Only a few weeks into the new year and Skeleton Coast Safaris has just landed their first industry award for 2013. The Good Safari Guide Awards are voted for by a collection of travel industry professionals including professional guides, safari camp owners, tour operators and travel agents. We're pleased to report that Skeleton Coast Safaris has beaten serious competition to win the category for 'Best Guiding Team in Africa'. You can imagine that on a continent rich with guiding talent, this is quite an accolade. 

The winners and finalists are all listed here.

2013 has started with (not unexpected) rave reviews of the renovated Erongo Wilderness Camp. A combination of easy self-drive access and the excitement of African walking trails have always made this little camp a trump card on any journey. The lovely new rooms at the original rates have simply increased the sense of value for money.

In Swakopmund, Villa Margherita is watching the town gear up for the Adventure Travel World Summit in October which will see travel professionals from around the world arrive in Namibia for a week of learning and business development. In particular this event will help plant the destination firmly on the map for the North American travel industry.

In Etosha, Mushara's guests have been enjoying some great rhino sightings with elephant and lion also making frequent green season appearances. This time of year sees the great pan filling with water which will attract thousands of flamingos to add yet more colour to the vivid landscape. It is one of the most impressive seasons inside the park as towering cloudbanks drift across blue skies and every self-driver can feel like a BBC camera crew on location! If you didn't yet see the fascinating rhino footage from Etosha on the first episode of the BBC's Africa show, it is worth tracking down online.

Finally, Okonjima recently hosted Charlie Mayhew from TUSK and the Daily Telegraph who came to see some of the work that AfriCat does with Namibian schoolchildren. Their visit coincided with a conservation education course being run for a group of primary age children. As with many of these groups, it was the first time the children had been introduced to the environment in a positive way. Rather than ploughing into the complex world of predator/human conflict, AfriCat starts these children off on the basic concept of conserving water, oxygen, sunlight and soil. The courses are designed to be a lot of fun but they also leave the children with a much broader interest in the environment they are going to have to manage.

You can watch the Namibian episode from the BBC's 'Africa' series on iplayer here.