Visit Namibia
The gravel road out of Sesriem rattles for an hour before you see anything, and then everything. Namibia has under three people per square kilometre, and after a while you stop watching the road and start craning your neck at the horizon, out of habit. The dunes at Sossusvlei rise close to 320 metres, their red flanks stained by iron slowly oxidising in the sand. At Deadvlei, camel-thorn trees stand blackened and upright, dead for perhaps 600 years but too dry to rot. Nothing moves. Nothing calls. You notice the silence the way you'd notice a sound.
Practical
- Cost
- $2,500–5,000 for a 10–14 day self-drive
- Best time
- Dry season, May to October, for firmer roads and wildlife visibility
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time it takes
- 10–14 days for a proper self-drive circuit
- What people get wrong
- People underestimate driving distances and speed on gravel, leading to punctures or worse; hire a 4x4 with two spare tyres and budget more driving time between stops than Google Maps suggests.