Swakopmund Warnings Or Dangers

  Main road to Swakopmund
by CatherineReichardt
 
  • Main road to Swakopmund
      Main road to Swakopmund
    by CatherineReichardt
  •   Warnings Or Dangers
    by CatherineReichardt
  • Not so cute and cuddly if you hit one!
      Not so cute and cuddly if you hit one!
    by CatherineReichardt
  •   Warnings Or Dangers
    by DAO
  •   Warnings Or Dangers
    by DAO
 

Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

Make sure you travel with plenty of water

by CatherineReichardt

The Namib's not for cissies, and even if you take the main B2 road from Windhoek to Swakopmund, the final stretch passes right through the desert.It may sound obvious, but in such an arid environment, you need to keep hydrated, and you must travel with sufficient water to tide you through an emergency. Even driving in an air conditioned vehicle will dehydrate you, so aim to drink two litres of water a day to counteract this.Despite taking every reasonable precaution, there are also times when you may find yourself stranded because your vehicle's broken down, the road is impassable or - most often - you've miscalculated the huge distances (and the impact the aircon has on fuel consumption) and have run out of fuel. Under these circumstances, it's important not to panic - virtually all of Namibia has cellphone coverage, so you should be able to call for help to either the car hire company...

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By Namibian standards, Swakop is expensive ...

by CatherineReichardt

Generally speaking, Namibia is a pleasantly affordable destination for most international tourists - once they've shelled out the considerable cost of their air ticket. However, for budgeting purposes, you should be warned that this rule of thumb does not necessarily hold for Swakop ...So, why is Swakop so (relatively) expensive? Well, firstly it's the playground for well heeled Namibians, who flee the hot, arid interior for the relative cool of the coast over weekends and holidays. Swakop is quite a small place, with limited accommodation, so visiting over peak periods (particularly the long school holidays which start in early December and extend through to mid January) is particularly costly.Secondly, Swakop is the nearest town to several of Namibia's big uranium mining projects. Rio Tinto's Roessing uranium mine has been going for several decades and in recent years, there has been a...

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Beware of livestock and wildlife on the road

by CatherineReichardt

Forget the charming whimsy of this warning sign ... this is a serious risk if you're self-driving in Namibia (or in virtually all of Africa for that matter).The risks are threefold: people, livestock and wildlife. Fortunately Namibia is very sparsely populated and villages tend not to be located right on the road (with the exception of the more densely populated Owamboland in the north, which is away from the main tourist centres) so your major risks are livestock and wildlife.Let's deal with livestock first and step through the hierarchy of traffic cluenessness from the bottom up. By far and away the most random and stupid livestock you are likely to encounter are sheep: my experience is that sheep have suicidal tendencies, and if given a choice, will almost invariably put themselves into the situation that poses greatest danger to its welfare! Fortunately there aren't too many sheep in...

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DO NOT DRINK AND DIVE

by DAO

Swakopmund is THE place to go skydiving in Africa. Only here do you get the ocean, desert and mountains all in one long fast drop! You are not allowed to drink before you jump – so don’t do it. They have a bar inside that is only 50 meters from the Drop Zone. That’s when you need a drink!Also – no hook turns. I don’t know what they are, but they are dangerous.

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One way streets!!!

by Edla

Town centre in Swakop has many one way traffic roads and they're not very clearly marked. So before you just turn into a street, just make sure you're allowed, otherwise you'll see a bunch of cars coming toward you and you'd be like "What the....!!!!??"

Don't step on the Welwitschias!!

by SirRichard

The Welwitschia Mirabillis are a unique kind of plant, one of the oldest in earth (around 2.000 years some of them). They get the water thet need from the morning mist, through the leaf, as it hardly rains in this desert. They are so sensible that if you step near them, you may hurt the roots. There are some stone enclosures around them, but anyway, people step into them to make the photo near the plant ;-(((

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Safety Tips in Swakopmund
 
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Questions and Answers

janiebaxter profile photo

Q:  I am visiting Swakopmund end November - Cape Cross and Kayaking in Pelican Point. I have heard it is cold which I am really... 

carteki profile photo

A: The weather should be quite warm, but the water will still be chilly +- 10'C. This is probably why they mentioned that it was cold. If you are going Kayaking with a... 

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