Tourism

The Uis Information Centre is a project aimed at tourists visiting the environs of Uis, in the Erongo Region in the northwest of Namibia. The Uis Information Centre gives advice about the area and in particular about the Brandberg Mountain, the Daureb Mountain Guides and the guided walks offered to the San/Bushmen paintings, including the famous White Lady. 

The project was initiated by the Uis Community Conservation Trust in partnership with private sector tourism ventures. Funding for the Centre was provided by the European Union.

Auas Tourists Information Centre
 
Aus, located 120km east of Lüderitz, is nestled in a valley at the top of an escarpment overlooking the Namib Desert in southern Namibia. It is at the northern most point of the succulent Karoo biome, and because of its altitude as well as winter and summer rainfall, has a high degree of succulent endemism.

With assistance provided by Ministry of Environment and Tourism, the European Union and the Namibia Nature Foundation, the Aus Community Conservation Trust developed a tourist information centre at the entrance to town. The centre, which will be officially opened for business in March 2006, includes a restaurant, kiosk, and gift shop, as well as office space for Aus Community Conservation Trust (ACCT).   The centre provides information on the Aus-Lüderitz area and is a registered Namibian Tourism Board booking agent.

 
Through the centre the Trust aims to attract more visitors into the town, as well as generate a stable income source for implementing conservation activities, as well as initiatives that will improve the town and provide jobs to local people.

Polytechnic Hotel School

Namibia’s first Hotel School at the Polytechnic of Namibia was development with financial assistance from the Namibia Tourism Development Programme.  The programme, which began in August 1998, was funded by the European Union and hosted by the MET’s Directorate of Tourism.

The need for a proper training Hotel School was identified in the 1992 White Paper on Tourism. The vision was that this training facility would supply industry with fully trained graduates who would be the future hotel staff and managers of Namibia. The subsequent 1996 White Paper and Draft Tourism Policies in line with the National Development Plan also reinforced this view especially as tourism in Namibia is the third largest generator of GDP and currently supplies over 26 000 jobs to Namibians. The industry is seen as a major force in creating jobs which is one of the key objectives of national policy. Consequently the training of tourism and hotel staff to international standards is a priority.

The Hotel School was developed to facilitate training and skills development to meet the increased demand for tourism related skills within the industry as a whole.  The programmed focused on developing the skills of previously disadvantaged Namibians.

 Grootberg Mountain Lodge

Grootberg Lodge is a landmark in Namibia for the tourism industry as it is the first middle-market establishment in the country that is 100% owned by the conservancy. This is the #Khoadi //Hôas Conservancy area, some 90 kilometers from Kamanjab on the C40, 15 kilometers from the Palmwag turnoff to Sesfontein and the north. 

The #Khoadi //Hôas Conservancy was the first beneficiary of the MET/8th EU Development Fund, receiving a grant of N$4.5 million grant to build the lodge. 

Opened in June 2005, the Grootberg Lodge not only to offers a professional service, great surroundings, extremely good food, well-trained guides and exceptionally good local management but it also benefits the local community thanks to the revenues generated by the Lodge.

While sustainability of the Conservancy is a primary objective which the Lodge would contribute towards, there are additional benefits such as increasing direct job opportunities in a poorly developed area; supporting marginal people with projects such as building schools, clinics, creating a community kitchen for the elderly and vulnerable groups and award bursaries to promising pupils with the proceeds of the lodge.

Another important aim of the Lodge is to reduce the animal/human conflict in this community so that the locals will be more tolerant of the lions, cheetahs and elephants and give them a value from a tourism perspective.

The success of the lodge is critical to demonstrate the value of the land-use options the conservancy is promoting. The exclusive development area needs to show the value in setting aside "core" areas for tourism and biodiversity conservation.

The Grootberg Lodge offers guided walks, elephant and rhino tracking, a trip to a Himba village, scenic drives down the Klip River and horseback rides and safaris.  

Uukwaluudhi Royal Homestead

The Uukwaluudhi Royal Homestead in Tsandi is one of the tourism projects developed under the North Central Community Based Natural Resouces Management and Enterprise Development project with financial assistance from the Namibia Tourism Development Programme of the European Union. 

The former home of King Josia Shikongo Taapopi, the homestead is a large complex consisting of a traditional homestead and modern house where the Uukwaluudhi King resides.

This African-style palace, surrounded by traditional mopane pole fencing, offers visitors a unique culture experience incorporating the customs, beliefs and accommodation style of the Oshiwambo-speaking people.   

Twyfelfontein World Heritage Site

One of the largest known accumulations of rock engravings in Africa occurs on the rocky slopes of
Twyfelfontein some 100km southwest of Khorixas. Twyfelfonten or Ui-ais, as it was originally called, is the largest known rock engraving site in Namibia.

The 2 000-plus rock engravings represent one of Africa’s largest and most important rock-art concentrations. They are estimated to be 6 000 years old. In June 2007 this striking artwork in its natural red-rock gallery was awarded World Heritage Status at a meeting of the World Heritage Committee in Christchurch, New Zealand.

It is believed by many that the creators of the rock art were the medicine people or shamans, who incised their engravings as a means of entering the supernatural world and recording the shaman’s experience among the spirits. The rock engraving itself could prepare the shaman for a state of trance by the repetitive chipping and concentration of energy. Etched into the rock are thus stories within stories, eternalised in rock as our legacy of the past.

A Visitors Centre at Twyfelfontein was built and designed to blend into the red sandstone of the environment. The building contains no cement and uses predominantly recycled and local materials.  The whole center can be easily dismantled leaving no impression on the landscape. The Centre contains display detailing the local fauna and fauna, the meaning of the engravings and the history of the site.

A series of stone pathways has been laid (to reduce erosion) that lead to viewing platforms where visitors gain an excellent view of the major engravings.