diff --git a/GPy/plotting/matplot_dep/base_plots.py b/GPy/plotting/matplot_dep/base_plots.py
index aefb3e8d..7ee0bd37 100644
--- a/GPy/plotting/matplot_dep/base_plots.py
+++ b/GPy/plotting/matplot_dep/base_plots.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # #Copyright (c) 2012, GPy authors (see AUTHORS.txt).
 # Licensed under the BSD 3-clause license (see LICENSE.txt)
 from matplotlib import pyplot as pb
+import numpy as np
 
 def ax_default(fignum, ax):
     if ax is None: