On our way to Swakopmund
We left early morning since we had a long drive of 5 hours in front of us, i.e. from the Namib-Naukluft National Park to Swakopmund. The drive itself was quite simple.
First stop of the day was at Solitaire, a small town in the desert mostly known for its old vehicles in front of the petrol station. We filled up the car and enjoyed a slice of apple cake before continuing our journey.
In Walvis Bay we visited the natural lagoon with it’s pink flamingo’s.
Eat and Sleep in Swakopmund
We then continued to our accommodation for the next 2 nights, Villa Margherita (a boutique hotel located in 4 historical buildings). We first stayed in ‘the cottage’ part, with connecting rooms, however, this turned out to be very noisy when there were other guests so we requested to be moved to another room and that one was perfect.
In the evening we went for dinner in The Tug, a restaurant located at the Pier. We had to pay a small amount to a so called ‘parking guard’ who would watch our car while we were dining (even if not official, it seemed to be the custom so we just went along with it). The food that they served in the restaurant was delicious! I have to say that I ate there the best oysters in the world (at least the part of the world that I had visited until then hahaha…). We immediately reserved a table for the next evening since the restaurant was very popular.
The Living Desert Tour
The next day we had booked two tours with ‘Tommy’s Tours & Safaris’, The Living Desert Tour in the morning and The Welwitschia/Moon Landscape Tour in the afternoon. It was combined with a 4×4 dune drive. I can honestly say that both tours were fantastic and worth every penny. They were definitely highlights of our holiday in Namibia.
We saw animals that we would never have seen otherwise, like the dancing white lady spider, the transparent Namib dune gecko, sand diving lizards, scorpions, snakes and chameleons. The stunning views in the afternoon resembled a moon landscape. The flora was also very special, plants that we had never laid our eyes on before. One of the plants looked like a brain with flowers in it.
Due to time constraints we were not able to plan a boat trip from Walvis Bay into our schedule, but ok, life is all about choices. Maybe next time !
