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| Country Guide > Africa > Namibia |
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General Information
Area 824,292 sq km (318,261 sq miles). Population 1,826,854 (2001). Population Density 2.2 per sq km. Capital Windhoek. Population: 216,000 (UN estimate 2001). Geography Namibia is in southwest Africa. It is a large and mainly arid country sharing borders with Angola to the north, Botswana to the east, South Africa to the south and, in the Caprivi Strip, a narrow panhandle of Namibian territory jutting from the northeast corner of the country, with Zambia and Zimbabwe. To the west is 1280km (795 miles) of some of the most desolate and lonely coastline in the world. The port of Walvis Bay, situated roughly halfway down Namibia’s coast, was returned by South Africa to Namibian jurisdiction in February 1994. Along its entire length, the vast shifting sand dunes of the Namib Desert spread inland for 80 to 130km (50 to 80 miles). In the interior, the escarpment of a north–south plateau slopes away to the east and north into the vast interior sand basin of the Kalahari. In the far northwest, the 66,000 sq km (25,500 sq miles) of the Kaokoland mountains run along the coast, while further inland lies the Etosha Pan (a dried-out saline lake), surrounded by grasslands and bush which support a large and varied wildlife. The Etosha National Park & Game Reserve is one of the finest in Africa, in that it remains, to a large extent, free of human influence. Government Republic. Gained independence from South Africa in 1990. Head of State: President Hifikepunye Pohamba since 2005. Head of Government: Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab since 2002. Language English is the official language. Afrikaans is spoken by most people. German, Herero, Kavango, Nama and Ovambo (51 per cent) are also spoken. Religion Christian majority (90 per cent). Time GMT + 2 (GMT + 1 from April to August). Electricity 220 volts AC, 50hz. Outlets are of the three-pin type. Communications Telephone IDD is available. Country code: 264. Outgoing international code: 00. Mobile telephone GSM 900/1800 network in use. The main network provider is MTC (website: www.mtc.com.na). Fax Most hotels have facilities. Internet ISPs include IML (website: www.iml.com.na) and NCS. There are Internet cafes in Walvis Bay and Windhoek Post Good postal service. Airmail to Europe takes approximately four days to two weeks. Press Newspapers are printed Monday to Friday. English-language dailies include The Namibian and The Windhoek Advertiser; weeklies include the Windhoek Observer. New Era is printed twice weekly. Radio BBC World Service (website: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice) and Voice of America (website: www.voa.gov) can be received. From time to time the frequencies change and the most up-to-date can be found online. |
