12-DAY NAMIBIA ROAD TRIP ITINERARY

In November 2019, I took a flight from Egypt to meet up with my boyfriend Mike in his second home, Namibia. Mike lived in Namibia for over a year about 5 years ago and hadn’t been back since. He’s got a niece and nephew there along with some of his best friends so Namibia was high on our “to visit” list last year. When we landed we spent the first couple of days in Windhoek (the capital) relaxing with the family and getting settled into Namibian life. It was nice to have a couple of days to meet the family before we all headed off for 12 days.

Tip: Before we left we rented a couple of 4X4 trucks which I didn’t realize was necessary until we hit unpaved roads and then it all made sense! If you’re planning to explore Namibia via driving I highly suggest keeping this in mind when you rent a car.

Tip: if you need to take multiple cars consider bringing walkie talkies to communicate from car to car. It was such a great way to communicate pit stops when we lost service.

Tip: Strongly suggest you head to an MTC in Windhoek for a SIM card before hitting the road. My carrier wasn’t able to provide a roaming option for Namibia so it would’ve been a fortune if I didn’t get a SIM from MTC.

DAY 1 - DRIVE TO LUDERITZ + KOLMANSKOP

Our first day started with a bang as we drove 8 hours from Windhoek to Luderitz. Why Luderitz? Luderitz is the closest town to the famous abandoned town of Kolmanskop which is somewhere I’ve had on my bucketlist for years! We took the afternoon to settle into our accommodations and to figure out a game plan for the next day at Kolmanskop.

Where we stayed: The Cormorant House — $75/night

DAY 2 - LUDERITZ/KOLMANSKOP

Kolmanskop was eerie, beautiful, mysterious and bone chilling all at the same time. If all the walls could speak I’m sure they’d have so many stories to share. The town used to be vibrant and rich! Miners flocked to Kolmanskop to mine diamonds, lots of diamonds! By 1956 the whole town was abandoned. When visiting you have 2 options, either you go just for pictures and show yourself around or you take a tour with a guide for about an hour and listen to the history of the town then you can go out on your own to take pictures. We decided to do the tour and it was worth it! There were so many cool stories we would’ve missed out on.

Tip: It starts to get really windy the later it gets in the day which can get really uncomfortable so the earlier you go the better.

Cost for Kolmanskop: $7 USD/adult (no photography), $20 USD/per photographer

DAY 3 - LUDERITZ/KOLMANSKOP/DRIVE TO SOSSUSVLEI

We went back to Kolmanskop one more time to see another part of the town because we didn’t have enough time the day before.

After we were done with Kolmanskop we drove 6.5 hours to Sossusvlei to the middle of the desert.

DAY 4 - SOSSUSVLEI

Waking up in the middle of dunes and desert as far as the eye can see was incredible! We stayed with friends while we were in Sossusvlei but there are quite a few hotel options in the area.

DAY 5 - SOSSUSVLEI/HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE

We heard that doing a hot air balloon ride in the early morning was a must while we were here and after doing it we would definitely recommend it! We did the ride with Namib Sky and they were amazing! They took such good care of us and they even set up a breakfast in the middle of the desert.

DAY 6 - SOSSUSVLEI/DEADVLEI/DRIVE TO WALVIS BAY

We packed up the car and drove about 2 hours to Deadvlei. The word Deadvlei translates to dead lake/marsh and is home to the famous white clay pan and charred trees which sits surrounded by some of the tallest dunes in the world! It was one of the coolest places I’d ever seen in my life! We tried to get there as early as we could and I’m so thankful we did because once you park you need to walk about 20 minutes to get to Deadvlei and the higher the sun, the hotter the sand.

Tip: On the way to Deadvlei you’ll be on a paved road for a while but that road eventually ends and becomes a sand dune road. If you’re in a 4X4 then you’ll have no problem going through to the parking where Deadvlei is. Otherwise you’ll need to organize a ride with the park rangers at the 2X4 parking.

DAY 7-10 — SWAKOPMUND/WALVIS BAY/SANDWICH HARBOR

We spent day 7-10 exploring Walvis Bay and Swakopmund which are neighbouring towns. Walvis Bay is a great spot to get a bit of shopping done since they have a decent size mall. You can do grocery shopping, pick up a few clothing items if you need or pick up a SIM card from MTC (which is what we did).

We drove to Walvis Bay to meet up with some friends and one of the coolest things we did here was Sandwich Harbor with Travel Uncharted. Sandwich Harbor is best known for where tall sand dunes meet the ocean. It’s an incredible sight to see! We went with Travel Uncharted because 1) You need to go with a guide in this area and 2) they know these dunes like the back of their hand and can safely guide you through.

Tip: When going down the sand dunes in the truck, go slowly and open the window. You’ll hear the dune “sing”. It’s this chilling vibration sound, like nothing I’ve ever heard before.

Day 11-12 — OMARURU GAME LODGE

Our last stop was to Omaruru Game Lodge. I loved stopping here because it was a very relaxing way to end our road trip. Each room is its own separate bungalow and many of the bungalows have a good view of the watering hole where you can watch animals come and go all day long.

Our second day here Mike took me on my first game drive. Our guide told us that it’s never a sure thing to see elephants but the moment we went through the gate elephants came right up to the truck. We were told NOT to get out (because yes, some people actually do that) and NOT to go pet them. Instead wait for them to come to you and they will introduce themselves, if they want to, and one of them did just that. She reached out with her trunk right into my hand. She got close enough that I was also able to give her a little gentle pet on the head. I was so close to crying because these animals are the most beautiful, gentle giants. Aside from elephants we also spotted giraffes, zebras, springbok, hippos, ostrich, baboons, kudus and lots of oryx.

One of the other animals I really wanted to see was a warthog and I went the entire trip without seeing one and all the locals were so surprised because you would typically just see them on the side of the road. On the game drive we spotted 2 warthogs on our way out and I was so excited!! Even better is we spotted at least 10 of them on our way back to Windhoek, go figure!

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