Namibia’s Swakopmund is a place like no other

The Namibian coastal town of Swakopmund is one of those places in the world where you constantly have to remind yourself where you are.

Swakopmund, located 360km to the west of Namibia’s capital Windhoek, is a place of contrast, where its history, geography and people have combined to form a fascinating holiday destination.

Swakopmund is where the desert meets the sea; a thrill-seeker’s paradise; full of stunning buildings of traditional German architecture. It’s a place where you are just as likely to be eating Eisbein (pork knuckle), sausages and sauerkraut followed by apple strudel, washed down with a beer stein or two, as maize porridge, biltong and kudu. Swakopmund is the gateway to the wild Skeleton Coast National Park, as well as the dunes and gravel plains of the Dorob National Park.

In Swakopmund, the influence of Namibia’s former life as German South West Africa (1880s to 1915) remains. Swakopmund was established in 1892 as the main harbour for German South West Africa, with Britain already holding Walvis Bay just along the coast.

A walk through Swakopmund reveals German colonial buildings on every street of the town centre, including the Alte Gefängnis, the old prison, which was constructed in 1909, and the Kaiserliches Bezirksgericht, which was originally built in 1901 as a court. After World War I, the latter became the summer residence of the South African administrators and since Namibia’s independence in 1990, the building now known as State House, has been the official summer home of Namibia’s President.

The striking red and white striped Swakopmund lighthouse was originally built in 1903 and extended to 28m in 1910. Hundreds of shipwrecks are located along Namibia’s Atlantic coastline, with the region encountering thick fog, heavy swell and strong winds.

Many of the town’s colonial buildings underwent restoration in the 1970s, returning them to their former glory. These include Altes Amtsgericht, which was built in 1906 as a school but later used as the magistrate’s office. The striking Woermannhaus building with its tower looking out to sea was built in 1905 as the offices of the Damara & Namaqua Trading Company, later Woermann & Brock Trading Company. It has also seen service as a school dormitory and merchant sailors’ hostel. Prinzessin Rupprecht Heim, meanwhile, was originally built as a military hospital in 1902, later becoming a rest home for the Red Cross and today a hotel.

Another Swakopmund hotel with an interesting past is the Swakopmund Hotel and Entertainment Centre, which was designed as a train station in 1900 by German architect Carl Schmidt. The neo-Renaissance style building was intended to be a grand train station as part of the first railway line linking Windhoek and Swakopmund when it was completed in 1901. It was renovated and declared a national monument in 1972 and opened as a hotel in 1994. Today it is a beautiful place to stay or just stop for a drink or meal.

A trip to Swakopmund wouldn’t be complete without a walk along the jetty. A 275m-long wooden jetty was first built by the Germans in 1904, later extended by 50m and replaced with a 640m-long iron jetty in 1912. In the 1980s, the jetty was renovated and underwent further upgrade in the early 2000s when it was closed for a period. The jetty reopened in 2006, with a restaurant, Jetty 1905 later opening at the end.

Another pleasant walk is along the mole/sea wall, stopping for a drink or bite to eat at the various restaurants along the way and starting or ending with a visit to the informative Swakopmund Museum.

Swakopmund is far from just attractive old buildings. Swakopmund and its neighbour Walvis Bay are the adventure centres of Namibia, thanks to their location nestled between the desert and the Atlantic Ocean. A raft of desert activities is available, including quad bike rides, camel rides, sandboarding and fat bike tours.

Just outside Swakopmund on the coast road to Walvis Bay are sand dunes just waiting to be climbed, while the ultimate dune challenge — Dune 7 at 383m — can be found at Walvis Bay. While the Swakopmund dunes are free to climb, there is now a fee at Dune 7. Here’s a few dune-climbing tips — climbing barefoot is much easier than with shoes; in summer you have to go very early as the sand can get extremely hot; avoid very windy days as you are sandblasted and it’s not pleasant; and, unlike my teenage daughter, don’t attempt the near vertical climb of Dune 7, but take the slightly more-gentle side approach. And yes, sand does go everywhere.

If that all sounds too energetic, from Swakopmund you can go on living desert tours in the Dorob National Park, a 4x4 tour to the stunning Sandwich Harbour where sand dunes roll straight into the Atlantic Ocean or a guided tour of Swakopmund’s Mondesa Township, learning about the local tribes and their traditions.

Ocean activities include dolphin cruises, fishing trips and kayaking at Pelican Point outside Walvis Bay among hundreds of seals, where young seals will inquisitively explore you and the kayak. At Walvis Bay, make sure you check out the stunning flamingos which often graze close to shore in the bay. You can also head north along the coast to the Cape Cross Seal Colony, but be warned, block your nose as the smell can be confronting.

If you get a chance to drive north from Swakopmund and Henties Bay, take a detour to the Messum Crater in the Dorob National Park. The landscape is other-wordly, resembling a lunar landscape. The once active volcano dates back 130 million years and is up to 25km wide. The area is full of quartz, lichen and the welwitschia plant, which is the Namibian national flower and one of the strangest looking plants you’ll ever see. The plant thrives in the desert, living off moisture in the fog which is a regular occurrence, surviving for thousands of years. And on a hot day, you might like a dip in Sout Gat, Namibia’s version of the Dead Sea.

Swakopmund and its desert surrounds also provide stunning views from a scenic flight, while the adventurous can add a tandem skydive.

Swakopmund is a place like nowhere else.

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