In this day and age, plenty of information is available online, thanks to the well-established electronic system. In Namibia, old and young researchers have greatly contributed towards the Environmental Information System (EIS, http://www.the-eis.com/). Even though this database hosts a wealth of Namibia information, both old and new, plenty of information on old reports have not been digitised.

Being a Namibian, I have had great opportunities to communicate with retired conservationists who pointed me in the right direction on where to find missing information. Beyond the standard inspection of the Namibian National Archives, there is another institution in Swakopmund that does an excellent job at collecting and safeguarding information from the past: The Sam Cohen Library.

Even though the library does not contain as much as the Namibian National Archives, many conservationists and private members have shared their collection with the library. If one does consider looking back into the past whether it is for research or historical newspaper story finds, the library is a definite must on the visit list.