A self-drive tour

To prepare yourself for this tour, you might like to read our pages on 19th Century Namibian History and 20th Century Namibian History. Of course, nothing beats a good book, and when you are in Windhoek, you will find that the bookshops have a reasonably comprehensive collection of Namibiana. (Refer to our Travel Information page for details of bookshops.) In addition, the National Archives of Namibia is not only a good source for printed material but also has a comprehensive collection of photographs, many of which can be purchased. As an indication of what is available, at the end of this page we have provided a list of some historical works on Namibia.

Unfortunately a tour like this is location-bound and space-bound. To put it simply, visitors to Namibia, with two or three weeks at their disposal, simply do not have the time to criss-cross the country while trying to approximate the order in which historical events actually happened. In addition, while they are in Namibia, visitors also want to enjoy the major sights and attractions. Bearing these factors in mind, we have tried to keep distances and travel times within reasonable bounds, while also providing you with the opportunity to enjoy other sights along the way.

ITINERARY FOR THE TOUR

DAYS 1-3: Windhoek: Your tour begins in Windhoek because that is where most visitors arrive on international flights. A good way to begin is to sight-see from the ridge behind the ‘Tintenpalast’ and the Houses of Parliament, from where you can get a good idea of the lay-out of the city. (The drive either begins as Hugel Street or Andersson Street, depending on the direction from which you approach it.) From the ridge, you can look over the central city area below, also noting the suburb (often called ‘township’) of Katutura in the north-western distance and the suburb of Khomasdal in the distance straight ahead. This gives you an insight into the arrangement of colonial and apartheid-era Windhoek – Katutura was for black people and Khomasdal was for ‘coloured’ people, while the wealthier suburbs to the south of the centre were reserved for white people. Next, turn around and look eastwards into the fertile valley of Klein Windhoek (also reserved for whites in the apartheid days) and then head in that direction.

Windhoek has been an important political centre ever since Jonker Afrikaner made it his headquarters during the 1840s, so it would be appropriate to begin your tour in Klein Windhoek, which the Namas called ‘Ai Gams’ in reference to its hot springs. In fact, the hot springs are still there, even if they are not accessible to the public. Drive along the appropriately named Jan Jonker Road and stop at the Catholic Church centre behind St Pauls College and you will be at the site of one of the hot springs that attracted the Oorlam Afrikaners and their Nama allies. Apart from the old mission church there are few visible reminders of the past in Klein Windhoek, so you will have to imagine a time when the valley was filled with the squeal of ox wagons and knew the sight of ochre-skinned riders on curve-horned oxen, while dark-skinned Herero youths drove in herds of dust-raising cattle as tribute to Jonker Afrikaner and bearded European traders, dressed in moleskin trousers and wide slouch hats, brought in their wares from Cape Town via Walvis Bay on creaking, overloaded wagons.

Your next stop should be the area around the Lutheran Christ Church, which includes the Old Fort (‘Alte Feste’) and the statue of the mounted soldier, as well as the Tintenpalast and its attractive garden. This area, the military and administrative centre of the German colonial enterprise, was first settled when Major Kurt von Francois relocated in search of better water supplies. (His statue stands outside the municipal building in Independence Avenue.) From the church, there is an attractive walk down the hill past State House and then, after two left turns, back along Luderitz Street with its old German-era buildings. To the right is shady Zoo Park, which was laid out during the German era and once did house a zoo. The park fronts on to Independence Avenue, which was called Kaiser Street until March 1990. There are a number of well preserved German-era houses on the ridge that runs above Robert Mugabe Avenue from the intersection with John Meinert Street northwards.

Drive south down Robert Mugabe Avenue to the old cemetery, with its reminders of how the infamous influenza epidemic of 1918 even spread as far as what was then an isolated colony. Opposite the cemetery, there are headstones of graves of soldiers who died at the time that South African forces conquered German South West Africa, as Namibia was then called. Then drive west along Hochland Road and walk around the Old Location cemetery, which contains a memorial to the people who died while protesting at being forcibly relocated by the apartheid government. This incident is remembered as one of the formative events in the growing opposition to apartheid and colonialism.

Next, visit Katutura, once a township to which black people were forcibly relocated, but now a lower income suburb of Namibia. To appreciate the history and culture of Katutura, it is advisable to hire a guide who can point out details that would otherwise not be noticed.

Make time to visit the expansive Heroes’ Acre with its large monument, which are situated on the southern outskirts of Windhoek. This site commemorates the liberation struggle which finally culminated in independence for Namibia.

