Namibia

We arrived in Windhoek airport and after negotiating our way through security and customs we were greeted by a taxi driver from our car hire company. He took us to the mobile phone shop to get SIM cards and then we headed off for the 45 minute drive into Windhoek.

Our car hire for Namibia isn’t the normal cheapest small car that we can get. The roads here can be rough and most of them aren’t tarmacked. So we’ve hired a double cab Toyota hilux 4×4. Its almost as long as out camper.

The handover for the car rental took a little while as they showed us where both spare wheels are, how the fridge works and how to work the 4×4. Then we went to the office to get given the rules – basically don’t go too fast on the gravel roads and if you roll it over you pay for it !

Once done we headed into central Windhoek to check in to our slightly shonky backpackers for the night. We didn’t hang around for long though because we headed out for dinner at Joe’s Beerhouse – a real Windhoek institution, where game meat is the speciality. It didn’t disappoint and zebra, oryx and kudu were all delicious !

First thing in the morning we jumped in the car – filled up the mostly empty double tank (giving us a range of 1,200km), fortunately diesel in Namibia is less than £1 per litre – and got on the road to Swakopmund. This is probably the easiest drive in all of Namibia because It Is tarmac all the way and a fast drive.

Swakopmund is the main holiday destination for Namibians as it is constantly at least 10c cooler than the rest of the country and is a really pleasant maritime climate. Unlike most of us the Namibians want somewhere cooler for their holidays when average temperatures over most of the rest of the country are in the high 30’s.

On our first day in Swakopmund we booked a 4×4 trip to Sandwich Harbour. We had uhmed and ahed over whether to self drive this but it didn’t take long to realise that would have been a serious mistake.

The trip started with  a drive to Walvis Bay – the biggest harbour in Southern Africa – where we saw Flamingos and Pelicans in the shallows of the big lagoon.

We drove out of the town and onto the beach after passing by a salt works. The driving in the sand above the beach wasn’t too bad but our driver was going fast in his lifted Toyota Fortuner.

It wasn’t long however until we turned away from the beach and suddenly we were driving in dunes, massive dunes. Hurtling up them and then hitting the top and after pausing at the type like a rollercoaster we were flying down the side. This was serious driving and I’m sure we would have been stuck in minutes if we were driving.

The views were amazing as we were surrounded on all sides by huge sandy dunes. We stopped to have a look around and take in the surroundings and then our guide offered us the chance to run down a huge dune to the beach where he would meet us. I was off taking giant strides down the 45 degree slope and flying down in an avalanche of sand. It was exhilarating.

Now we were on the beach with the big dunes too are left and the sea to our left. This place is like nowhere else we have been. The scale of it is difficult to comprehend and the pictures just don’t do the majesty of this place justice.

We drove along the beach until we turned back into the dunes and climbed up to a viewpoint over Sandwich harbour. This is a huge lagoon that is protected from the sea  by a spit. However in recent years the water has been contaminated by seawater so is no longer the fresh water haven it was.

After seeing Sandwich harbour we went back into the dunes and spotted some small shovel nosed geckos that live in the dunes before we went to another viewpoint.

It was here that our guide setup a picnic table with a very meaty (typical Namibian) light lunch for us and also set out some cold beers which were much appreciated.

From here it was back to Walvis Bay retracing our steps through the dunes – although we did spot a springbok amongst the grasses on the smaller dunes.

It was a really good trip and it was definitely a place like we have never been before anywhere else in the world. A great first introduction to the natural beauty of Namibia.

On our second day in Swakopmund we had arranged to go to Pelican Point and go Kayaking with Seals. This involved and early start and we had to drive back to Walvis Bay which was the start of the trip. We loaded up in a 4×4 landcruiser bus and headed round the same lagoon we had seen the previous day. We stopped to see the Flamingos and Pelicans again and then instead of turning left after the Saltworks we carried straight on until the gravel road ran out and we turned onto a sandy spit that was at least 1km wide and 10km long.

As we drove along the spit towards the seal colony we saw a number of Black backed Jackals who are scavengers that eat dead seals, of which there are plenty. There is no water for them here so they have to commute from the mainland every day but there is plenty of easy food so they keep coming back.

We eventually got the to the first part of the seal colony and there were a mass of 100’s of seals on the beach and in the water. There were also loads of tiny baby seals, outnumbering the adults. Many of the adults were out to sea, catching fish to feed themselves and the pups, while a few designated carers were left behind to look after the young.

The colony of Cape Fur Seals here is 50,000 strong and Namibia is home to 1.5 million seals.

We parked up right next to the water and just 100m from the nearest concentration of seals. The guide unloaded the kayaks and we were ready to go.

We jumped into one of the kayaks and immediately headed off towards a small pier that used to be used to bring supplies to the lighthouse which is on the other side of the spit. This pier was covered in seals and the water around it was also full of seals swimming around.

The seals were jumping off the wall into the water and others were jumping out of the water onto the wall. However jumping out of the water wasn’t as easy and at least half the time they jumped and bounced off the wall to fall back into the water !

We spend the next hour and a half cruising round the seal colony and a platform out in the water. The seals at near the colony were a bit more skittish than the more adventurous seals who were sitting out on the platform.

The ones out on the platform were mostly pups and they were really playful. We had one nibbling on our paddles and come right up to the side of the kayak. We thought he was going to jump in at one stage.

At the end of our time there we were really reluctant to head back to shore as it had been a really lovely encounter with such a large amount of seals. We actually enjoyed it more than we had the swimming with seals in South Africa.

If you are in Namibia this is a real must do experience.

Once back on sure we were served a light lunch on the beach – well a couple of cheese and tomato sandwiches and then it was back in the van to go back to Walvis Bay.