Driving through Namibia’s highlights
Namibia has some of the most jaw-droppingly stunning landscapes in Africa, and a drive north-to-south is one of the continent’s best road trips . . . not to mention the most realistic and popular way of seeing the country. As with most road-trips, you’ve got some world-class big ticket items to see – the giant fiery-coloured dunes of Sossusvlei and the wildlife utopia of Etosha National Park as the two standouts – but is the drive itself that really is the highlight as you make your way along lonely desert roads, with the backdrop of all combinations of enormous bone-dry ancient mountains, foggy roaring coastline and, of course, the abundance of animals this wild country has to offer
How much time do you need? The total drive is 2,300 kms / 1,400 miles, so it’s a fair chunk of driving. If you are super pushed for time, you could do this in a week, but I think you realistically want closer to 2 weeks to properly enjoy this. I’ve listed below itineraries for both options
Drving in Namibia – you could, and should, drive this yourself. The roads in Namibia are good quality, people very helpful (and welcoming), it is a safe country (especially for Africa) and there is decent infrastructure throughout (typically not further than an hour from a petrol station, good cell coverage etc). You will see heaps of other people in rental cars driving a very similar route – it is very much “the thing to do”. The only thing that throws you a little is that quite a few of them are dirt roads (categorised as “D” vs the better “B” and “C” – fine for all types of car, but can get a little bumpy, take a bit of getting used to and can mean the drives are more tiring than tarmac / concrete roads where you can sit on 120km / 75mph comfortably. The main areas where this is the case are around Damaraland, the road to Sossusvlei, and within Etosha. This is where having the 4WD gives you a bit more confidence and comfort – typically you can drive faster on these roads vs a 2WD
Hiring a car – you’ve broadly got 3 options: 1. Renting via one of the specific 4WD companies for a vehicle that will typically come ready for off-roading camping, typically US$110 – US$220 per day (at this time of year, which is high season); 2. Renting a 4WD from a standard car rental company – typically US$90 – US$120 per day; 3. Renting a standard car from a standard car rental company – typically start from US$35 per day
We left the booking late, so found availability limited. The price from the specific 4WD adventure companies were getting a bit silly at US$220 per day, so we went with a Toyota Hilux from Hertz in Windhoek Airport for US$2150 for 23 days (US$95 per day), which was perfect for what we needed. But, if you’re just sticking to the roads and budget-focused, a standard car would 100% do the job
When to go – you read a lot online about “avoid the rainy season” (November to April) and aim for May to October as drier weather and clear skies, better road conditions, better wildlife viewing (the animals are more concentrated on waterholes and thinner bush), but bear in mind that Namibia, at the time of writing 2024, has had near 8 years of drought, and it would in many ways be wonderful to see, in particular, northern Namibia for the first rains. We visited in September and it was perfect
Drive down south to Fish River Canyon? – everyone we met said they enjoyed it for the view, but, unless you’re either taking the time to walk through the canyon (sounds fantastic) or on that route anyway, it probably wasn’t worth the 15 hour round trip. We’d done a hell of a lot of driving after driving also through Botswana, and had seen some incredible gorges along the way, so didn’t
Individual posts. I’ve written individual posts on some of the key pieces for the road trip, if want more detail:
The red desert dunes of Sossusvlei
Damaraland’s desert landscapes, elephants and ancient rock art
Self-drive Etosha National Park
Bigger trip into Botswana, and to experience the Caprivi Strip. We extended the trip so as to drive along the Caprivi Strip to have 2 days of Self-driving through Bwabwata NP and enter Botswana, to enjoy the Safari in the Okavango Delta and Kaziinkini Game Reserve (one of the world’s premier wildlife experiences) and returning back from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve with the San People to Windhoek. Doing so will extend your trip by 15 hours of driving (1300km / 800 miles), and 11 / 12 days (assuming 3 nights in Bwabwata NP, 4 nights in the Maun / Okavango Delta / Kaziinkini GR, 3 nights in and around the Kalahari ). . . but wow it was worth it
