We spent three of our days in Etosha, which is Namibia's most famous national park. Here's our extensive review of the park, including our ultimate list of animal sightings at more than 35 water holes! General Advice for Etosha NEVER (!) get out of the car outside of the fenced campsites and picnic stops. There are … Continue reading Our Travel Guide to Etosha National Park
The 2,573m high Brandberg is Namibias highest peak. The colorful rock formations make it a memorable sight, especially at sunset. The "White Lady". Photo credit: Harald Süpfle The Brandberg has always been a spiritual site with significant importance for the local San people. They left more than 45,000 ancient rock paintings on the mountain, including the … Continue reading Breakfast with Elephants: Brandberg and Twyfelfontein
The Spitzkoppe is a group of granite peaks located in the Namib desert. It's often also called the "Matterhorn of Namibia". The highest peak is about 700m above the floor of the desert below. Visitors can see some 2000- to 4000-year-old bushmen prehistoric paintings, although they're only accessible with a guided tour from the campsite. … Continue reading Climbing the Spitzkoppe Mountain
Road to Swakopmund Adding a Sponsoo sticker to the South of Capricorn The road from Sossusvlei to Swakopmund crosses some really bizarre landscapes. We discovered our first zebras, and got into a sand storm just before reaching Swakopmund. The last 250km of the pad to Swakopmund just go straight through the stone desert. A good … Continue reading On the Coast: Swakopmund and Cape Cross
The Namib desert spans over 95,000km² of coastline in Namibia and Angola. Its huge sand dunes are among the highest dunes in the world, and the UNESCO declared it "World Heritage" in 2013. Most well known are the dunes in Sossusvlei, that reach heights of more than 350 meters. With their red color, they stand in sharp … Continue reading In the Namib Desert: The Sand Dunes at Sossusvlei
From Kolmanskop, we drove back to Aus, and then North to the Tiras mountains, or more precisely to the Kanaan N/a'an ku sê Desert Retreat. We initially didn’t consider a stay in this area, but our friend Rolf Frei, who published a beautiful image book about Namibia, strongly recommended it. Thank you Rolf! 😊 On … Continue reading Desert Retreat in the Tiras Mountains
The History of Kolmanskop The History of Kolmanskop began with an accident: In 1905, the transport driver Johnny Coleman got stuck with his ox wagon during a sandstorm. Over the years, the stranded wagon obstructed so much sand that a sand dune developed.Three years later, the worker Zacharias Lewala found a diamond while working on … Continue reading Lost Places: The Ghost Town of Kolmanskop
The coastal city of Lüderitz was founded by the German merchant Adolf Lüderitz in 1883. It quickly became one of the richest cities in Africa due to the thick layers of valuable guano on the islands in the Lüderitz bay, the rich fishing grounds, the diamonds found nearby and its role as a trading port. … Continue reading Colonial History in Lüderitz
The Fish River Canyon The second stop on our tour was the Fish River Canyon. It is the second largest canyon in the world, topped only by the Grand Canyon in the United States. Most of the area is a large nature reserve, with lodges and campsites scattered across the wide landscape.If you get a … Continue reading Hiking the Fish River Canyon
The Kalahari Desert The Kalahari spans much of Northern and Eastern Namibia and stretches to Botswana and South Africa as well. It is actually not a true desert, but a “semi-desert”, i.e. it hosts a lot of vegetation, but is too dry to be fully covered with grass or forest. The entire Kalahari used to … Continue reading Camping in the Kalahari