Table of contents for go! Namibia 2025 in go!

How does a welwitschia survive? I mean, how is this heap of weathered tendrils a living thing? And it's still here, after what, five centuries? My own earthly existence is too fleeting to understand the motionless life of this wonderful plant. It's at times like this – when you're contemplating a welwitschia – that Namibia gets under your skin. This place, where everything is always eroding but never wasting away completely. Where you have to let go of your ideas of what a season is, or how time works. Because a dry winter can last a decade, and a summer's worth of storms can empty into the desert in a single afternoon. When I visited Namibia at the end of 2024, the country was bone dry – as it had…

In Lüderitz, I buy food at the Spar, fill up with fuel and water, strap bags of firewood to the roof rack and join the convoy heading north out of town. For the next few days, I'm not going to see a shop, a traffic light or any notifications on my cellphone. From Lüderitz, you normally can't go further north than Agate Beach – from there it's a mining area, which fades into one of the world's biggest sand pits, the legendary Namib Desert. Both are off limits to members of the public. But we have a trump card that gives us access… Rudolf Dausab has a concession to access a 60km section of coastline north of Lüderitz. In collaboration with Phil van Wyk from Unbounded – a Namibian 4x4…

Lüderitz is a small town but it has some of the most unique and interesting tourist attractions in Namibia: the Felsenkirche; Goerke House and other German buildings; the Bogenfels rock arch; and the deserted mining town of Kolmanskop (see p 36). And now it also has the country's first museum focussed on everything related to the Atlantic Ocean. The Namibia Maritime Museum (NMM), located in an old power station in Dias Street, opened its doors in November last year. Museum curator Eino Ngesheya says the building itself is also a part of history:“It dates from the German colonial era. After diamonds were discovered at Kolmanskop in 1908, the authorities decided that the town needed electricity and this power station was built in 1911. Back then it was one of the…

When my elderly mother, Phia (78), heard I was off to Namibia for a month to do research for this guide, she asked to join me. I was concerned. “We'll be on the road for hours every day,” I told her. “That's fine. I'll take my knitting.” “We'll have to camp, you know. On sand…” “I'm not scared of sand.” The last time she was in Namibia was in 1971, when she and my dad travelled with his parents as a newly engaged couple, from Caledon to Etosha and back. It was a trip with a singular focus on getting to the game reserve and she didn't see much else along the way. We'd be going much slower and I listed all the beautiful destinations we'd be visiting, but as…

PARK FEES The (many) national parks of Namibia are all managed by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) so there is a standard rate for most parks. The daily fee for SADC residents to enter is currently R100 per adult, R50 per child under 16, and R50 per vehicle depending on its size and whether you're towing a trailer. These rates apply at |Ai-|Ais, Etosha, Namib-Naukluft, Dorob, Waterberg Plateau, Skeleton Coast, Sperrgebiet and Cape Cross. Entrance to MEFT's other parks (Bwabwata, Mudumu, Khaudum, Nkasa Rupara, Mangetti, Popa Falls, DaanViljoen, Hardap, Naute and Von Bach) costs R70 per adult, R30 per child and R50 per vehicle. Remember to budget for park fees if you plan to stay over in a national park. GET DISCOUNTS WITH THESE CARDS NamLeisure. With…

Years ago, when the Internet was still in its infancy, I found an article about a tribe called the OvaTjimba. They were described as “wild people” who lived deep in the Baynes and Otjihipa mountains of the Kaokoveld. According to the anthropologists of the day, they were categorised separately to the OvaHimba and OvaHerero, although they were related to both. The OvaTjimba people lived as they'd done in the Stone Age, using the sap of the Bushman's poison shrub (Adenium boehmianum) on their arrows to hunt animals. And until the 1960s, their existence was a legend – a story told around the campfire. That is until two nutritionists, assisted by the National Museum of Namibia, came across a group of huntergatherer Tjimbas. The encounter was the subject of the article…

