Introducing Northwestern Namibia
For those who like to take a walk (or even a drive) on the wild side, northwestern Namibia is a stark, desolate environment where some of the most incredible landscapes imaginable lie astride 4WD tracks. Along the Skeleton Coast, seemingly endless expanses of foggy beach are punctuated by rusting shipwrecks and flanked by wandering dunes. Here, travellers are left entirely alone to bask in this riveting isolation, bothered only by the concern of whether their vehicles can survive the journey unscathed.
Not to be outdone by the barren coastline, the Kaokoveld is a photographer’s dream-scape of wide-open vistas, lonely desert roads and hardly another person around to ruin your shot. A vast repository of desert mountains, this is one of the least developed regions of the country, and arguably Namibia at its most primeval. The Kaokoveld is also the ancestral home of the Himba people, a culturally rich tribal group that has retained their striking appearance and dress.
And then there’s Damaraland, home to the Brandberg Massif, Namibia’s highest peak, and Twyfelfontein, which together contain some of Southern Africa’s finest prehistoric rock paintings and engravings. A veritable window into the past, these two sites help to illuminate the hidden inner workings of our collective forebears, who roamed the African savannah so many eons ago.
The Northwest Corner
West of Epupa Falls is the Kaokoveld of travellers’ dreams: stark, rugged desert peaks, vast landscapes, sparse, scrubby vegetation, drought-resistant wildlife, and nomadic bands of Himba people and their tiny settlements of beehive huts.
Opuwo
In the Herero language, Opuwo means 'the end', which is certainly a fitting name for this dusty collection of concrete commercial buildings ringed by traditional rondavels and huts.
Northwestern Namibia destination guides
Skeleton Coast National Park
Hotels in Northwestern Namibia
Guesthouses and B&Bs in Northwestern Namibia
National West Coast Recreation Area
Twyfelfontein & Around
Twyfelfontein (Doubtful Spring), at the head of the grassy Aba Huab Valley, is one of the most extensive rock-art galleries on the continent.