Our Camping Holiday to Namibia

by Sylvia Ferguson
(Sedgefield, South Africa)

The people, the places,
The wide open spaces,
There's so much still to learn,
We have to return.

After retiring to the Garden Route, South Africa in 2007, in July 2009 we fulfilled my husband, Wayne's long wish to spend a good bit of time touring Namibia. We chose the winter months because we were camping and know how hot it can get in summer. In some places at the beginning, along the Zambezi River, it was very cold at night and we had two duvets and blankets to keep us warm but after that it was fine.


I'm very glad we camped as it made us feel very close to the land and nature. In many places we were the only people in the camp and enjoyed the remoteness and the vastness of the country. Sometimes we could travel for an hour or more and not see another vehicle. In how many countries could you do that today?


Etosha is totally amazing. I've heard people say how unique it is but you have to experience it to understand it. The Waterberg Plateau, Epupa Falls - so beautiful, Twylfontein - the rock formations that look like organ pipes, the petrified forests, the Brandenberg rock paintings, the Rock formations at Spitzkoppe, wild animals roaming free along the journey, the moon landscapes outside of Swakopmund and the 1000 year-old Welwitshia desert plants, the abundant birdlife in the saltpans of Walvis Bay, the beautiful and remote Ramsar site of Sandwich Harbour that provides sustenance to 1000's of birds and the incredible Sossusvlei Dunes and Sesreim Canyon.



All the above took 2 and 1/2 months and that doesn't include southern Namibia. It's a country that calls one back again and again to experience something different and wonderful every time because the desert landscapes give you that. I would like to return at the end of winter and beginning of spring because we are bird-lovers and it would swell the numbers of birds to include the summer migrants.



Most of the roads throughout Namibia are gravel and on the whole very good. A few were very corrugated and bone-shaking. It depends on when last they were graded. However, we didn't have one puncture the whole trip and only once got stuck in sand in the Mahango Game Reserve in Kaprivi whilst we were staying at Ngepi.


Fortunately a German tourist truck came along and pushed us out! The night skies are fantastic for stargazing! What an adventure!