Cheap Car Rental Namibia

Visit the Skeleton Coast in your rental car

Atlantic waves crash noisily onto the beach, wind blows sand across the most inhospitable coastal region in the world: the Skeleton Coast. In the early morning hours vision in the area is obscured by a thick fog, leading many ships and whales to disaster in the past. Skeletons and ship wrecks give evidence of long-forgotten tragedies. Once crashed on the beach, sailors had basically no chance of survival, as there lay no hope inland: the gigantic Namib Desert offers no refuge, only sand.

Book a rental car in Namibia to secure your unforgettable African experience.

Today most of this coast is a national park, the northern part all the way to the Angolan border may only be entered with official tour guides, whereas the south is free to visit on your own.

If you do take a tour north, listen out when you get close to Camp Terrace Bay: if the wind blows in the right direction the dunes start to sing. Sand comes flowing down the dunes like avalanches, the resulting friction causing the eerie sounds.

Experience the highest dunes in the world

Further south the dunes do not sing, but they are no less spectacular. In Sossusvlei, a sort of huge wok made from sand and clay, the highest sand dunes in the world peak at almost 1250 ft. In the evening when the sun sets it paints beautiful golden shadow pictures on the red sand.

The southernmost coastal strip in Namibia is mostly closed to the public. This is no protective measure for the local wildlife, but instead for one of the most desired natural resources: diamonds. The shiny rocks were discovered by accident during construction works for a train line in the early 20th century. Ever since the area has been ruled by companies mining for the precious rocks.

Driving to the harbor town of Lüderitz you will pass numerous settlements that were hastily erected during the diamond rush and have long been deserted.

Off into the high lands

 

You will also pass Keetmanshoop where you should take a break to go play on the Giant’s Playground, huge rocks piling up to bizarre formations, making for great pictures. Close to this is one of the very rare quiver tree forests. These 200 year-old trees grow to be up to 30 ft tall and 7 ft wide.

 

Starting in Keetmanshoop you can drive cross-country through the highlands all the way to northern Namibia. About half way in between is Windhoek, the capital. The main sights in Windhoek are the Ink Palace, South-West Rider Monument and Old Fort. Their names all have German origin, as Namibia was colonialized by Wilhelmian Germany. The Ink Palace got its name from the colonial Germans mocking the administrative palace for its enormous ink consumption and thereby criticizing the complicated bureaucracy. To this day many natives of Windhoek speak German.

 

Following highway 1 in a northerly direction in your rental car will bring you to highway 2, taking you to the most important Namibian harbor, called Walvis Bay. Even here you can find traces of the former colonial governors. From the harbor you can take excursion boats taking you out on the sea to observe dolphins, seals, and sea birds.

 

Drive though the magnificent Namibian landscape in a rental car

If you keep following high way 1 you get to the Damaraland. This is an exceptionally exciting landscape, providing you with brilliant photo opportunities: perfectly preserved stone paintings, a mountain burned by streams of lava, and red basalt pillars (called Organ Pipes).

Far up north the Etosha National Park is home to almost all African species for the duration of the rainy season. Elephants, giraffes, big game cats, antelopes, and zebras gather around the Etosha pan from November to April.

 

East Namibia is dominated by the Kalahari Desert. The sheer endless sand dunes suddenly turn to green meadows in the north-east. This is the Caprivi Strip, green all year in stark contrast to most of the rest of the country, where it sometimes does not rain for years and temperatures rise above 140°F. The Caprivi Strip is interspersed with rivers that contain water all year. Their shores are lined with tropical rain forests, attracting large elephant herds.

 

The mixture could not be more intriguing: moon-like deserts and green oases. Namibia has unexpected treasures to discover for true adventurers. A rental car in Namibia is a must in in order to explore this african wonder.