Masks are used to disguise, confuse, protect, characterize, and give status. They are simple to elaborate and made from all range of materials from common items to precious jewels.

They appear worldwide on young and old faces.

Masks are used in all aspects of arts related susch as:

1. Drama
2. Film
3. Dance or
4. As an Exhibit of Art

I am particularly interested in Venetian style masks as I visited a lot of stores and conversed with the vendor and artists during my trip to Venice.

The Venician Mask

Another Venician Mask

Masks are worn for many reasons

• Religious and social significance concerned with funeral customs, fertility rites or curing sickness.
• Ritual masks generally depict gods, mythological beings, good and evil spirits, spirits of ancestors and the dead, and animal spirits.
• The wearer is protected against these powers or may be able to petition more effectively.
• If a person puts on a mask representing an animal or evil spirits he can become that being he is imitating.

I am also interested on the different Asian Masks like the following:

Karura, bugaku mask, lacquer and painted wood

African-Asian Herbs

The Sri Lanka Asian Mask

Blue Mask of China

Windhoek
Located at the heart of the country, this Germanic town of origin is crossed roads and railway lines. Perched to 1 660 meters, it enjoys a pleasant climate mountain, dryness and pure, and its 160 000 inhabitants are the reflection of the ethnic diversity of Namibia.

Windhoek, Namibia

Windhoek Namibia Etosha Park

Statue, Windhoek, Namibia

The National park of Etosha
This park offers one of the most beautiful tables of wildlife to the world. It extends on more than 20 000 km2 and shelters 114 species of mammals, 340 varieties of birds, 16 species of reptiles and Amphibians and innumerable varieties of insects. The visible species vary according to the seasons: gnous blue, kudos, giraffes, zebras, hyenas, dashes of the Cape…

Etosha National Park. Namibia

Etosha National Park

The Kaokoveld
In the North-West of the country, this wild area is perhaps that which incarnates more Namibia of the origins. This vast territory of desert mountains, populated indigenous territories, is crossed only by not tarred tracks.

DIOPTASE, Kaokoveld, Namibia

Kaokoveld, Namibia

Lodge in Kaokoveld, Namibia

Lodge in Kaokoveld, Namibia

The national park of Fish River
The extreme south of Namibia, located in an angle formed by the most moved back areas of South Africa, offers to him also arid and afflicted landscapes. The surprise is thus total when sudden extraordinary Fish River Canyon appears, which digs an enormous fault in the desert. A wonder.

National Park and the Fish River

Fish River Canyon Fish River Canyon

Fish River National Park

Between Kalahari and the South Atlantic, Namibia is a “ground promised” with the quasi unlimited potential

Excursions in the bush, coasts tormented, great lunar spaces, desert of Namib, cave paintings, strange fauna and flora… In which other country in the world could you contemplate flamingos flying over the desert? Strong of a spectacular natural inheritance, Namibia shelters an impressive cultural mosaic: Hereros, Khoi-Khoi, San, Kavango, Ovambos, Afrikaners, Germans, Asiatiques… cohabit on its territory.

• When to leave?

Namibia profits from three hundred days a minimal annual sunning. In winter, during the dry season (from May to October), more favourable with discovered fauna, wait you at clear days, hot and shone upon and at nights (very) cold. There are two rainy seasons: “small rains” (from October at December) and the great rainy season (from January to April), which is characterized by short downpours and storms which purify the atmosphere and sweep dust.

In January, the temperatures can climb until 40°C with Windhoek, the capital; from December to March, the heat which falls down on the parks of Namib-Naukluft and Etosha is hard to bear. If you flee crowd, avoid the periods covering mid-April in mid-May and mid-July in mid-September, corresponding to the school holidays in Namibia and in the close countries.

• Which budget?

With a favorable rate of exchange, Namibia remains a relatively cheap destination. If you camp or place in the inns of youth, if you make your own meal and you move in the local minibus, count a minimum of 15 euros per day. This type of budget will restrict your possibilities of touring unfortunately.

A budget of average category (cheap hotels, public transport, a meal per day at the restaurant) will range between 45 and 80 euros. In the higher category (top-of-the-range hotels, restaurants, circuits organized in 4 X 4…), count a minimum of 280 euros per day and anybody.

• Which activities?

The excursion is authorized in bush in certain national parks not sheltering dangerous animals; others propose excursions framed by rangers. The majority of the safaris are devoted to discovered fauna; you will on the spot find a great diversity of circuits at accessible prices. Rafts and canoes will make you discover extraordinary landscapes: the Orange river runs through desert zones all along the border with South Africa, and to kill the Kunene savage, who traces the border between Namibia and Angola, will give the opportunity to you to cross differently inaccessible territories.

Namibia desert, Southern Africa

Namibia desert Southern Africa

Lanz – Desert Dunes Namibia

Namibia Map