At last, after numerous false dawns, the renewable energy boom is about to generate manufacturing jobs at scale. Not one, but two big plants for making subsea power cables are in Scotland’s planning system.

Sumitomo Electric, part of a Japanese engineering giant with serious pedigree in this sector, has announced it will build one in the Highlands.

It is not yet saying precisely where, what the scale will be, how many jobs will be required, and how much it intends to invest. But all these numbers are likely to be large. Such plants only stack up if they’re on a very big scale.

And it seems that by no coincidence at all, the owner and operator of the Nigg industrial site in Easter Ross, Global Energy, has lodged a detailed plan for precisely that type of factory to be built on 15 hectares of farmland next to the existing fabrication yard.

That’s an area equivalent to 20 football pitches. The buildings would take up nearly half of that, and two of them will be up to 44m (144ft) high – the same height as the spire of St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Nigg lies within the boundaries of the green freeport designation, won in January by bidders for the Cromarty Firth and Inverness. It means tax breaks for investors, though the details of how the incentives will work are some months off.

The Epupa Falls, also known as Monte Negro Fall, are dramatic waterfalls with quite scenic views which are created by the Kunene River, located on the border between the Republic of Namibia and the Republic of Angola. 

The canyon which creates this astonishing falls is less than a kilometer wide, where the river drops in series of waterfalls which are spread over 2 km (1 mi) with the highest drop measuring at 37 meters (121 feet).

Due to the annual rains or droughts, the water level is always changing, however, the most interesting part is the name Epupa that comes from the Herero language which is part of the Bantu subfamily of the Niger–Congo group, meaning “foam” and according to some sources it can be found as “falling water”.

Surrounded with truly enchanting scenery, with palm and baobab trees lining the riverbed, Epupa Falls are one of the most visited attractions in Namibia, even though it is somewhat difficult to get there.

Once there, the Ovahimba people together with the other tribes like Ovatjimba, Ovazemba and Ovatwe people will make every visitor to see how the nomad life is in the area, and with the growing tourism, there are other tribes who are migrating in the area.

Staying for a couple of days in the lodges or campgrounds in the vicinity of Epupa is definitely worth since plenty of activities will make every visitor’s experience greater with the guided tours of the villages, excursions to see the crocodiles living in the river, bird watching, rafting, and the most memorable would be the 4×4 vehicle adventure in the wilderness filled with many Baobab and Mopane trees.

Visible from either side of the border, Epupa Falls shall become certainly one of the most intriguing natural wonders from Namibia.