With the New Year underway and our resolutions in full swing, we take a look at what highlights Namibia can expect from the 2018.
As always we are hopeful of good rains, and all indications point to an above average rainfall for 2018, which should turn our rugged country into a lush and green oasis for a few months and cheer up every Namibian. As we all know, with the rains come the smiles on the faces of our countrymen - and women. The public holidays in May will certainly offer a fantastic chance to spoil ourselves with a long weekend away, to experience our beautiful country, teeming with animal and plant life after the rainy season. With the help of the Gondwana Collection, everyone can look forward to great adventures and travels in Namibia.
What are Gondwana’s resolutions for the year ahead? Our resolutions are more actions in progress; we will open a new property, the Desert Grace, in 2018. We will also extend our social media platforms. With new websites and an online and printed Newspaper, the Namibia Focus, Gondwana hopes to bring Namibia closer to its followers and the rest of the world.
We will continue with our past ventures, such as the production of videos and other content as well as bringing well known personalities to the country. We are pleased to announce that this year we will host South African artist David Kramer, and show him the magical sights and sounds of Namibia.
There are a number of not-to-be-missed events on the Namibian calendar of 2018. Apart from the regular ones marked on our calendars, such as our very own Oktoberfest (Africa’s largest, by the way and always a raging success), the Crayfish Festival in Lüderitz, the Copper Festival in Tsumeb or the ‘Karnevals’ in numerous towns across the country, we can look forward to musicians and entertainers from inside and outside our borders gracing our stages. Markets and festivals are set to be bigger and better in 2018 after the resounding success in the last years.
2018 will be a jam-packed sporting year. The FIFA World Cup in Russia or the Winter Olympics in South Korea are definite highlights, as well as the Commonwealth Games, the Youth Olympics and the African Nations Championship, where the Brave Warriors will participate for the first time. Another opportunity sports enthusiasts should not miss, is supporting our boys in the under-19 Cricket World Cup. Besides these, there are also the different National leagues and Competitions to keep an eye on.
The Land of the Brave has marked several accomplishments in the last year, and it seems that we are improving on these day by day. Our new national anti-poaching unit has made great strides in the war on poaching with less poaching incidents recorded; we hope this hard work and dedication continues.
Then there is the movement to regain our title of Africa’s cleanest country, and Gondwana and other public and private organisations are working together and looking at ways to achieve this goal.
This year, Namibia will commemorate the 40 year anniversary of the Cassinga Massacre and the 50 year anniversary of Andimba Toivo ya Toivo’s great speech right before his imprisonment on Robben Island. Elsewhere we will commemorate Martin Luther King Jr, as this year marks the 50th year since his assassination.
If we build on the positive foundations laid in 2017, we can make 2018 a year to remember – for all the right reasons. Let us keep the fond memories of 2017, forget about the bad ones and look forward to an epic 2018 and beyond.
What do you wish for Namibia for 2018? Let us know in the comment section below!
Author: Christiaan Jacobie
