Cheap Car Rental Walvis Bay

Walvis Bay was once settled by Dutch traders and whale hunters, but in time the British and then the Germans and finally the South Africans laid claim to it. Since 1994 it has been part of Namibia and the country’s most significant harbor. The local history museum tells the turbulent story of the town and its 50,000 citizens. The oldest building in town, the Rhine Missionary Church, was built in Hamburg, Germany in 1880 and subsequently shipped to Africa.

These days boats leaving the harbor are no longer equipped with harpoons to catch whales, but with plenty of seating on deck for tourists, who get taken to the best seal and dolphin watching spots. Sometimes one of the seals even jumps on board in search of a snack, joining the pelicans that pick fish from the tourists’ hands.
24 miles south of Walvis Bay lies Sandwich Harbour, a fresh water lagoon that can be reached either by boat or car (make sure it is a four-wheel drive), though the last bit of the journey has to be done by foot, since the lagoon is surrounded by sand dunes.
 
Highway 2 takes you north to Swakopmund, where an excellent museum provides information on regional prehistory and ancient history as well as German colonial history. The Crystal Palace has the world’s largest quartz crystal on display, and the shark feedings at 3 p.m. in the local aquarium are sensational.  If you have some time, take a stroll through town and check out the Hohenzollern House, the old field hospital, and the court house. The old train station, built by the Germans, is  these days a hotel and casino.

Leaving Swakopmund to the south you get to Namib-Naukluft National Park, a game reserve stretching out over 30 miles. The oldest desert in the world beholds some astonishing flora like the Welwitschia, a living fossil consisting only of leaves and growing to be several hundred years old. The Namib Desert is the only place on earth where this peculiar plant grows; to see the largest one simply follow the Welwitschia Drive.
If you are good with heights consider a trip on a small plane or hot air balloon to get a bird’s eye perspective on the sheer endless Namib Desert. If this is a bit too adventurous (or expensive), take a car through the reserve. The Dunes around the salt pan of Sossusvlei rise more than 1000 record-breaking feet into the sky, and the largest one, peaking at 1246 feet, can be climbed. From there you get a fantastic view over the giant red dunes around you; early morning and late afternoon sun bring out the colors even more.
The Naukluft Mountains in the eastern part of the park peak at about 6500 ft. A relatively large amount of rain and wells results in quite rich vegetation along the hillsides and canyons. Hikers have the option of taking one of two day tours or the 72 mile-long Naukluft Hiking Trail, the toughest one in all of southern Africa and only open to experienced hikers.