Travel Guide to Namibia

Namibia: Why go

If you need breathing space and to get in touch with yourself, come to Namibia. Three times the size of Britain, with a population of under a million, the country is one of the most sparsely populated in the world and is blessed with a hauntingly beautiful terrain.

Nowhere can rival the silent majestic dunes of the Namib Desert - except perhaps the monumental dunes of Sossusvlei... it is for its landscape that Namibia is best known. And if it's stunning from below it is even more so from above: trips on light aircraft are among the joys of any visit. Tailormade Safaris specialise in fly-in safaris to the Onguma reserve in Etosha National Park, to Damaraland on the wild Skeleton Coast, to the Namib Rand Nature Reserve and the red dunes of Sossusvlei.

There's wildlife to make the heart boom. In the overwhelmingly beautiful Serra Caferna that borders Angola, game drives lead to sightings of 'small' wildlife: troops of baboons, herds of oryx and springbok, dazzles of zebras, crocodiles in muddy waters and numerous small beasties. In the Etosha National Park springbok, wildebeest, antelope, giraffe will meet you on the road; at the famous waterholes (best in the dry season), lion, leopard and rhino are close enough to be seen without binoculars. And at Etendeka are the only free-ranging rhinos in the world, surviving on land without protected status.

With its low level of corruption, its sound infrastructure and its history of diamond wealth, Namibia is one of the safest African countries: a big plus for solo travellers and families. There's an ever-expanding array of destinations to visit and activities on offer, from dune-boarding and sky-diving at Swakopmund to wreck-spotting on the rugged Skeleton Coast. As for the small Germanic capital Windhoek, it has been described as the nicest city in Africa, "clean, orderly and awash with good beer."