The University of Namibia's Associate Professor, Dr. Michael Backes, says many Namibians do not have appreciation for the night skies.

However, many tourists travel from as far as Europe to have the opportunity to experience the beauty of Namibia's clear skies.

Namibia has the most unpolluted night skies, as they are clear, and tourists, especially from Europe, visit the country for an opportunity to experience the beautiful view.

The skies have indigenous astronomy, which is one of the oldest known sciences in the world, and scientists say it is slowly disappearing as the world changes.

UNAM's Associate Professor Michael Backes says Namibians should appreciate the night skies.

"I'm originally from Germany. I have been living in Namibia for 10 years, so I have noticed that many Namibians do not have so much appreciation for the night skies because it is just normal for them, and we sort of do not appreciate what is always around us, but it is something very special."

Indigenous communities have a wealth of indigenous knowledge regarding the night skies that all can tap from.

Dr. Sisco Auala, a NUST senior lecturer at the Tourism Department "And Namibian indigenous communities have been observing the night skies for centuries, and this is also evident in the rock engravings that we have. Anybody been to Twefelfontein, our world heritage site, and that's where we find our rock engravings. These rock engravings are over 2000 years old."

The stars provided directions for hunters.

"So stars were used at that time because there were no compass watches, so they had to rely on the heavens, the stars, to give them direction when they went hunting. They came back at night when they didn't know how to get home; they already knew the different directions of the stars on how to get home."

Those who were at the Grootfontein museum were treated to an illusion of the night skies inside the museum.

The universities are documenting indigenous astronomy as a tourism product so the communities themselves at the NyaeNyae conservancy can benefit from it.

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Eveline Paulus