Finally, you might like to visit the Old Fort Museum as well as the Owela Museum, which is behind the public library in Luderitz Street. The airy, pleasant National Archives are worth a visit, as is the Railway Museum, which is housed in the German-era Windhoek railway station.

Accommodation: Olive Grove Guest House orHotel Heinitzburg

General activities: General tour of the city; historical walking tour; township tour; craft centres; places of particular historical interest, such as those connected with the German period, the South African period, and the independence period; browsing the stores and bookshops; relaxing with a coffee or a beer at a cafe in or just off Independence Avenue, absorbing the ambience of Namibia.

DAY 4: Rehoboth and the Kalahari Desert: Today you travel southwards, stopping to visit Rehoboth, which is 90 kms from Windhoek. Rehoboth is the traditional home of the Baster people, who staged their own ‘Great Trek’ from south of the Orange River during the 1870s and, finding the area unoccupied because of fighting, decided to settle there. They carved out their own ‘Gebiet’ (Territory) and ruled themselves under their own laws, captain, and elected council. Although they were incorporated into both the German and South African colonial dispensations, they maintained a measure of local autonomy, including recognition of the borders of the ‘Gebiet’. Interestingly, Afrikaans is the home language of the Rehoboth Basters. This reflects their ancestors’ close association with the Dutch that was spoken in the Cape Colony during the19th century.

In Rehoboth, visit the old Lutheran church, the museum, and the spa, which is the site of the hot spring that made Rehoboth an attractive site for settlement.

Travel further southwards to Bagatelle Kalahari Game Ranch, which is to the east of Mariental. The lodge is set amongst the spectacular red dune fields of the Kalahari Desert.

Accommodation: Bagatelle Kalahari Game Ranch

General activities: A 'nature drive’ during the early morning and late afternoon to view the unique dune topography and vegetation, as well as the rich bird and animal life; sundowners on a red Kalahari sand dune; visiting the sheep and cattle farming operations; viewing cheetahs.

DAY 5: Travel to the Fish River Canyon. First stop at Gibeon, a town that is inextricably connected with the iconic Hendrik Witbooi, whose face appears on Namibian banknotes. This charismatic and visionary leader was famous for his guerrilla resistance tactics against the encroaching German colonial power. Later, at the age of 80 years, he died of a wound that he suffered when leading the people of the south in revolt against the same enemy.

Also visit the Commonwealth War Graves site, which contains the graves of soldiers who died in fighting while the South African forces were making their way northwards to conquer the country during the First World War. Then proceed to Keetmanshoop, a rather nondescript town that has, however, been a pivotal centre in the south for at least two centuries. Visit the town’s museum, which is housed in a hardy stone church that was built in 1895, before driving onwards to the Fish River Canyon. Not long before you reach Keetmanshoop, you can make a short detour to view the atmospheric Quiver Tree Forest and Giant’s Playground. However, this will be a long day of driving and activities, so make sure that you have time for this excursion.

Accommodation: Cañon Lodge

Activities: Viewing the canyon, in all of its different moods and prospects; a short guided drive to a viewpoint, followed by a hike back to the lodge for breakfast; flights over the canyon; experience the splendour of the canyon landscape on horseback; sundowner drives in the Gondwana Private Nature Reserve.

DAYS 6 & 7: Drive to Luderitz, making a short detour to Bethanien to view the church and house that are associated with missionary Schemelen, who erected these buildings, the oldest on Western style in the country, during the 1820s. Drive onwards to Aus, a small and rather ordinary town that once played an important role in the days of wagon transportation because it lies on the ‘doorstep’ of the Namib Desert. It was the place at which the transport riders prepared themselves, their animals, and their equipment for the grueling trek that lay ahead, or, alternatively, the place at which they recovered from their desert ordeal and prepared for the rest of their journey.

Continue onwards to Luderitz, enjoying the visual feast as the dark ribbon of the road dips ever downwards and across the golden desert, with pastel-coloured ridges and hills fringing the distance. Luderitz is a unique fishing port with many well preserved German-era buildings - the town where time stood still almost a century ago - situated on a rocky, island-guarded bay between the desert sands and the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean.

Walk around Luderitz, viewing the many well preserved German-era buildings which evince ‘Imperial German and art noveau styles of architecture’, according to one source (reference at bottom of the text). Drive to the lighthouse on Shark Island with its monument to Adolf Luderitz, who purchased this stretch of coast for his country. While there, spare a reflective thought for the hundreds, if not thousands, of Nama and Herero prisoners who died in the concentration camps on this spot after the conflict that began in 1904. Then drive to rugged, windswept Diaz Point and climb up to the replica of the cross that the Portuguese mariner, Bartholemeu Diaz, erected here in 1488 while he was searching for the sea route to the spice-rich Indies. (Although he only got as far as the Eastern Cape coast of South Africa, he identified the Cape of Good Hope and so paved the way for the next explorer to go all the way to the Indies.) Make time to tour the dune-encroached ‘ghost town’ of Kolmanskop, once a rich and bustling diamond-mining centre, and visit the Luderitz museum. To the south of Luderitz lies the Sperrgebiet, the forbidden diamond area, which is now being opened to tourism on a selective basis.

