Road trip through Namibia

Our road trip included many interesting stops at places like Kolmanskop, Elizabeth Bay and Sossusvlei, all of which are covered in different blog posts. This post is dedicated to the journey and the beautiful scenery along the way.

After a wonderful week in Cape Town with friends and family, our bags were packed again and we were ready for our road trip to Swakopmund in Namibia. Unfortunately, due to a few final commitments in town, we could only get on the road at 3pm, much later than we wanted. We would only cross the border into Namibia the following day, but we still had about six hours driving ahead of us to the small town of Okiep. So with our snack bag filled with biltong and Nik Naks, we waved Cape Town and Table Mountain farewell and headed north with Margaret, our trusty little car.

The road to the north was stunningly empty; there were almost no cars in either direction. And the sky was BIG. This is one of the things we miss most about South Africa – the huge sky that stretch endlessly in every direction with almost nothing blocking your view all the way to the horizon. We were treated to an amazing sunset as we drove through Namaqualand. Later we simply stopped by the side of the road, switched off our lights and enjoyed the most amazing night sky. The sky was free from clouds and there was not a light for miles, which meant the milky way was clear and lit up everything. This is another thing we miss… the stars. In England there is simply too many clouds and too much light pollution. By the time we got to Okiep we were a bit knackered so we skipped dinner and simply got into bed.

On paper, the following day’s drive (from Okiep to Keetmanshoop) was not going to be a long one. Or so we thought. Despite our calculations, the day turned into a 9-hour toil…

Our first problem was that we started a bit late (this, you’ll notice, became a daily problem). We finally left the dusty town of Okiep at 10am and headed for the border.

We had 100km to drive to the border and it was pure bliss: long and empty roads, big blue skies, deafening silence around us and great company (and some leftover biltong!). It was fantastic!

Although there was no real holdup or queues to cross from Vioolsdrif to Noordower, it still took us about 45 min to complete all the paperwork. But so far so good. The roads in Namibia were not as good as in South Africa, but they were still tarred.

It all went wrong when we decided to make a detour to the famous Fish River Canyon. You can’t really drive through this part of the world without going to see the second biggest canyon in the world (over 550m deep and stretching for 160km), so the detour seemed non-negotiable. The only problem, we soon found out, was that the roads there, were all gravel.

Now, a lot of roads in Namibia are gravel and we knew that before the trip. But you also get many sorts of gravel. Some are more sandy, others pretty rocky, but the worst is the “sinkplaat” (corrugated iron roof) gravel that shakes the car so much you think your teeth will fall out. We had every sort. It started off really easy and we were flying along in our non-4×4 car at 100km/h on smooth gravel roads. Only once we crossed the point of no return did it start getting really bad…

Our detour turned into a two hour trek into the wilderness before we got to the canyon. While absolutely stunning, we were well aware of what lay ahead of us: another two hours of terrible gravel roads before we would get to the tarred road that would take us to Keetmanshoop. So we stayed for about 15 minutes but were keen to get back onto the road.

We had wanted to get to our next destination before sunset; partly because we didn’t want to drive these roads in the dark, but mostly because we wanted to visit the Quiver Tree Forest at sunset. Quiver trees normally grow singularly but just outside Keetmanshoop there is a sudden abundance of them that makes for a spectacular sight. Having seen photos, they look particularly stunning at sunset against a glowing orange and red backdrop.

We quite literally almost didn’t survive the gravel roads as we had a scary experience on the loose sand, with our car spinning 180 degrees. I was quite shaken up, but Derek did a great job of controlling the car and avoiding a nasty crash. We slowly made our way to Keetmanshoop and saw a rare passing train along the way. I had to jump out, run to the tracks and wave to the driver! I felt like a child again.

In the end, we arrived at the forest about 5 or 10 minutes too late for actual sunset. While super annoying, we were thankful for arriving safely and still enjoyed a spectacular sight of changing light and changing skies over the trees. It was beautiful and both of us started snapping away before we even got out of the car properly. The trouble is, there is so much to see in Namibia but unfortunately the distance between places is often quite large. Perhaps we just tried to pack in too much today.

Annoyingly, we then had to find our hotel in the dark. We also realised our hotel was not actually in Keetmanshoop but another 100km away!! While it was another hour’s drive, at least the roads were tarred. I don’t think we would have been able to cope with a bumpy gravel road at that point.

The guest house also served dinner (there were no other options around for miles!), so we sat down for a 3-course meal straight after we stopped. Dinner was very tasty and included rib eye schnitzel and oryx steak pot. We both had way too much to eat!

After dinner we stood outside our chalet for a while enjoying the beautiful night sky. There was not a cloud in the sky all day so the milky way was stunning. We played around with some night photography and took some cool shots, but our favourite moment of the day came when Derek noticed the rising moon. It was spectacular!!! The moon was orange and looked like a burning ball of fire as it arose above the horizon. We could have stayed outside all night taking photos of the stunning skies.

With the beautiful night sky etched in my mind as we went to bed, I decided that I also wanted to see the sunrise the following morning so I optimistically set my alarm for 5.30am. I did get up, but I was too lazy to dress warmly so I froze my bum off outside. Derek actually joined me but waiting for the sun to surface was more than my cold body could handle so I snapped a few pictures and jumped back into bed. 

