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Tuesday, July 30, 2024

10th June 2023: Swakopmund, Namibia

Swakopmund is a city on the coast of western Namibia. The city is situated at the edge of the Namib Desert and is the fourth largest population centre in Namibia. Swakopmund is a popular beach resort and characterized by 19th century German colonial architecture. The city was founded in 1892 as the main harbour for German South West Africa.



Thank You very much Marcel!

8th June 2023: Twyfelfontein, Namibia

Twyfelfontein, officially known as ǀUi-ǁAis, is a site of ancient rock engravings in the Kunene Region of north-western Namibia. It consists of a spring in a valley flanked by the slopes of a sandstone table mountain that receives very little rainfall and has a wide range of diurnal temperatures. The site has been inhabited for 6,000 years, first by hunter-gatherers and later by Khoikhoi herders. Both ethnic groups used it as a place of worship and a site to conduct shamanist rituals. In the process of these rituals at least 2,500 items of rock carvings have been created, as well as a few rock paintings. Displaying one of the largest concentrations of rock petroglyphs in Africa. Twyfelfontein or /Ui-//aes is since 2007 on the UNESCO World Heritage List. 



Thank You very much Marcel!

8th June 2023: Namib Sand Sea, Namibia (my first postcard!)

Namibia is a country in Southern Africa bordering on Angola, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa. It is the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa and one of the most sparsely populated countries in the World. In 1884 the German Empire established rule over most of the territory forming a colony known as German South West Africa. Between 1904 and 1908 German troops waged a punitive campaign against the Herero and Nama which escalated into the first genocide of the 20th century. In 1920 after the end of World War I and the German rule, the League of Nations mandated administration of the colony to South Africa. Namibia gained independence from South Africa in 1990 and is nowadays a member state of the United Nations, the African Union and the Commonwealth of Nations. Windhoek is the country's capital and largest city.

Namib Sand Sea is the only coastal desert in the World that includes extensive dune fields influenced by fog. It features gravel plains, coastal flats, rocky hills, inselbergs within the sand sea, a coastal lagoon and ephemeral rivers resulting in a landscape of exceptional beauty. Fog is the primary source of water in the site accounting for a unique environment in which  endemic invertebrates, reptiles and mammals adapt to an ever-changing variety of microhabitats and ecological niches. Namib Sand Sea is since 2013 on the UNESCO World Heritage List.




Thank You very much Marcel!

My Trip to the IBRA International Stamp Fair in Essen

On 28th May 2023 I went to Essen to attend the IBRA International Stamp Fair. It was a truely great event for stamp collectors and different international stamp dealers and postal administrations were present. I bought some wonderful additions, old and new, for my collections.