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GET IT DELIVERED Can't find this guide or other Media24 magazines in your local shop? The latest issues are available at media24shop.com – order online and your magazines will be delivered to your door. This year, I was lucky enough to visit two remo

PASSPORT. It needs to be valid for six months or more from the date you plan to leave Namibia, and it should have at least two blank pages. BIRTH CERTIFICATES. All children under 18 need an unabridged birth certificate to cross the border unless they

See the famous wild horses of the Namib at the Garub waterhole, next to the B4 about 20 km west of Aus. The Sperrgebiet is a restricted area and you can only get there on an official tour from Lüderitz. The spectacular Bogenfels rock arch is the main

The C15 dirt road offers a great alternative to the B1 tar road – it runs roughly parallel to it from about Rehoboth. It's a major Kalahari artery that follows the course of the dry Auob River, and eventually leads you further south-east to the Mata-

AFFORDABLE OPTION (See page 13) This privately owned reserve is next to the D707, which is billed as the most scenic road in Namibia. The campsite – Little Hunter's Rest – is 3km from the main lodge. You have a view of the Tirasberg and the red dunes

You need at least two days to explore around this magnificent inselberg, so book a night or three at Spitzkoppe Campsites (#11). Walk around, climb the huge boulders, look at rock art and take photos of the rock arch. Day visitors pay R130 per person

Wild Rocket Café (Sam Nujoma Avenue, opposite the Total Energies service station) is the first choice for breakfast dates with friends – try the Mexican eggs benedict or the salmon dome. It has a modern but cosy setting in the town centre, with insid

It's January and very hot when I turn off the D1042 and follow a farm road into the dunes. Green shoots grow from the red sand, proof of recent rains, and the threethorn trees are covered in white flowers. But it's still dry for this time of the year

AFFORDABLE OPTION (See page 13.) A popular fishing spot 110 km north of Henties Bay. Camping from R525 p.n. for five people. Sea view camping from R600 p.n. for five people. Private stands with own bathroom and a wind shelter R750 for five people. Al

Book at least five nights in this popular national park: Two nights at Okaukuejo so you can go to the Ombika, Olifantsbad and Nebrownii waterholes; two nights at Halali so you can drive to the pan and see vultures at Sueda waterhole; and one night at

I ask Phil van Wyk, our tour leader, how far away it is. “About 2km,” he says. The wheels of the Toyota Land Cruiser roll smoothly over the sand. To the left, the south-westerly wind works the Atlantic Ocean into a froth. I get my cellphone ready to

They say your life flashes in front of your eyes before you die. Like a fast-forward flip through a photo book, you get a glimpse of all the moments that meant something. Yet stuck in my camping chair, staring at the trunk of a five-tonne elephant so

Namibia has some of the most scenic desert landscapes on earth. It's also a place where silence rings loudly across the plains. But during summer, the Kavango East and Zambezi regions (formerly known as the Caprivi Strip) are never quiet. The call of

“Ihear that immigration at Kazungula is a nightmare!” a woman says to her husband at the table across from ours at Chobe River Camp in Namibia. I prick up my ears. “They had to dip all their shoes in disinfectant.” Until now, I haven't given much tho

The Red Line, which runs across the breadth of Namibia, dates from the 1960s when buffalo in the northern parts of the country were infected with foot-and-mouth disease and it spread to other livestock. This veterinary cordon fence is still in place

In Namibia, it often feels like you're the first person to travel through a landscape, that you've been transported to another, wilder era. If exploring the distant parts of our neighbouring country has always been on your bucket list, then this Kune

When you stop here after a long day on the road, you'll sigh with relief. It feels like you've arrived in a botanical garden, with apple-leaf, leadwood, silver cluster-leaf and monkey thorn trees all around. Bird baths are strategically located. At y

AFFORDABLE OPTION (See page 13.) Many of these lodges lower their prices significantly at the height of summer (January to March, sometimes April). It gets very hot, and it can rain, but you'll save a lot of money if you visit during these months. Th

There's a strange sound coming from a camel thorn tree: “Choi, joi-joi, choi, joi-joi.” I walk over and I can see a crow in the canopy, but the sound it's making mimics a vehicle that won't start. In a way, it's a fitting tribute to this campsite on

It was drizzling when my daughter Bella and I arrived for our mokoro ride. But it was summertime and Namibia's northern rain showers are usually short-lived, so we didn't think too much of it. Our guide Evans Sikabongo had brought two umbrellas along