Southern Namibia – The land that time forgot

Southern Namibia – The land that time forgot

We have completed our 3589 km loop of southern Namibia and have returned to Walvis Bay to cool off.  In Namibia, you can drive from the dry desert heat of 40⁰c to coastal coolness of 20⁰c in two hours!  All thanks to the Benguela current that keeps the coastal sea temperature at 12⁰c.

Southern Namibia has spectacular landscapes, but not so much game – that will come later in the north (providing we get there before the rains do and the game leave the waterholes for the bush).  Its roads vary between narrow and very busy arterial tar roads, to empty smooth gravel roads to nasty corrugated filling-loosening tracks.

There are definite tourist routes, which are busy with self-drive ‘backies’ (pickups with roof-top tents), but the minute you leave these routes, you very quickly find yourself alone for hours at a time. Here are some highlights of our southern loop

Mesosaurus  Fossil Bush Camp

Just outside Keetmanshoop, this camp was located in a wonderful Quiver Tree forest and the colours as the sun set were jut phenomenal.  The next day, the owner, Gael, gave us a tour of the fossils that have been found on the farm. In his words ‘one old fossil talking about old fossils’.  He even played a tune on the rocks – can you guess what it is?

Orange River

Forming the border between Namibia and South Africa, the Orange River is always in flow and the road that follows its course from Aussenkehr to Rosh Pinah is a spectacular drive.  A green ribbon through the unforgiving desert landscape.

Sossus on Foot

We were the only guests at this camp thats defining feature was a small and illuminated waterhole to which mountain zebras come to drink at dusk.  The zebras slowly drifted in and it was wonderful to sit in Big Bertha and watch them cautiously drink.

Oranjemund

Oranjemund is a small coastal town specifically built for the diamond mining community and until 2017 was off-limits to the public.  Oryx roam through this quaint and not often visited town (it’s a 200km return trip off the tourist route and sits on the border with South Africa) and we spent a couple of days here before returning to the interior’s desert heat.

Lüderitz

Lüderitz is another out of the way coastal town with a strong German influence.  We spent our 22^nd wedding anniversary exploring the town and ate lunch at a wonderful Portuguese fish restaurant.  Just outside Luderitz is the mining ghost town of Kolmanskopp – the buildings are slowly being reclaimed by the sand and the town has become a major tourist attraction.

Pelican Point

Just outside Walvis Bay is a sand spit with a large seal colony. We joined a kayaking tour and paddled out to the where the babies were playing in the water. They were very timid at first, as was Francine, but after a while both were playing with each other with big smiles on their faces.

Here is a gallery of pictures we took along the way