure by earning the approval of others, and it is driven by fear.

At a basic level, people pleasing is having difficulty establishing healthy personal boundaries, it’s also the excessive relinquishing of personal power, driven by fear and a desire for validation. While we Awareness of may have been conditioned to consider what others think about us, it’s not healthy and often what’s really leads to us being taken advantage of. We are not responsible for how other people feel, nor do we have the power to make someone else happy. In truth, we can’t reach our true potential if we are trying to be all things to all people.

happening is your first step to freedom from people pleasing.

Armed with this knowledge we realise that at some point we didn’t feel safe to be our authentic selves and therefore adopted this defence mechanism. The question now is: is it working for you? If your catchphrase is ‘it’s no trouble at all’, yet inside you’re panicking about how you’re going to get it all done, maybe it’s time to get real about people pleasing. The alternative is not being selfish, it’s about being a responsible human being.

Studies have confirmed that people pleasing has a negative affect on our health, and that it is slightly more prevalent in women. Some studies showed how people pleasing manifested itself as overeating, as it can drive us to ignore our own needs including the needs of our own bodies. Other studies showed a pattern between people pleasing and unhealthy or even abusive relationships.

Awareness of what’s really happening is your first step to freedom from people pleasing. From here, tiny action steps are required. You have to recognise that trauma responses aren’t changed overnight, and sometimes we need professional help. Have patience with, and compassion for, yourself. Start today, stand up for yourself and your needs. Before you know it, your small steps will have added up to big change.

While we might be cognitively aware of how people pleasing may be dangerous to our wellbeing, it’s a really hard behavioural pattern to change, and that is because it’s not a behaviour.

Kirsty is a Yoga and Meditation Coach, a Transformation Facilitator and Writer. Contact her at kirsty@seednamibia.com

Kirsty Watermeyer

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Passion bolsters Sustainable Tourism at African Monarch Lodges

hat happens when you combine a passion for conservation and people, a hard-working team with big ideas and one of the most beautiful locations in Namibia?

African Monarch Lodges, home to Nambwa Tented Lodge and Kazile Island Lodge inside Bwabwata National Park in Namibia’s Zambezi Region, is the cumulative product of the passion and dedication that its founders, Dusty and Tinolla, have put into its formation. The lodges are part and parcel of their environment – the most crucial element of their success. African Monarch Lodges recently also launched The Sijwa Project. This inspiring initiative aims to create a closed system in which the local community is included in the process of protecting their environment. With its broad vision of empowering the local community by creating jobs, skill-sharing, preserving traditional knowledge and conservation of the environment, Sijwa is an ambitious project to say the least. This bold initiative will be multi-faceted and eventually self-sufficient. So what exactly is the Sijwa Project? It’s the repurposing and reinventing of all recyclable waste from Nambwa Tented Lodge, Kazile Island Lodge and from the local community into arts and crafts. Another part is an organic permaculture nursery to supply food for local people and lodge guests (reducing the air and road mileage that lodge food usually travels). It will also incorporate a cultural village, an artisanal skills training centre, a beehive project, a free-range egg producing scheme and a junior ranger training venue. Plus, it’s an indigenous tree nursery for visitors to buy and plant a tree to offset their carbon footprint. Lodge guests will be offered a visit to The Sijwa Project to experience local culture, interact with community members as they go about creating beautiful recycled objects, buy gifts, plant a tree and show support for this community-driven initiative. Read more about The Sijwa Project at www.africanmonarchlodges.com or read about a recent visit to the project by former Miss Universe Michelle McLean on www.travelnewsnamibia.com.

CAPITAL: Windhoek

INDEPENDENCE: 21 March 1990

CURRENT PRESIDENT: Hage Geingob

Secular state

Multiparty parliament Democratic Division of power between constitution executive, freedom of religion legislature and

90%

Christian

judiciary

Freedom of the press/media

MAIN SECTORS:

BIGGEST EMPLOYER:

46%

Agriculture

MINING:

FASTEST-GROWING SECTOR: Tourism Diamonds, uranium, copper, lead, zinc, magnesium, cadmium, arsenic, pyrites, silver, gold, lithium minerals, dimension stones (granite, marble, blue sodalite) and many semiprecious stones

MONEY MATTERS

17%

NATURE RESERVES:

of surface area

HIGHEST MOUNTAIN: Brandberg OTHER PROMINENT MOUNTAINS: Spitzkoppe, Moltkeblick, Gamsberg PERENNIAL RIVERS: Orange, Kunene, Okavango, Zambezi and Kwando/Linyanti/Chobe

EPHEMERAL RIVERS:

Numerous, including Fish, Kuiseb, Swakop and Ugab

CURRENCY:

The Namibia Dollar (N$) is fixed to and on par with the SA Rand. The South African Rand is also legal tender. Foreign currency, international Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Diners Club credit cards are accepted.

TAX AND CUSTOMS

All goods and services are priced to include value-added 15% tax of 15%. Visitors may reclaim VAT.

