Tuesday January 27th, 2026 Queen Anne, Walvis Bay, Namibia

Neil Wylie
Jan 16
7 min read

Updated: Jan 29

We’ve had a glorious seven day sail south from the Cape Verde Islands to Walvis Bay Namibia. Some might question the value of a voyage with long stretches at sea, but we’ve come to love the sea days and fall into an easy daily rhythm of relaxation, great insight lectures, laps around the deck and excellent meals. But today we are looking forward to returning to Namibia, it’s been 12 years since we were last here and have fond memories that we’d like to renew.

Namibia is on the west side of Africa just north of South Africa, it was occupied by several tribes until 1884 when it was colonized by the Germany Empire until beaten by South African forces in 1915. There are still strong German influences, especially in the town of Schwapkopmund where the language is still taught in school and many buildings look like they were picked up from Bavaria and dropped in Africa. Namibia did not gain independence until 1990.

Today we’ve arranged a tour through a 3^rd party company called Dune Shuttle and Safari; we heard about this company through Facebook posts on the group for our cruise, others had used it before, and the reviews were very good. The itinerary for the tour was quite similar to one we did last time with a few additions. Namibia requires all visitors to go through a face-to-face interview and visa check before going ashore and the officials had set up onboard the ship to facilitate this; we had acquired our visas online prior to leaving home. The visa check process went swiftly, and we were soon on the dock meeting up with our tour guide, Nico, and fellow travelers.

Our group consisted of 13, mostly Brits, from the Queen Anne and we departed the port in our small minibus in high spirits all looking forward to an exciting day. The weather was quite cool with overcast skies but a promise of warmer conditions later in the day as we progressed further in land. Nico introduced himself telling us what tribe he belonged to and giving us some basic facts about Namibia; he also gave a very interesting demonstration of his native language. There are 5 distinct clicking sounds that can be used to alter the meaning of the same word and he showed us how by skillfully adding a particular click to the beginning of a word it would dramatically change its meaning. Nico also spoke fluent English and German.

Our journey took us along a sweeping road around the actual bay in Walvis Bay with large “posh” houses on the left and the beautiful waters of the bay on the right. Soon we saw flocks of flamingos settling to feed on the small fish in the nutrient rich waters. Our bus stopped for a brief photo opportunity, and we walked the edge of the bay trying to get the best angle for a shot of these elegant birds. Continuing around the bay we soon left the paved road for a gravel track and entered an area of industrial scale salt production. Huge manmade ponds are flooded with sea water and then allowed to dry over a period of a few months; the salt is then “harvested” by large excavation vehicles that would have been more at home on a building site. Due to the nutrients present in the water much of the harvested salt is a light pink color.

The coastline of this part of Namibia is dominated by a long series of massive sand dunes that mark the edge of the great Namib Desert. The creatively named Dune 7 is a famous hill that is a very popular tourist spot, the name derives from it being about 7 miles from the center of Walvis Bay. On our last visit here I did not attempt the climb, and regretted it ever since, and so as soon as our bus stopped at the picnic area, I was off to make my ascent. I crossed the flat space past the toilet blocks and made my way to the left side of the dune and began to walk up the gentle grade that was the ridge of the dune. At this point there were still some areas of untouched quite firm sand that made the going quite easy, but soon the slope turned to 45 degrees with soft trampled sand and I became bogged own. Thankfully there was a cool breeze blowing in from the ocean and this helped keep me calm as my heart rate climbed. Stopping for a rest, I spied Sandra checking out my progress back in the picnic area and waved – she seemed so small. After about 30 minutes of hard slog I made it to the 1200 ft top of the dune, and the views were indeed amazing. To the west I could see down the slope of the dune and out across to Walvis Bay and the ocean and to the east the picnic area and out to the Namib Desert. I opted to descend the quick way, straight down the face of the dune; others were doing this on their bums, but I managed to stay upright even as the soft sand rose above my shins with each planted step.