We eventually got up and had breakfast outside on the porch enjoying the gorgeous view. It was so incredibly quiet you could hear nothing but the birds. Because we arrived late last night, we haven’t had an opportunity to explore the farm. It was beautifully built and decorated and reminded me so much of my childhood on the farm. We also noticed the swimming pool is a proper farm dam. I would have swam if I knew that! They also have a fascinating collection of Lithops, also known as “Flowering Stones” in a specially constructed hothouse, which was very interesting.

We eventually set off at 10.30am, about an hour after we planned to leave (see the trend?), but at least we had a short journey to Luderitz. On our route we had one stop we wanted to make – a lookout point just outside Aus where you could possibly spot wild horses. Sadly, we drove past the turnoff without seeing it, but we were on the lookout for wild horses anyway.

Today’s drive was just incredible and so typically Namibian – there was nothing but road for miles and miles on end, with almost no other cars in sight.

We loved the drive. Sometimes we talked about the scenery or nothing in particular, sometimes we tried to solve world problems, sometimes we sat in silence enjoying the drive.

We drove alongside train tracks for much of the way and at some point suggested we stop for a photo. We took some beautiful photos of the sand and blue blue sky.

After 2.5 hours of driving we arrived in Luderitz. The town was much smaller than either of us imagined, with one paved main road taking you all the way through it. The other roads in town are all dirt roads.

We got to our B&B, checked in and went back into town to find the pharmacy. Derek has not been feeling well for the past two days and definitely had a cold coming on, so we wanted to get some flu medicine. We had just enough time to get home, gather our cameras and wait for our tour guide. We were heading to Elizabeth Bay this afternoon, but more about this in a later post.

The following morning we again wanted to get an early start, to get to Kolmanskop an hour before the guided tour started at 9.30am. But by now we know an early start is pretty much impossible. We also stayed at Kolmanskop way longer than we wanted (the town was mesmerising) so time-wise we didn’t do too well. And then there were the roads…

The first part of the road was tarred, so no dramas. After that, we only had drama. We had about 300km of gravel road ahead of us and the first 30km was awful!! The sand was so thick that the car kept sliding sideways. Then we hit the bumps in the road which added much annoyance to the drive. It was all really frustrating and for the umpteenth time we regretted not getting a 4×4 to drive these roads. Our poor little car was taking a proper beating!

On the positive side, we saw so much wildlife during our drive today it was as if we were on a self-drive safari! First we saw a wild horse, which really just looks like an ordinary horse but because it’s wild it’s kind of cool. 

We also saw lots of springbok and lots and lots of gemsbok. It was awesome. My favourite moment came when, just after sunset, a few gemsbok crossed the road right in front of us.

Then the springbok crossed the road, nearly jumping over the bonnet! We were spoilt by another sight – zebras!! But by now it was unfortunately quite dark so we could just about see them walking among the gemsbok.

We estimated we would arrive at the lodge at 6pm, but underestimated the quality of the roads, which meant we had an additional hour’s driving in the dark. Because we were surrounded by mountains, the sun went down as early as 5.15pm and it got dark very quickly. And then we hit the worst gravel road yet… it slowed us right down to 20km per hour.

The hobbles in the road were deep. The sand was deep and slippery. It was dark. Not great. We really regretted not leaving earlier this morning as it was not safe driving at that time of night on bad gravel roads that we had never driven before.

We eventually got to our hotel safely at 7pm, just in time for dinner. It was a long day on the road and we were glad to get into bed.

The following day was set aside to explore Sossusvlei, which was about 40km from our lodge. But more about this later. The day after Sossusvlei was our last day on the road on our own. We had about 350km between us and Swakopmund where we would start our Namibia / Botswana tour. At breakfast we asked the lodge manager whether the gravel roads to Swakopmund were good. She shook her head and said “oh no!”. Clearly that didn’t fill us with much confidence so we gulped down our coffees to get on the road as quickly as we could.

The first town, Solitaire, was 100km away and we would use it to fill up. The town was so small I missed the turnoff as I mistook it for a petrol station. In truth, the town was no more than that – a petrol station, two houses, a bakery and a shop. They have made an effort with the decoration though, with old petrol pumps and rusty cars on show everywhere.

We filled up, bought water and biltong and got on our way. The roads were remarkably better than the lodge owner described and some parts were quite pleasant to drive. Today was a beautiful drive. We went through the Gaub Pass, which was pretty spectacular, past the Tropic of Capricorn and through miles and miles of dunes, grassland and endless roads of nothingness. The vastness and emptiness were at times almost overwhelming.

We stopped several times and again saw springbok, gemsbok, zebra, ostrich and this time also a kudu. Given the wildlife we’ve seen from our car over the past few days, we could not wait to get into Etosha and Botswana where we could expect to see much, much more.

Just before Walvis Bay is Dune 7 – the most famous dune in this part of the world. We had both planned to climb the dune, which is only about 50m high, but when we got there it didn’t actually look that appealing. We also didn’t feel like getting ourselves completely covered in sand. This, plus the fact that we wanted to get to Swakop early, helped us make our decision and we got back on the road.  

Finally back on a tarred road, the 35km to Swakop flew past. We decided to drop off our bags before heading in search of a car wash and the Avis office. We found a car wash who made Margaret look brand new.  

The sunset, like every one before this one, was spectacular. We stopped by the beach for a few minutes to appreciate it is all its glory before going in search of somewhere to eat. After five days on very harsh gravel roads, we toasted our safe arrival in Swakopmund. This was, undoubtedly, one of our favourite trips ever. Namibia is beautiful. The scenery is unlike anything you have ever seen before, the wildlife is everywhere, the roads are long and empty and the people are friendly. What more could one want?