A Week Driving Namibia, North to South
Namibia is a driving country. Empty gravel roads, enormous skies, and some of the oldest desert on earth, all of it best seen from behind the wheel with time to stop. I take it slowly from north to south, hire a 4×4 in Windhoek, and let the great sustainable lodges set the rhythm.
The route runs from the Skeleton Coast down through the coastal towns to the red dunes of Sossusvlei and on into the dark-sky desert of the deep south. I stay at Shipwreck Lodge, Little Kulala and Wolwedans. Here is a week driving Namibia.
Your Namibia Itinerary at a Glance
- Day 1 Day 1: Land in Windhoek, pick up the 4x4
- Day 2 Day 2: The Skeleton Coast and the shipwrecks
- Day 3 Day 3: Swakopmund
- Day 4 Day 4: Walvis Bay and Sandwich Harbour
- Day 5 Day 5: Sossusvlei and Deadvlei
- Day 6 Day 6: Into the dark-sky desert
- Day 7 Day 7: South, and home
Where to Stay in Namibia
Shipwreck Lodge
Shipwreck Lodge sits on the Skeleton Coast between the dunes and the cold Atlantic, its cabins built to echo the wrecks scattered along this shore.
Wilderness Little Kulala
Little Kulala sits in its own reserve at the gateway to Sossusvlei, a low-impact desert lodge with a private gate to the dunes, so you can be at the sand before anyone else.
Wolwedans
Wolwedans lies in the NamibRand Nature Reserve, a pioneering conservation project and one of the world's first Dark Sky Reserves.
What to Do in Namibia
Walk the Skeleton Coast wrecks
This is where the desert drowns in the sea, a coast littered with the rusting bones of ships the fog and currents caught.
Swakopmund
Swakopmund is the surprise of the trip, a tidy old German colonial town of cafes and pastel facades pinned between the desert and a cold grey sea.
Walvis Bay lagoon
The Walvis Bay lagoon just south of Swakopmund is thick with flamingos and pelicans, one of the most important wetlands on this coast.
Sandwich Harbour
Take a guided 4x4 down to Sandwich Harbour, where five hundred foot dunes drop straight into the Atlantic.
Climb the dunes at Sossusvlei
Be at Sossusvlei for sunrise.
Watch the desert and the stars
Do nothing loudly.
Kolmanskop, the sand-filled town
If you have the time and the miles, keep south to Kolmanskop near Luderitz, the diamond town the desert is swallowing house by house.
How to Get to Namibia
Fly into Windhoek, hire a 4x4
Fly into Windhoek and pick up a 4x4 with a spare and a full jerry can.
Drive back and fly home
Turn the car back towards Windhoek for the flight home, red dust on everything, already working out when you can drive the rest of it.
Your Day by Day Namibia Itinerary
Day 1: Land in Windhoek, pick up the 4x4
Arrive, collect the car, and point it towards the coast.
Fly into Windhoek, hire a 4x4
Fly into Windhoek and pick up a 4x4 with a spare and a full jerry can. Distances are huge and fuel stops are few, so plan each day's drive, carry water, and never pass a petrol station with less than half a tank.
Day 2: The Skeleton Coast and the shipwrecks
North-west to the wildest coast in Africa, and a lodge shaped like the wrecks it sits among.
See the full day-by-day itinerary.
This is your only free pass. A free account gives you 3.
Day 3: Swakopmund
South down the coast to the little German seaside town between the dunes and the ocean.
Day 4: Walvis Bay and Sandwich Harbour
The lagoon and its flamingos, then the place where the great dunes pour straight into the sea.
Day 5: Sossusvlei and Deadvlei
Inland to the red dunes, and a lodge right at the gate.
Day 6: Into the dark-sky desert
South into the NamibRand, one of Africa's great private conservation stories.
Day 7: South, and home
A last stretch of road, and the long way back.