ENQUIRIES: Ministry of Finance

Tel (+264 61) 23 0773 in Windhoek

TRANSPORT

Public transport is NOT available to all tourist destinations in Namibia. There are bus services from Windhoek to Swakopmund as well as Cape Town/Johannesburg/Vic Falls. Namibia’s main railway line runs from the South African border, connecting Windhoek to Swakopmund in the west and Tsumeb in the north. There is an extensive network of international and regional flights from Windhoek and domestic charters to all destinations.

5,450 km tarred

LIVING FOSSIL PLANT:

BIG GAME:

Elephant, lion, rhino, buffalo, cheetah, leopard, giraffe antelope species mammal species (14 endemic)

reptile species frog species bird species

ENDEMIC BIRDS including Herero Chat, Rockrunner, Damara Tern, Monteiro’s Hornbill and Dune Lark

DRINKING WATER Most tap water is purified and safe to drink. Visitors should exercise caution in rural areas.

37,000 km gravel

HARBOURS:

Walvis Bay, Lüderitz

MAIN AIRPORTS: Hosea

airstrips Kutako International Airport,

Eros Airport

RAIL NETWORK: 2,382 km

narrow gauge

TELECOMMUNICATIONS: Direct-dialling facilities to

100 inhabitants

Welwitschia mirabilis

20 240 250 50 676

ROADS:

lines per

200 ENDEMIC 14 vegetation zones plant species 120 100+ species species of lichen of trees

INFRASTRUCTURE

6.2 telephone

FLORA

ECONOMY Mining, fishing, tourism and agriculture

ENVIRONMENT

PHYSICAL

824,268 km²

FAUNA

GENERAL

SURFACE AREA:

ON NAMIBIA

MOBILE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM: GSM agreements with

221 countries

117 countries / 255 networks

INFRASTRUCTURE

SOCIAL

FAST FACTS

13,650 people 4 medical doctor per

privately run hospitals in Windhoek with intensive-care units

Medical practitioners (world standard) 24-hour medical emergency services

POPULATION

2.5 million 400 000 inhabitants in Windhoek (15% of total)

ADULT LITERACY RATE:

85%

DENSITY: 2.2 per km²

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE:

English

14 regions 13 ethnic cultures 16 languages and dialects POPULATION GROWTH RATE:

2.6%

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS:

over 1,700 schools, various vocational and tertiary institutions

TIME ZONES GMT + 2 hours

ELECTRICITY 220 volts AC, 50hz, with outlets for round three-pin type plugs

www.travelnewsnamibia.com

FOREIGN REPRESENTATION More than 50 countries have Namibian consular or embassy representation in Windhoek.

INSTAFAMOUS

We love photos from and in the sky. And we love our passengers. So we’re celebrating you, our guests on FlyWestair flights. Smile. Strike a pose. Snap that pic. Upload to social media. Any social media. Tag #flywestair. Become Instafamous in our next issue or win a free return flight! 1.

LEFT TO RIGHT We love @sunnykemma’s selfie with the flight crew in the Sky Lounge before departure 2. The Mother City from above… What an amazing capture by @salmonoosthuizen.

3. Looking fly (pun intended) @tilda_uutsi. Keep that selfie game strong! 4. Fabio’s first flight! Thanks for sharing this special moment @_sh_lene

Photographer @martinamushendje is all smiles on board. He took the cover photo for our first issue of FlyWestair magazine!

6. @lerouxvs - that proud moment when Tatekulu, our Embraer, touched down in Cape Town for the very first time.

Win with #flywestair! Take a photo on your flight with FlyWestair and post it to social media - tag us or use the hashtag #flywestair and you could win a free return flight on one of our routes. T&Cs apply.

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NAKARA SHOP WINDHOEK Gustav Voigts Centre Independence Avenue 131 Tel/Fax 061 224 209 Email: info@nakara.na NAKARA SWAKOPMUND The Arcade, Tel/Fax: +264 64 405 907 NAKARA FACTORY WINDHOEK 3 Solingen Str. Northern Industrial Tel +264 61 429 100

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FlyWestair November 2019

Articles inside

Passion bolsters Sustainable Tourism at African Monarch Lodges

MS KNOW-IT-ALL

FLYWESTAIR DESTINATIONS

WELCOME ON BOARD

PHOTOGRAPHY FEATURE

6 SANITY-SAVING TIPS TO SURVIVE THE FESTIVE SEASON by a qualified hungry Nutritionist.

REST, RESET AND REJUVENATE at NamibGrens

A PLACE TO CREATE

LOOKING GLOBAL

Virtual Reality - the future of pilot training

DEVICE CONNECTIVITY SOLVED

FASHION FIERCE

LUX LIVING

THE TRIBE

MASTER YOUR DESTINY

ROYAL HUSTLERS

ART-IST

What's happening

Ginning with Stillhouse

Explore the City Markets

Who is the Real Force behind Westair?

Investing Against Emotion - Economic Pulse

Help Yourself - Wellness on FlyWestair