Its political heritage includes Oliver Cromwell as well as John Major. Its first Earl, one William Clinton (possibly known as Bill to his mates), took office in 1339. For more information contact theNamibian Tourist Office, 6 Chandos Street, LondonW1M OLQ (0171-636 2924).. Huntingdon is a place of wartime memories, passionate regionalism, rural regeneration and Stilton cheese.

"Take nothing but pleasure and leave nothing but footprints in the desert," the Namibians say. Apart from a few torn clothes, we did just that - and loved every minute of it.The only flights betweenLondon and Windhoek are operated by Air Namibia (0181-944 6181).The current lowest fareis pounds 651 (including taxes)for a minimum stay of 10 days, maximum fourmonths. Then we crossed a plain of red-brown quartzite where, in the sandy gaps - startled into life by the unseasonable rains - the pointed, curled leaves of a bulb were sprouting.Towards the head of the valley, we came across strange, stunted plants adapting to desert life, and camel thorn trees, which seemed to reach out for our clothes with their long, grey, skeletal spikes. At sunrise the cliffs turned to gold and, gloriously out of place in this usually parched wilderness, a cormorant dived for catfish in the pool.We began our return journey over a plateau of black limestone eroded into strange dimples that looked like egg trays for a dolls' house. As the overhanging precipices were beginning to glow dusky pink in the sunset, Lex and Loes unlocked a stone box and took out cooking equipment, sleeping bags and tents, which we each set up on the sand in the position we thought would give us the best morning view.We were not disappointed. We saw the tiny, twin hoof prints, no bigger than a pair of 5p coins, of the klipspringer and skirted its latrines - a klipspringer and his mate may use the same place to defecate over many years.