Sunday 21 June 2015

Namibia Travels: Wrap Up

Namibia Dunes

For those who have been following me, you'll know that Frosty and I recently went on a camping holiday to Namibia in March. I thought it would be pretty useful to do a quick round up of the various practical aspects on the trip and some useful tips.

So here's my wrap up of our Namibia trip. If you've missed the previous posts, clik on the following links:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Costs
  • Remember N$1 = R1
  • Average Price per Night Camping: +- N$ 100 - 200 per person.
  • Other costs: if you're camping in some sort of reserve, you will probably need to pay another N$100 - N$150 for a permit to drive around the reserve.
  • Budget on about R1 - R1.50 per km that you'll be travelling.
  • When you get to the border, you'll pay around R200/N$200 for road taxes.
  • Try to buy and cook your own food, it'll probably work out to about the same that you would normally spend on food for the time period you'll be camping.
Food:
  • Breakfasts: Coffee and rusks.
  • Lunches: tomatoes, cold meat, butter and ryvitas along with a piece or two of fruit.
  • Dinners: Braai, salad/quick fried baby cabbage and potatoes or garlic bread (normal bread with garlic and butter inside).
  • Snacks of nuts, chips, leftovers from the previous day.
Other Useful Stuff:
  • Documentation (and a file to store it all) that you'll need at the border - this is what we used, but do a bit of research as it may change.
  • A pen and some paper - often the border posts won't have pens, and it's much easier if you can whip out your own pen to write with.
  • Make sure your spare tyre is pumped up. We were lucky and I only lost a hubcap. But you don't want to be stranded in the middle of Namibia with no spare tyre, as lots of the roads are dirt.
  • If you're into your photography, bring along your camera stuff. Namibia is an incredibly photogenic country! Try to limit yourself to one, multi-purpose lens*, because you don't want to be changing lenses in the middle of a sandstorm.
  • Take a set of socks for every day that you think you'll be wearing socks, and then add a few extra pairs for luck. Walking around with half the desert in your shoes isn't great.
  • Take as little camping stuff as possible when you have to unpack and re-pack every day.
  • A little dustpan and brush is useful for keeping your tent relatively clean. And put a brick of soap into your tent when you wrap it up to keep it smelling fresh!
Tent in dusty setting

Do you have any tips for when you're camping? I'd love to hear them in the comments below!

If anyone wants to sponsor me this Tamron lens with a Nikon mount, I would be more than willing to accept!


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