Solo travel in Namibia

Namibia is a safe, tourist-friendly country with excellent infrastructure despite its sparse habitation, so as a solo traveller you don’t need to worry about safety. As a solo traveller you have the option of joining an organised safari tour to travel in a group, or you can travel completely solo, hiring a car and driving yourself around.

Highlights

If you like to be around other travellers, then the best places to explore as a solo traveller are the most popular ones: Etosha National Park in the north and Sossusvlei and Swakopmund in central Namibia. In each of these places you’ll find camps and lodges where you can meet up with other travellers, and a host of activities on offer where you can join up with other groups. In northern Namibia, the Zambezi Region, which is popular with overlanders and backpackers, is another place where you’ll easily be able to meet up with other travellers.

Seeing lions, elephants and rhino on guided game drives in Etosha National Park, meeting new friends around the fire at a camp in the Zambezi Region, skydiving, sandboarding and drinking beer with locals in Swakopmund, soaking up the silence and timeless beauty of the desert atop a dune in the sand sea of Sossusvlei.

Practical advice

• The only thing that you really need to be aware of as a solo traveller in Namibia is long driving distances in remote areas – you will often drive for hours without coming across a gas station or town. Make sure that your lodge or hotel knows to expect you in case you have a breakdown.

• It’s also a good idea to tell someone where you’re going if you head off from your lodge or camp on a day hike. If possible, join up with a guided hike or find someone to hike with, as it’s much safer to hike in a pair or a group in case of an emergency.