Meet the "TEAM" & explore our home country, Namibia.

Annemarie

Sybrand

Dina

Ramon

Ramon, our son, has always helped us with projects. He was really worth his weight in gold threading the beads when we made the purses. Here we are standing when he won a medal as "man of the match" in a football game. He curretly has his own web page called Embroiders Eye.

Goliath

"Goliath" is a miniature Daschund with an identity crisis. He is the only member of the team that can sleep on the job and is appreciated for it. Here he keeps Annemarie company while she creates yet another collection.

Namibia is a country of rugged scenery that at one time was home only to nomadic San Bushmen.  Time and nature have created extreme and diverse landscapes of stark beauty in this part of southwest Africa. 

Inland from the desolate Atlantic coast are sights that include the incredible dunes of the Namib Desert and the vast salt pan and surrounding bush of the wildlife-rich Etosha National Park.

Etosha means 'place of dry water'.  The vast white pan with its shimmering mirages contrasts with the surrounding grassland and woodland.  Water holes in these surrounding areas are vital to a wide variety of animals including elephants and many of Namibia's rhinos. Etosha National Park in Namibia is one of the most important game reserves in Africa.  Etosha is centered on a 100 kilometer long clay and salt pan that was created when a vast lake dried up many thousands of years ago.

The vast Namib Desert in western Namibia is regarded as one of the oldest and driest deserts in Earth.  It includes a sand sea reputed to contain the most picturesque dunes in the world.  The highest dunes are set around an ephemeral clay pan at Sossusvlei. 

Over time, the Namib dunes have been sculpted by the wind into bizarre and complex shapes.  This apparently barren and arid landscape is home to a complex ecosystem supported by precious moisture gleaned from fogs that roll in from the Atlantic.

Tens of thousands of Cape fur seals live in noisy, squabbling crowds along the rocky shore of Cape Cross.  The seals take advantage of rich concentrations of fish in the cold Benguela current that sweeps this stretch of the Atlantic Ocean.

Cheetahs in Namibia are under severe pressure from the human population and are sometimes shot by ranchers.  A number of projects aim to capture threatened cheetahs and relocate them or house them in reserves.  These photos were taken at the Otjiwarongo Lodge reserve.

The strange-looking kokerboom, or quiver tree, is a giant species of aloe plant that can grow to 8 meters high.  San Bushmen traditionally used the tough bark and branches to make quivers for their arrows.  Offer store water in their fibrous trunk and succulent leaves and are able to grow in dry, rocky areas.

The San Bushmen are believed to have been the first human inhabitants of the Kalahari desert area of southern Africa.   Traditionally, the Bushmen were nomadic hunters and food-gatherers who traveled in groups of several families following the water and game.

The Bushmen were progressively displaced by other Africans and then by white settlers.  They have now lost most of their traditional rights to land and resources.  Many are impoverished, live in settlements and are reduced to menial labor.  Local and international pressure groups are pressing for ancestral land and the right of self-determination to be returned to them.

We would like to invite you to visit www.culturefocus.com/ namibia.htm because in our search for beautiful photo's of our country, this site was simply unbeatable.

All copyright of the photo's belong to Steve Underwood, photographer and proprietor of http://www.culturefocus.com/index.htm

Why not drop us a note if you liked the page and the info.