Namibia
Two weeks on gravel, between the Namib dunes and the Etosha pan.
How many days do you need in Namibia?
The standard loop runs Windhoek, Sossusvlei, Swakopmund, Damaraland and Etosha before turning back, which is about ten days and some three thousand kilometres of mostly gravel. A fortnight buys a second night at each stop instead of driving every day, and the driving is what tires people out. Adding the Fish River Canyon in the south or the Zambezi floodplain in the northeast takes a trip to three weeks. The Kaokoveld beyond Opuwo is an expedition of its own, in two vehicles.
Do you need a car in Namibia?
The vehicle is the trip. There is no useful public transport between the places worth reaching, and the gaps between fuel stops run to several hundred kilometres. Most roads outside the tarred B routes are graded gravel, fast and unforgiving: tyre damage and rollovers on corrugations are the common incidents, and a second spare is normal practice. A 2WD reaches Sossusvlei and Etosha in the dry months, while the Kaokoveld, the Skeleton Coast concessions and Sandwich Harbour need a 4x4 and often a second vehicle. Fly-in transfers link the lodges for anyone skipping the drive.
When is the best time to visit Namibia?
May to October is the dry season and the reason most visits fall then. Surface water disappears, so game concentrates at the waterholes in Etosha and sightings become predictable instead of lucky. Mornings in June and July are genuinely cold in the desert and on the high ground. Rain falls between about January and April, greening the country, filling Fisher’s Pan with flamingos and closing some gravel roads. The coast runs fogbound into the late morning through most of the year, whatever the interior is doing.
What language is spoken in Namibia?
English is the sole official language, adopted at independence in 1990 in place of the Afrikaans and German that had shared the status before. Only about 2.3 percent of the population speaks it at home, but it is the language of government, schooling and broadcasting and is understood almost everywhere a visitor goes. Afrikaans remains the common second language across much of the country, German survives in Swakopmund and Lüderitz, and Oshiwambo is the largest home language. Signs, menus and park documents are in English throughout.
What money does Namibia use?
The Namibian dollar, introduced in 1993 and pegged one to one with the South African rand. Rand are legal tender here and circulate alongside it, so change can come back in either, though Namibian dollars are not accepted in South Africa. Cards work in Windhoek, Swakopmund and at the lodges, and cash is what matters elsewhere, particularly at community campsites, conservancy gates and northern fuel stations. Machines are reliable in the towns and absent between them, so drawing cash before a long leg is routine.
Where do you fly into Namibia?
Hosea Kutako International outside Windhoek takes almost every intercontinental arrival, 45 kilometres east of the city and roughly forty minutes by road. Frankfurt, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Addis Ababa and Doha are the usual connections. Eros, five kilometres south of the centre, handles the light aircraft flying the concessions and the fly-in lodges. Walvis Bay has its own airport for the coast and Ondangwa serves the north. Collecting a rental at Hosea Kutako is the first act of most trips, and the gravel-driving briefing happens at the desk.