Back on the bus we headed east into the Namib Desert and along the way passed many construction projects aimed at improving the country’s infrastructure – this was the Chinese “Belt and Road” initiative in action; in exchange for mining the critical resources like Lithium and Uranium the Chinese have invested in improving the roads, rail lines, power systems and water distribution systems – only time will tell if this was a good deal for Namibia or the many other countries around the world where similar activities are taking place.

After about 20 minutes we once again left the paved road and continued on a very rough gravel track; it was incredibly bumpy and constant vibrations made the bus shiver like an old washing machine stuck on spin – I swear I could feel my brain rattling against my skull. I spotted a family of ostriches off in the distance and the bus did a slow U-turn to go back and observe for a while. The landscape changed from flat desert to jagged hills with rock screes, by now we were in a small convoy with a few other vehicles for the same tour company and, on occasion, the dust generated by these enveloped our bus. Travelling further between the hills and down into a valley we came to the Goanikontes Oasis, a true oasis with palm trees and residential rest area. It was quite a surprise to find a small hotel, restaurant, shops and even a small “zoo” in such a remote area. The bar and café areas were open for business; we opted for coffee and a shared piece of apple crumble cake which came with a scoop of exquisite vanilla ice cream; it was a shame the cake had a hint of cinnamon which Sandra does not care for. We sat in the shade and enjoyed our snack (well I did), a couple of strange looking small chickens circled our feet looking for scraps.

Suitably refreshed and back on the bus we rattled on further into the desert towards the area famous for its moonscape. We parked on a promontory overlooking the moonscape along with the other buses in our convoy; the tour company had set up tables with lunch snacks and coolers for beer and soft drinks – it was very well done, though we didn’t fancy any of the food items. The views were amazing looking out across a deeply rutted landscape with tall mountains off in the distance, hard to capture on camera – unless you’re Ansel Adams.

Finally we visited Swakopmund, the biggest town on the coast and a center for the German Empire occupation. Approaching the town we first came across a vast “informal township”, the houses here are owner built from wood and corrugated iron with no electricity or running water. A little further along we found the official township with more solid built structures of varying sizes. Nico told us about the South African apartheid policy the moves all of the black citizens out of the center of the town and into the townships. The government assigned the size and type of dwelling based on which tribe they belonged to; intentionally creating tension between the tribes so that they did not focus their displeasure on the government. The townships we saw today still relate to those created during apartheid, though the tribal lines became a bit mixed after independence.

A small market area had been set up specifically for our convoy on the edge of one of the formal townships. There were tables selling handmade jewelry, artwork and craft items – the sellers were nicely adorned in their bright African outfits and enjoyed posing with the tourists. We bought a couple of nice bracelets of beads and leather from one of three ladies who wore very traditional outfits that did not include any clothing on the upper body, they seemed quite at ease negotiating prices and interacting with the tourists while their upper appendages hung free. Hand painted acrylic artwork caught Sandra’s attention we bought a couple of small pieces. I noted the seller had a tiny gold springbok inserted into one of her front teeth, her business must have been very good.

A troupe of local dancers appeared and performed a series of amazing dances while singing in their local dialect; well-rehearsed and nicely outfitted in handmade leather outfits (mostly) with donkey tails to swish around and antelope horn headpieces. Clapping, whistling foot stomping and cheering they appeared to be having as goo d a time we were watching them.

Swakopmund is quite a substantial town with several wide boulevards and many German style buildings dating from the beginning of the 20^th century. The town also has a nice seafront with a small wooden pier, tall light house and museum. As we’d walked around the town last time we visited, we opted instead to have refreshments at the nearby Café Anton near the ocean where the bus had parked.

Our return to the port was via the coast road, a straight run of about half an hour with the massive sand dune range on our left and the ocean on our right, arriving around 4:15PM. Sandra and I agreed we’d had a thoroughly enjoyable day and that the tour company had been very good.