NAMIBIA CAMPSITES

More about camping in Namibia

Namibia is the proving ground. If Botswana is the destination, Namibia is the country that teaches you whether your vehicle and your setup are actually sorted - because it will find every weakness. The distances are genuine: 500km days on gravel are normal, fuel stops require planning, and the roadside assistance network that South African overlanders take for granted doesn't exist here. What you get in return is some of the most dramatic terrain on earth. The Namib Desert - the oldest desert in the world - runs the entire length of the coast, from the Orange River to the Angolan border. Sossusvlei and the Namib-Naukluft Park are the obvious starting points: red dunes above 300 metres, dead trees in white clay pans, light that photographers travel from everywhere to chase. North of Swakopmund, the Skeleton Coast starts - a place that was named honestly. Shipwrecks, fog, seal colonies, and almost nothing else for hundreds of kilometres. The Spitzkoppe granite inselbergs in the Erongo region offer some of the most beautiful bush camping in southern Africa, with private sites tucked among 700-million-year-old boulders. Etosha National Park runs the waterhole experience differently to anywhere in South Africa - sit at a floodlit waterhole at night and you'll understand why. Namibia will break something. Come anyway.