Klipspringer Antelope at Spitzkoppe, Namibia

Climbing the Spitzkoppe Mountain

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. 

Spitzkoppe Mountain Range
Fun Fact: Stanley Kubrick filmed some scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey at Spitzkoppe.

Spitzkoppe Campsite

Namibian Rock Agama
The male namibian rock agama changes its color to bright orange and blue during daytime. This one lived next to our camp.

Spitzkoppe Campsite was our favorite campsite during all our 2.5 weeks Namibia tour, even though it didn’t have water, electricity, wi-fi, or a flushing toilet (just a “bush toilet”). Spitzkoppe Campsite is located directly at the foot of the mountain, and it justly praises itself for its natural camping experience. The individual campsites are remote and spread out over several kilometers. They are given away on a first-come, first-serve basis. You can reserve your spot with a camping chair or table, so be sure to be there on time!
We were extremely lucky to get campsite “Secret B”, which we can warmly recommend to anyone. You’ll have an entire flank of the Spitzkoppe mountain all by yourself. Could there be a better view for dinner or breakfast?

Spitzkoppe Campsite
View of our Campsite. Camp Secret B is the best!
Spitzkoppe Klipspringers
Hello Klipspringers! ?

The main activities at Spitzkoppe are hiking and climbing. You can freely explore most of the area by yourself, without following a certain trail. We climbed up a good bit of the mountain and met many rock horaxes and three klipspringer antelopes on the way. In the beginning, the klipspringers were skeptical and closely watched all of our steps. Eventually, they must have concluded that we were not hostile and relaxed a bit.

Spitzkoppe View
View from above.

We met our klipspringers again when we were just feasting on our braai. They had climbed down to our campsite, reeeeaally carefully sneaked past our dinner table and started eating the bushes next to our camping vehicle! To our amazement, they even felt so safe that they stayed over night and slept on a small hill just 5 meters away from our tent. Wow!

We named the klipspringer and her two mates “Frieda”, “Ernie”, and “Bert”.

For breakfast, our nature experience was rounded up with a yellow-billed hornbill bird (like “Zazu” from the Lion King).

Spitzkoppe Campsite
Our breakfast panorama, including yellow-billed hornbill.
Yellow billed hornbill
Closer view of the yellow billed hornbill

OUR TRAVEL ROUTE FOR THE ENTIRE TRIP

If you want to learn what else we experienced in Namibia, check out our travel route for the entire trip – including reviews of the most exciting places!

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