Sat Jul 25 2026

Windhoek to Namibgrens

By Will

Our first taste of the desert.

We woke up and had a nice breakfast in Arebbusch Travel Lodge. Ate too much but it was the girls’ first experience of a hotel buffet, so had to be done! We’d recommend it as a good place to stay for a family in Windhoek (I had originally booked a different place, but luckily found out a few days prior that booking.com had cancelled the booking without telling me because my credit card expired and got renewed between booking and staying!)

Warthog 4x4 collected us and walked us through the vehicle - an absolute beast. A Toyota Land Cruiser fully decked out for 4x4 adventures, with a couple of rooftop tents and another ground tent and all the gear.

After the expected payment issues we were on our way! First stop Namibgrens Guest Farm.

We left Windhoek and the sealed roads, and within 30 minutes saw a family of bush pigs (mum and two babies) trotting along the side of the road. It felt like we were in the set of the Lion King. Hakuna Matata! We were definitely in Africa!

200km of mostly gravel roads, we arrived at Namibgrens Guest Farm. It was in the middle of nowhere and we were greeted by Karlz, the friendly owner, who told us we’d love it and remember to just sit down, have a beer on a rock and relax. Enjoy the moment. Boy was he right!

We were the only campers and had an enormous area nestled within 270 degrees of rock escarpments. After setting up the tents for the first time with little drama, we climbed the rocks to watch the sunset (only to come back down again, freaked out by the steep ascent and precarious boulders). We found a suitable spot and watched the sun going down as a troop of baboons approached our campsite, and a load of furry critters appeared on the rocks above us. It was a spectacular sunset!

This is a certified ‘dark sky’ - one of the darkest places on earth, but we happened to turn up when the moon cast a shadow brighter than we often see from the sun in a British winter! So no view of the Milky Way (maybe the photos will prove better when they are eventually sorted out).

It started to get cold, so we headed to bed for the first night of camping in an African winter!