Accommodation: Seaview Hotel Zum Sperrgebiet

General activities: Explore the environs, viewing flamingos and visiting the rocky coast around the peninsula; take a yacht cruise to get a close-up look at whales, dolphins, and penguins; while driving to and from Aus, stop off at the roadside hide at Garub to view the famous wild horses of the Namib, taking in the silence and spaciousness of the desert.

DAY 8: Take a short drive to Aus during the mid-afternoon, thus giving you enough time to explore and enjoy Luderitz and its environs.

Accommodation: Klein Aus Vista Lodge

General activities: Relax, enjoy the fine views and desert colours, and stretch your legs! A busy day lies ahead.

DAY 9 & 10: Travel northwards to Sesriem and Sossusvlei. Along the way, call in at Duwisib Castle, a national monument that was built by a German nobleman who died while fighting in the First World War. His American wife abandoned the property, which today reflects the opulence that some rich colonialists imported into the territories that they and their fellows conquered. A German baronial ‘schloss’ in a Southern African wilderness is indeed a fantastic sight! Continue onwards to your destination, which is close to the entrance gate to the Sesriem/Sossusvlei area. Unfortunately no notable historical events are associated with this area, so you have nothing to do but to sight-see and enjoy one of Namibia’s most famous tourist attractions.

Accommodation: Sossusvlei Lodg

General activities: Early morning guided drive to the spectacular dunes, which are at their very best at sunrise; game drives and walks; simply enjoying the breath-taking views and colours; and an early morning balloon trip, soaring silently above the magnificent sand dunes and desert.

DAYS 11, 12 & 13: Drive to Swakopmund, Namibia's premier holiday resort and the centre of the West Coast Recreational Area. Swakopmund has many well preserved German-era buildings, while the jetty reminds you that the town was the main port for the German colony as well as the starting point for the first railways, which were laid out in an easterly direction to Windhoek and in a northern direction to Tsumeb. The museum has interesting mementos of those days. Also visit the old steam engine named Martin Luther, who, like the machine, took a stand and could do no other. Nearby Walvis Bay also has an interesting history, as it was the port through which 19th century traders brought in their wares, and through which famous names entered and departed from Namibia. Today Walvis Bay is a bustling fishing port and general harbour that has retained few traces of its history.

Accommodation: Hansa Hotel

General activities: Set between dry desert and fertile ocean, with its German-era buildings and unusual misty climate, Swakopmund is a place in which to relax and take time out. Stroll along the pleasant beachfront, relax at the chic Mole beach, visit the art galleries, and enjoy the good restaurants, most of which specialise in seafood. However, the town is also the springboard for, and site of, a host of other sights and activities, such as

• a slow trip down the coast, between dunes and ocean, to the nearby harbour and fishing port of Walvis Bay, visiting the lagoon - one of Southern Africa's foremost wetlands - with its thousands of water birds, including flamingos and pelicans;
  
• a visit to the seal colony at Cape Cross;
  
• a desert tour that includes the ancient welwitschia plants;
  
• a day trip in a 4X4 vehicle to Sandwich Harbour, a desert-fringed marine lagoon that is fed by the underground waters of the Kuiseb River;
  
• a cruise to view dolphins, seals, and other marine life;
  
• deep-sea or shore-based fishing;
  
• a visit to the singular (even quirky!) museum at Swakopmund;
  
• browsing for art works and bric-a-brac;
  
• a visit to the aquarium at Swakopmund;
  
• quad-biking, hang-gliding, and sand-boarding on the desert dunes.
  
  

Click here for a more comprehensive description of activities at the coast. Also click here for details of scenic flights from Swakopmund.

DAY 14: Omaruru/Erongo: Drive eastwards from Swakopmund towards the interior. Stop and visit the impressive granite Spitzkoppe mountains, red and stark in their desert setting. Here you can find a guide who will show you ancient rock paintings, beautiful in their distinguished grace and style, but tragic in that they reflect the work of a vanished – or, at least, vanquished and violated – culture. These paintings remind us that there was ‘history’ in Namibia long before recorded history, whether oral or written, began.

