The Namib walks into the Atlantic. You can drive to the line.
Which Sandwich Harbour run gets you onto the high dunes, what a kayak morning with the Pelican Point seals costs, and whether Etosha is worth the drive north. Reviews of every tour you can book in Namibia.
Sandwich Harbour, Pelican Point, Sossusvlei, Etosha.
A first trip here comes down to four decisions. Here they are, and what each one costs.
01The low-water runWalvis Bay and Sandwich Harbour TourDown the beach at low tide, then up onto dunes that fall three hundred metres into the surf.
02The cold morningPelican Point Kayaking TourKayaks pushed out at Pelican Point, into a fur seal colony that comes to look at you.
03The red sand3 Day Sossusvlei Budget Camping SafariSesriem gate at sunrise, Deadvlei by mid-morning, before the light goes flat and white.
04The waterholeEtosha National Park: Full or Half-Day Game DriveA game drive into Etosha, where in the dry months nothing can afford to leave the water.
Half a day on the dunes, or the one that finishes at the ocean.
The sand south of Walvis Bay is why most people come. Three kinds of day on it, what it costs to get onto each, and how far each one takes you.
Two coast towns and a capital, with the desert behind all three.
Walvis Bay for the lagoon and the 4x4 road south, Swakopmund for the operators and the sea fog, Windhoek for the flight in and the road north. Six places to sleep, and what to book out of each one.
Namibia’s most booked days out.
Every Namibian review →The days out more travellers take than anything else in the country, and what earns each one the slot.
1
Walvis Bay: Marine Big 5 Luxury Catamaran Tour
Sail Walvis Bay on a luxury catamaran to spot seals, dolphins, whales and sunfish, with oysters, sparkling wine and lunch included.
From · $76
Read our review →
2
Swakopmund: Desert Dunes Quad Biking with Optional Sandboard
from $36
3
Walvis Bay and Sandwich Harbour Tour
from $140
4
4×4 Desert Excursion to Sandwich Harbour Bay
from $153
5
Windhoek: City and Township Tour
from $40
6
Sandwich Harbour Half-Day 4×4 Scenic Excursion
from $130
7
Pelican Point Kayaking Half-Day Tour
from $79
8
Scenic Sandwich Harbour Tour
from $158
Etosha is a salt pan, and the animals cannot leave the water.
By the end of the dry season everything alive in the park is walking to a waterhole twice a day. You park at one, turn the engine off, and let Etosha come past you: elephant, black rhino, lion, and springbok in numbers that stop being countable.
The cold current is the reason anything lives on this coast.
The Benguela comes up from the Antarctic dragging food with it, which is why there are ninety thousand fur seals at Cape Cross, pelicans that land on the boat rail, and flamingos standing in the Walvis Bay lagoon all year round. Take the water while you are here.
What a day out in Namibia actually costs.
Three price bands, with the whole catalogue inside them. Plenty of the best Namibian days cost less than the fuel it would take to drive yourself there.
City and township walks, quad bike hours, the short desert runs out of Swakopmund.
The standards: Sandwich Harbour by 4x4, a kayak morning at Pelican Point, a lagoon cruise, a full day in Etosha.
Multi-day camping safaris, private vehicles and the long runs north to Etosha and Damaraland.
Three things that happen in Namibia and almost nowhere else.
Deserts and game parks exist all over southern Africa. A dune field that ends in surf, a fur seal colony you can paddle into, and a pan of dead trees standing where a river stopped arriving do not.
Sandwich Harbour
South of Walvis Bay the Namib runs out of land and simply keeps going, so the dunes end in the Atlantic with nothing in between. Getting there means driving the beach at low tide and climbing the faces on the way back, which is why every operator works off a tide table and why the departure time moves a little every day.
- 1Walvis Bay and Sandwich Harbour Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 483 reviews
- 24×4 Desert Excursion to Sandwich Harbour Bay★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 446 reviews
- 3Sandwich Harbour Half-Day 4×4 Scenic Excursion★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 426 reviews
Pelican Point
The sandspit at the mouth of the lagoon holds a fur seal colony that runs into the tens of thousands, and the young ones treat a kayak as something to investigate. Mornings are the flat water; by early afternoon the wind is usually up and the trips have come off the water already.
- 1Pelican Point Kayaking Half-Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 349 reviews
- 2Pelican Point Kayaking Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 171 reviews
- 3Kayaking and Sandwich Harbour Full-Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 105 reviews
Sossusvlei and Deadvlei
The dunes here are among the tallest standing anywhere, and the pan behind them holds camelthorn trees that died around six hundred years ago and never rotted, because there is no moisture to rot them. The colour is the whole point, so the gate at Sesriem opens at sunrise and the trips that matter leave in the dark.
- 13 Day Sossusvlei Budget Camping Safari★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 62 reviews
- 27 Day Southern Namibia and Sossusvlei Camping Safari★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 26 reviews
- 34-Day Swakopmund And Sossusvlei Accommodated Adventure from Windhoek★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 21 reviews
Four Namibian bookings that run on somebody else’s timetable.
Most of this country can be sorted out the night before over a beer in Swakopmund. These four answer to tides, gate times, park seasons and the wind, none of which are interested in when your flight lands.
- 01Walvis Bay and Sandwich Harbour TourThe beach section is only driveable around low water, so the departure time moves with the tide table rather than the clock.
- 023 Day Sossusvlei Budget Camping SafariThe gate at Sesriem opens at sunrise and the colour on the big dunes is gone by mid-morning. Every trip worth taking leaves in the dark.
- 03Etosha National Park: Full or Half-Day Game DriveThe dry months pin the animals to the waterholes, which is when everyone wants to be there and when the drives fill first.
- 04From Swakopmund: Tandem Sky DivingThe drop zone runs on wind and visibility, and the coastal fog can take a whole morning off the board.
Namibia is a great deal bigger than the map makes it look.
Windhoek to Swakopmund is four hours of straight tar. Swakopmund to Etosha is six more, and Sossusvlei is a gravel morning in the other direction entirely. Either you accept the driving or you hand it to somebody else, which is what the multi-day runs exist for.
- 112 Day Classic Namibia Camping Safarifrom $3,071
- 23 Day Sossusvlei Budget Camping Safarifrom $632
- 37 Day Southern Namibia and Sossusvlei Camping Safarifrom $1,846
By place, coast to capital
By kind of day, sand, water or road
Windhoek, Sossusvlei, Swakopmund, Etosha: the circuit almost everybody drives.
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