Swakopmund is on the West Coast of Namibia. At the time of writing (which is a Saturday morning, with close to zero traffic) it will take 18 hours and 31 minutes to get there.
If you want to get there, the most important thing is to remember your passport!
In my youth, that may have been palatable, but these days I prefer to enjoy the journey as much as the destination. If you just want to get there, bear in mind that the road through Botswana implies two border crossings (RSA-Botswana and Botswana-Namibia). The borders only open at 6am, and they close around twelve hours later – but please confirm these times before you start.
Alternative routes to the one depicted above (from Gauteng) are through the Kgalagadi transfrontier park (another great destination, hope to have a post soon!) or via the Northern Cape (I know there is an entry point at Vioolsdrif, not sure where else).
The Northern Cape option is probably the better one for Capetonians – if you are from elsewhere in the country do a bit of research. The 4×4 community forum is a fantastic source of information (https://www.4x4community.co.za/).
A very popular option is to fly to Windhoek, and then proceed in a 4×4 rental. I was surprised at the amount of people I saw going around in rented 4×4’s in Namibia – many of them from RSA. I was also surprised at the affordability (starting at R2 500 per day). This may seem expensive, but compared to owning a 4×4 and getting it kitted out it is actually very, very cheap – most options include a rooftop tent, fridge, etc.
We opted to start our travel on a Wednesday afternoon and to sleep over near the Botswana border at Zeerust. To get to Zeerust from Johannesburg, make sure you take the Rustenburg road as indicated in the map below and avoid the Koster option if at all possible. I have marked it with red crosses and it is what we call in Afrikaans a “kak pad” – which means very bad road. Again, that is at time of writing, but I don’t think anything can save that road except a very long term effort, which is unfortunately not likely to happen.
In Zeerust we stayed at a guesthouse called “Goedehoop”. There is no website but booking options are available both on booking.com or lekkeslaap.co.za, with lots of pictures. For us it was just an overnight stop, but it is really good accommodation and central in Zeerust, so you can get to the border early the next morning.
If you want to explore a bit around Zeerust for a day or two, there are game farms a couple of kms outside of town, but we didn’t stay there. Below is a picture of a typical Goedehoop room.
We got up very early the next day and were at the border gate around quarter to six. There was a long line of trucks, you may pass these, there is a different entry gate for them.
I may write a future post just on crossing the border, but for now just ask everywhere you go, where to next. The information on where to go and what to do is non-existent; furthermore, it is far from logical. Every border post requires you to exit the country you are leaving, after that you drive to the country you are entering and go through a similar process there.
This is the process – don’t get upset or raise your blood pressure – it impacts only yourself and makes things even slower.
One important point (that a friendly couple told us – no official is going to share this with you) – if you are coming back through Botswana again, you can buy a re-entry visa/permit – it saves quite a bit of money.
You will probably be tempted to change a bit of money to Pula at this point (so was I) – but know that it is expensive to do so. Every place that we stopped at in Botswana, accepted cards and the card machines worked – but I would take some Pula anyway, just in case. If you don’t happen to use it, put in fuel with it on the way back.
The road through Botswana is called the Trans-Kalahari highway. The first 15km after entry into Botswana has quite a few potholes, but from there onwards the road is in really good condition.
It was a good thing that we had some Pula, because my friend Charl had a slow puncture that needed fixing, around the Kang area. We tried to fix it ourselves, but couldn’t find the leak.
We asked at the garage, and they pointed us to a location in town. This was just a couple of guys next to the road – no tap to pay here (cash only) and no balancing equipment etc. – but they found the problem and had to get the tyre off the rim to complete the fix, which took around 45 minutes.
We did not see too many speed traps in Botswana, but there were a few. This did not matter, as we adhered to the limits at all times. There are plenty of stories online about people getting caught and having to drive back to the previous town to pay. I don’t know how prevalent this is, but I was not willing to risk it just to drive a bit faster.
The speed limit is not always clear – so drop down to 60km/h when approaching a town, even if it is just a house or two. My Nissan Navara Pro 4x comes with GPS maps pre-loaded (for the whole of Africa) and this was a life-saver in terms of understanding speed limits, and never feeling lost. If you don’t have something similar, be sure to download off-line maps from google before you leave. There are also proper GPS applications with maps that you can download from your favourite app store.
We kept pushing through and the border entry at Buitepos took about 45-60 minutes, similar to our crossing at Lobatse in the morning.
By the time we got to Gobabis, we were tired. Here we booked into the Goba Lodge. Because we knew beforehand that it’ll only be a sleepover, we booked the very cheapest rooms we could get (around R700/night for two people). The room reflected the rate, but they have many more expensive options available, so I won’t judge them just because I was thrifty.
Wifi is free at Goba lodge.
We had dinner at the lodge’s restaurant. Dinner wasn’t spectacular, but I will return for the Hansa draught. These guys know how to pour a beer. The glass is frosted in the freezer and you’ll look far for a colder one.
We were up early again the following day. Now it was straight through to Swakopmund, where we had to buy lots of provisions for the tour, so we had to get there as early as possible.
The road was good, no potholes, and we got to Swakopmund by lunchtime and checked into our accommodation.
Despite having spent only half a day in Swakopmund, it deserves it’s own post – hope to see you there!
A point on travelling: we were two vehicles with two occupants each. If at all possible, I would suggest travelling in a group, because it is just easier and safer. We use walkie-talkies for communication between the cars, but the standard little ones without external aerials have limited range (typically mostly line-of-sight) and as such we often lost contact with each other. This was not major, and easy to manage for us, but if you want contact all the time you’ll have to invest in strong er walkie-talkies.
Summary of important points:
- Remember your PASSPORTS!
- Check border open and close times.
- Know what you may and may not take through the border (no meats, dairy, eggs, etc.).
- Know what mandatory items to take through border (reflective vests, fire extinguisher, two red triangles). We were not asked for these, but do you want to take the chance?
- If you are coming back through Botswana, buy a re-entry visa, it saves quite a bit of money.
- Adhere to speed limits.
- Have an off-line GPS of some sorts.
- Preferably travel in a group, with walky-talkies to communicate.
Skeleton Coast 2025 #1: Introduction
Skeleton Coast 2025 #2: Getting there
Skeleton Coast 2025 #3: Swakopmund – old German charm
Skeleton Coast 2025 #4: Through the mist to somewhere north of Terrace Bay
Skeleton Coast 2025 #5: Up towards Angra Fria
Skeleton Coast 2025 #6: Across the dune belt and into Hartmansvallei
Skeleton Coast 2025 #7: Down to Purros and Sesfontein