Continue your trip to Omaruru, a small town with some charm that became a bustling trading centre during the 1870s, when the European traders shifted their operational base from Otjimbingwe to Omaruru so that they could be closer to Owamboland, which was opening up for trade and hunting. During the 1890s, Omaruru was the centre for Chief Mannasseh and his people. There are vivid descriptions of how Governor Leutwein and Samuel Maherero marched into the town with their forces to assert Samuel’s position as paramount chief over all of the central Hereros. Visit the Franke Tower, which is a memorial to the defence of the town by German forces against the besieging Hereros during the 1904-05 conflict.

Accommodation: Erongo Wilderness Lodge

General activities: View outstanding rock art at Paula’s Cave; enjoy a nature drive, viewing animals that have returned naturally to the area; take a guided walk to explore the beauty and variety of the Erongo Mountains; watch wildlife from hides; view the abundance of bird life.

DAYS 15 & 16: Today you drive to Twyfelfontein. Your route takes you past the Bandberg massif, where you can visit the famous ‘White Lady’ rock painting in its impressive ravine setting. The Brandberg is also home to a host of other evocative galleries of rock art. Between Khorixas and Twyfelfontein, visitors stop at the Petrified Forest to marvel at the fossilised remains of huge trees that were deposited here by prehistoric floods. Continue to Twyfelfontein, which has some of the most renowned rock paintings and engravings in Southern Africa.

Accommodation: Mowani Mountain Camp

General activities: Viewing rock art and unusual geological phenomena at the Organ Pipes and Burnt Mountain; walking and hiking; enjoying the impressive views across the Aba-Huab Valley; possibly sighting wild animals that have adapted to the harsh environment, such as giraffes, springboks, and ostriches - and, most renowned of all, the desert-dwelling elephants.

DAY 17: Etosha vicinity: Today you drive to Ongava Safari Lodge, which is situated just outside the Andersson gate, the western entrance to the highly reputed Etosha National Park, a major destination for a holiday in Namibia. Etosha does not have many historical sites, so you can spend most of your time enjoying the renowned wild life.

Accommodation: Ongava Safari Lodge

General activities: Game drives in Etosha as well as in Ongava's own reserve; guided walks with an armed guide to track white rhino; night game drives.

DAYS 18 & 19: Drive through Etosha National Park from west to east, stopping at Rietfontein water hole to view the grave of one of the Dorsland trekkers. These were Boers from the Transvaal Republic who, during the 1880s, trekked across the Kalahari Desert to find a new home in the west. Many of them suffered great hardships (‘Dors’ means ‘Thirst’) and some of them settled finally settled in Angola, before returning to Namibia during the 1930s.

Visit the old German fort in Namutoni camp and climb the tower to view the surrounding bushveld. The fort served as a control post on one of the major wagon routes into Owamboland and only saw action once when, during the 1904-05 hostilities, fighters from the Ndonga kingdom attacked and drove out its defenders.

Accommodation: Mokuti Lodge, which shares a common border with the park and is only a few kilometers from Namutoni.

General activities: Game viewing in Etosha park.

DAY 20: Drive to the Waterberg, stopping at Tsumeb, site of a copper mine that was commercially developed during the German period although copper had been extracted there for many hundreds of years earlier. Visit the museum at Tsumeb and enjoy the greenery around the town, which testifies to the huge amount of water that is available in aquifers in the area. Then continue your journey to the Waterberg, which was the scene of the final battle between the Herero and German forces in August 1904. Graveyards and monuments testify to this momentous and tragic encounter.

Accommodation: Waterberg Wilderness Lodge

General activities: Game viewing and bird watching; walks and hikes; climbing to the top of the sandstone Waterberg escarpment to enjoy the magnificent view.

DAY 21: Drive to Windhoek, stopping at Okahandja, which is the ‘cultural capital’ of the central Herero people and was the base of both Maherero and Samuel Maherero. Visit the old mission church and the surrounding and nearby graves, which include those of Herero leaders as well as German soldiers and civilians. Also visit the curio and carving stalls at both entrances to the town, where you can find genuine works of art and fine craftsmanship amongst the usual mass-market trivia.

Continue your journey to Windhoek.

WHAT HAVE WE MISSED?

For reasons of time and effective routing, we have missed out Otjimbingwe and Owamboland, both sites of great historical interest. If you would like to visit these places, we could arrange an itinerary that includes them.

