Things to do
9-
Sandwich Harbour
Sandwich Harbour's dunes drop straight into the Atlantic, and from a crest high above the surf you can see the desert end and the ocean begin. A guided 4x4 gets you there and back from Walvis Bay in half a day.
View more → -
Bird Island
A large wooden platform stands about 400 metres offshore, some eight kilometres north of town, built for seabirds to roost on so their guano could be collected. Cormorants pack it from edge to edge. It shows from a pullout on the B2 to Swakopmund, a ten minute stop that is better with binoculars.
-
Dune 7
Beside the C14 east of town, close to the airport, this dune rises steeply enough to be the standard climb for anyone with an hour to spare. Palms and a picnic site half buried in sand sit in its lee, and sandboarding outfits work its slopes. The sand is cooler underfoot in the morning and late in the day.
-
Pelican Point
Go out to the tip of the long sand spit that shelters Walvis Bay, where tens of thousands of Cape fur seals crowd the beach below a striped lighthouse. Pick the catamaran for an easy morning, or the kayak to sit among them.
View more → -
Pelican Point Lodge
The lodge fills the renovated harbour control building beside the lighthouse at the tip of the spit, with nine suites facing the surf or the lagoon. Guests are driven out along the beach from Walvis Bay by the lodge. Apart from the lighthouse there is no other building on the spit, and the seal colony lies directly below the decks.
-
Rhenish Mission Church
The oldest building standing in Walvis Bay is this small church, prefabricated in Hamburg and put up in 1880, on 5th Road a few streets from the lagoon. It stopped being a mission church in the 1960s, so ask locally before counting on a look inside. Pair it with the walk along the lagoon promenade.
-
Walvis Bay Bird Sanctuary
From June to August, most of the flamingos in this part of Africa feed on the Walvis Bay lagoon, close to the town esplanade. Start there on foot, then drive out to the sanctuary pools on the C14 for pelicans and small waders.
View more → -
Walvis Bay Lagoon
Shallow water and tidal mudflats behind the town hold one of southern Africa's most important wader sites, protected under the Ramsar convention. Greater and lesser flamingos feed here in tens of thousands, pelicans among them. A promenade runs the landward edge, and the birds are closest on a falling tide.
-
Walvis Bay Salt Works
Seawater is drawn through a chain of evaporation pans south of the lagoon, and the pans turn pink where the algae concentrate. Flamingos and other waders feed on them in large numbers. The gravel road to Paaltjies and Sandwich Harbour runs past the pans, so most visits are a stop on the way south, and the colour is strongest in the afternoon light.