Desert sand flows through crumbled walls and cracked windows. Inside the houses, peeling doors cling to their frames and the wind and sun have bleached the once-colourful walls. The rooms are buried in sand. A heavy silence rests, broken only by the soft rustle of more sand eating away at everything… Nobody lives here any more, barring a black-backed jackal or two. Kolmanskop's short but sparkly existence was completely dependent on diamonds. And when the diamonds disappeared, the residents scattered to the winds. The early years August Stauch was a 30-year-old German with a health problem. In 1907, while working as a land surveyor for a railway company, he experienced a severe asthma attack. Back then, they believed that such ailments should be treated in a dry climate, and since…

NO MEAT CROSSES THE RED LINE! The Red Line, which runs across the breadth of Namibia, dates from the 1960s when buffalo in the northern parts of the country were infected with foot-and-mouth disease and it spread to other livestock. This veterinary cordon fence is still in place and prevents meat and other animal products from travelling from north to south and also west to east in places. There are checkpoints where the Red Line crosses main routes; should you go through one of these roadblocks you'll be required to open your Coleman. You may also have to drive your vehicle through a dip trough filled with disinfectant, and dip the soles of your shoes in a shallow bath. It's the law so don't try to convince the officials to…

COMPULSORY STUFF PASSPORT. It needs to be valid for six months or more from the date you plan to leave Namibia, and it should have at least two blank pages. BIRTH CERTIFICATES. All children under 18 need an unabridged birth certificate to cross the border unless they have a passport with their parents'names listed in the back. DRIVING LICENCE. Your South African licence is valid in Namibia – keep it at hand. VEHICLE REGISTRATION DOCUMENTS. Bring the original or certified copies of these documents. Remember the papers for the trailer or caravan. LETTER OF AUTHORISATION. If you're still paying off your car, you need a letter of authorisation from the bank. If the car you're travelling in doesn't belong to you, you need a letter written by the owner giving…

THE BIG THIRST Pieter Venter, Bryanston @bryanston_safaris I took this photo in October 2024 at the Ozonjuitjs m'Bari waterhole, west of Okaukuejo in Etosha – it's one of my favourites. When you arrive at a waterhole like this, it can feel a little chaotic – all the animals are after one thing: a lifesustaining drink. But watch them for a while and you'll notice there's a clear hierarchy among the various species. Everyone waits in line for their turn. And some are on high alert for predators, which are always waiting just out of sight… THAT FISH RIVER FEELING Viola Husselmann, Swakopmund @viola_huss_photos I hiked the Fish River CanyonTrail in May 2024 – it was a personal challenge for me; an exercise in perseverance and self-belief. It was tough from…

I've been in Namibia for two weeks with my fiancée Sam, but now it's time to head home. This means another full day of driving. The vast stretches of nothing are unavoidable – it's the price you pay for road tripping in this beautiful country. Yesterday, we drove from Lüderitz to Keetmanshoop and today we'll make our way south. The next town along the B1 is Grünau, a popular stopover 140 km from the Noordoewer border post. Impulsively, we decide to spend a night there. We're in no rush to get home. And let's find a back road to get there from Keetmans – anything to avoid the monotonous B1. It's tar or nothing for about 6 km as you head out of Keetmanshoop, but soon we turn onto the…

THINGS TO DO Uncle Spike's Book Exchange If you love books, be prepared to spend some time here. Uncle Spike'sis one of those bookshops where pre-loved books are stacked to the ceiling, and once you start browsing, it'shard to stop – eventually leaving with an armful. In other words, it's the best kind of bookshop. It's sometimes difficult to find a specific author or title, but luckily owner Clifford Yates is always ready to help with a smile. Somehow, he knows exactly where to dig out your query from one of the many shelves. It must be the 16 years he spent working in the shop before taking over from his late father, George, two and a half years ago. Uncle Spike's has been in their family for the past…

The social media soapbox mostly attracts two kinds of people: hypercritical people who look for reasons to complain; and the eternal optimists who love to say how wonderful everything is – even when it's not. You should take the first group's opinion with a pinch of salt, and you should give the whole saltshaker to the second group because they'll never ask for it themselves. With both groups broadcasting loudly about the state of Etosha, it's difficult to know what's really going on. Recently, a foreign tourist posted on Facebook: “The roads are in a very bad condition with enormous potholes. During our stay they filled up with rainwater. I would say you need at least an SUV.” Someone else – presumably a Namibian – responded: “THIS is the beauty…