OTJIMBINGWE, which is about 100 kms west of Okahandja but off the main road, was a thriving town during the mid-1800s. It was the base for European traders and hunters, as well as for the German Lutheran missionaries, who set up a school and seminary there. Hugo Hahn, the most famous missionary name in central Namibia, was closely associated with Otjimbingwe. Nowadays, Otjimbingwe is off the beaten track, neglected, and semi-deserted, while its old buildings are dilapidated. However, it is still an atmospheric place, redolent with people and events that shaped Namibia during the mid-19th century and later.

OWAMBOLAND is not on the main tourist itineraries, which is unfortunate, as it is the most populous area of Namibia, with a distinct culture and a bustling way of life that is both distinctly ‘African’ and modern. Owamboland has a lot to offer to visitors who have taken the time to enquire into its past. Some of the most interesting aspects include the arrangement and traditions of the seven kingdoms, the work and influence of the Finnish missionaries - the ‘Nakambale’ centre near Ondangwa celebrates this – and the remnants and reminders of the liberation struggle, in which guerrilla fighters opposed the South African forces. Some of the reminders of this stressful period include bomb shelters and earthen-walled army camps.

The quotation on Luderitz came from Journey Through Namibia by Mohamed Amin, Duncan Willetts and Tahir Shah, 1994. Cape Town: Struik Publishers, page 63

SOME BOOKS ON NAMIBIAN HISTORY

NOTE: The following list, which is far from complete, is only a sample of what is available.

L. Berat. 1990. Walvis Bay, the Last Frontier. New Haven and London: Yale University Press

Siegfried Groth: 1995: Namibia: The Wall of Silence. Wuppertal: Peter Hammer Verlag

Dorothy Guedes (ed). 1992. The Letters of Emma Sarah Hahn, Pioneer Missionary among the Herero. Windhoek: Namibia Scientific Society.

Brian Harlech-Jones. 1997. A New Thing? The Namibian Independence Process, l989-1990. Windhoek: University of Namibia, Ecumenical Institute of Namibia Publications.

Wolfram Hartmann, Jeremy Silvester and Patricia Hayes (eds). 1998. The Colonising Camera.

Windhoek: Out of Africa, and 1999: Athens: Ohio University Press

Patricia Hayes, Jeremy Silvester, Marion Wallace, and Wolfram Hartmann. 1998: Namibia under South African Rule, Mobility & Containment 1915-46. Oxford: James Currey Ltd

Carl-J Hellberg. 1997. Mission, Colonialism and Liberation: The Lutheran Church in Namibia 1840-1966. Windhoek: New Namibia Books

Annemarie Heywood and Eben Maasdorp (translators). 1989. The Hendrik Witbooi Papers. Windhoek: National Archives of Namibia

Peter Katjavivi, Per Frostin and Kaire Mbuende (eds). 1989. Church and Liberation in Namibia. London: Pluto Press

Jill Kinahan. 1992. By Command of their Lordships: The Exploration of the Namibian Coast by the Royal Navy, 1795-189. Windhoek: Namibia Archaeological Trust.

Brigitte Lau. 1987. Namibia in Jonker Afrikaner’s Time. Windhoek: Windhoek Archives Publication.

Brigitte Lau (ed). 1987: The Matchless Copper Mine in 1857 (Papers of John Andersson). Windhoek: National Archives

Brigitte Lau (ed): 1987.Charles John Andersson:Trade and Politics in Central Namibia 1860-1864. Windhoek: National Archives:

Colin Leys and John S. Saul. 1995. Namibia’s Liberation Struggle. London: James Currey

Gerhard Pool. 1991. Samuel Maharero. Windhoek: Gamsberg Macmillan

Ione and Jalmar Rudner (editors and translators). 1998. The Journal of Gustaf de Vylder, Naturalist in South-West Africa, 1873-1875. Cape Town: Van Riebeeck Society.

P. Serton (ed). 1954. The Narrative and Journal of Gerald McKiernan in South West Africa 1874-1879. Cape Town: The Van Riebeeck Society.

David Soggot. 1986. Namibia : The Violent Heritage. London Rex Collings.

E.L.P. Stals (ed). 1991.The Commissions of W.C. Palgrave, Special Emissary to South West Africa, 1876-1885. Cape Town: Van Riebeeck Society.

Hermann Tönjes. 1996. Ovamboland. Windhoek: Namibia Scientific Society.

Johan August Wahlberg (Michael Roberts, translator). 1994. Travel Journals, South Africa and Namibia/Botswana, 1838-1856. Cape Town: Van Riebeeck Society.

Wolfgang Werner. 1998. ‘No one will become rich’: Economy and Society in the Herero Reserves in Namibia, 1915-1946. Basle: P. Schlettwein Publishing.

Frieda-Nela Williams. 1991. Precolonial Communities of Southwestern Africa. Windhoek: National Archives of Namibia.