Naturally Namibia #getnatural competition

Text Sanet van Zijl

Mid-October 2015 saw the launch of a photography competition held in partnership between Travel News Namibia and Naturally Namibia. Two seven-night stays at a Naturally Namibia lodge was up for grabs.

The #getnatural competition ran for 4 months and ended officially on the 12th of February 2016. The response by the public greatly surpassed our expectations and ensured that this competition was a success.

We received nearly 500 entries from Namibia and abroad. There were 6 categories to enter photos into, they were “get adventurous”, “get beautiful”, “get creative”, “get cultural”, “get moving” and “get wild”. Participants could enter via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and email.

Each week a top entry was chosen in each category. At the end of the four months an album was uploaded on Facebook with photos of the top entries and the public could then vote by “liking” their favourite photo. A first and a second place was awarded to the photos with the most likes.

The first prize is a 7 night stay at a Naturally Namibia premier destination and the winner can choose from the following establishments: The premier suite at the Olive Exclusive in Windhoek, The Mushara Collection Villa at Etosha, a villa or suite at Okonjima or Little Ongava at Etosha.

The second prize winner also walks away with a great prize. A 7 night stay as well at any of Naturally Namibia’s other establishments. This includes Etendeka Mountain Camp, Erongo Wilderness Lodge and Villa Margherita.

Our two lucky winners were announced on the 15th of February. 1st prize was awarded to Mr Harrold Page.

Harrold says: “I started taking photos for the first time on June 7, 2015. During the early morning of 10 October 2015 my cousin and I drove to a misty Blutkopje and we caught the sun about 2km from there. That is where I took this photo. The colours were beautiful, the whole area was glowing in gold. That was the fourth desert photography expedition that I went on. I posted the photo to a photography group called “Nature Photography Namibia” and one of the group administrators suggested that I enter the photo into the Naturally Namibia competition. After the photo was chosen as a top entry in the week that it was entered I sent in more of my photos regularly and I was surprised that so many of my photos made it to the final round of the competition.”

The second prize went to Mrs Anja Denker.

She had this to say about her photo: ” This photo was taken mid-November last year in Etosha. I was invited by Africa Geographic magazine to accompany one of their staff members, Janine, who wanted to visit Etosha in order to do a blog about the park. She invited me to go along as a “tour guide” and photographer, as she had never visited Etosha before. Just past the Nebrowni waterhole, we spotted this black rhino ambling along the side of the road, and stopped for photographs.  I’ve been to Etosha many times and have come across this particular rhino bull many times before at Nebrowni. He came straight towards our car from the left-hand side and proceeded to stop in the middle of the road, about 3m away from our car just looking at us! I did not feel threatened as I have never seen signs of aggression from this particular bull. We were however quite puzzled about the troublesome streak of  green paint which ran down the length of this rhino’s prominent horn and our immediate thought was: “Did he have a close encounter with another car?” After a stand-off for a few minutes, I just had the intense feeling that we should pass him and that he would then cross the road. We cautiously did that and he ambled over peacefully to the other side just behind our car… “

The winners receiving their prizes: