Walvis Bay - Sandwich Island Tour

[The-Inside-Cabin]

WALVIS BAY AND SANDWICH HARBOR, NAMIBIA

APRIL 28, 2024

 

We slip into Walvis Bay shrouded with heavy fog and travel to Sandwich Harbor over the dunes.

 

The ship was cleared at 8:30, and we left immediately as we had an 8:30 pick-up time for our private tour to Sandwich Harbor. Still foggy as we walked down the pier at 8:30 AM

Usually, in Walvis Bay, a shuttle bus is provided to the Dunes Mall and the Waterfront area, which has some restaurants. Today, we learned that the shuttle would only go to the Dunes Mall. If you want to walk to the waterfront area, it’s a little less than a mile.

If you haven’t booked a tour here, you will always find tour operators selling tours at the end of the pier.

SANDWICH HARBOR TOURS

Sandwich Harbor, about 25 miles south of Walvis Bay, is a very popular destination. The trip requires using four-wheel-drive vehicles, and if the tide is low, you can have a great time running on the smooth sand. Otherwise, you will have to go up and down the dunes away from the beach and may not have enough time for the round trip.

There are several companies offering tours. We chose the half-day option for $135 with Sandwich Dune Tours – HERE.

HAL offers the identical tour for about $500. In 2023, the HAL tour was $229. If you are interested in this tour, you may be able to use the HAL best price guarantee. I asked onboard about the reason for the huge price difference, and they didn’t have a good explanation.

The Sandwich Dune Tour is listed as starting at 8 AM, and since we arrived at 8 AM, this may have been a problem. But the company assured me they would pick us up at the pier at 8:30 and wait if necessary. They were very responsive to emails, and I recommend using them.

Our driver was waiting for us, with my name on a sign. We piled into his Toyota Fortuner 4 x 4 and headed off to their nearby office, where we were joined by another guest from the ship. There would be three guests in our Fortuner and four in the other.

Here is a video of our excursion

HEADING SOUTH TO SANDWICH HARBOR

Our two Fortuners headed south, and after a few miles, we drove off the road and onto the sand of the Namib-Naukluft National Park. We stopped to let the air out of our tires, reducing the pressure from 29 PSI to 11 PSI. This increased the surface area of the tires, increasing traction and improving ride quality and handling.

When we started, the tide was low, which allowed us to drive on the smoother sand above the surf and make good time. After a few miles, we stopped to take some pictures and use an outhouse toilet—this would be the only toilet on the trip.

We stopped at the entrance to the park

We continued south until the sand dunes met the sea where we turned inland and climbed up the dunes until we reached the summit with an amazing view of Sandwich Harbor to the south.

Our driver ran up the dune during one of our stops – no one else followed

We were trailing many other tours, including the seven vehicles on the HAL tour, which were already on the summit when we arrived. They left after a few minutes, and we were all alone.

Walking up to the summit Heading back to our vehicles Sandwich Harbor

Heading back down, we swooped down one dune and then back up another, where we stopped for our mid-morning snack. The snack turned out to be an elaborate mini buffet with sparkling wine, beer, and soft drinks, along with chicken tenders, ribs, fish, red velvet cake, and more.

This “snack” was far more elaborate than we expected There were 7 guests and 2 drivers in our two vehicles We spotted the vehicles in other tours below on the beach

HEADING BACK TO WALVIS BAY

After about 10 minutes, we headed back north; this time, we drove up and down the steep dunes. Our driver, Hans, would stop at the top of one dune, then accelerate down, slaloming across the sand into the valley while picking up enough speed to carry us up on the other side, where we would stop and repeat down the next dune. We probably did this ten times on the way back before we ran out of dunes and were back on the beach. The water was closer this time as we raced back toward Walvis Bay.

The various vehicles tend to follow the same line through the dunes.

After we were back in Walvis Bay, we headed over to Flamingo Beach, where we spent a few minutes observing the flamingos and taking some pictures.

The flamingos are within a few miles of the port

 

 

[Mrs f.]

Excellent. Full of great info. Thanks.