Rally Elan

This was our first trip with Great Road Journeys; we had booked for 2026 but whilst in Romania we had an email from Steve saying there was a cancellation for 2025 and would we like to go – so we did!

The route looked something like this – starting in Windhoek, south to the Orange River (border with South Africa), then turning north, as near to the coast as possible before turning east to Etosha National Park and return to Windhoek. Navigation was by tulips, so Allison was happy! We were given a Hilux twin cab and would follow a mix of good tarmac and generally good gravel (with a few washboard sections). The Hilux came with some warnings – we were told all trucks were tracked and in the event of an accident, our insurance would be void if we were exceeding certain speeds – and that it didn’t apply to stupidity like hitting things in a car park – so we had to be law abiding! There were two themes to this trip – wildlife and the German heritage.
The first day saw us start in a local supermarket, primarily to buy water but also any snacks or lunches we might want. Then a fairly gentle drive to a game park just north of Mariental – and a load more instructions on the use of 4WD and the penalties we might incur if we left 4WD engaged for too long! Each car had been equipped with a tool bag including a length of tow rope and in early afternoon we came across a cluster of our group trying to extract one vehicle stuck in the sand off-road where he’d stopped for lunch. It required the tow ropes from 6 cars to get enough length to pull him clear. Needless to say he was tongue-lashed at the next “Briefing” – a daily event where showman Steve held forth on the attractions of the day ahead. The hotel offered a “sundowner game drive” – an early evening drive looking for wildlife followed by drinks on a ridge as the sun went down. This one was sparsely attended so only one truck was required and we were rewarded with giraffe, various deer and their semi-captive rhinos – and drinks!
We continued south with an overnight stop at near Fish River Canyon. First stop was an oddball coffee stop at Garas Rest camp with all sorts of junk art Before reaching Fish River we stopped at the Canyon Rest Camp . .
Now nearly at our furthest point south, after the arid waste near Fish River we meet the relative greenery of Orange River. In the 1st World War, there was fighting in this area as the South African troops defeated the Germans and took control of Namibia. Aus was the site of a POW camp, now derelict and a cemetery featuring graves of both sides as well as civilians. Lunch at the Bahnhof Hotel before the run into Luderitz, named after the German governor; we stopped at a cafe in town and found ourselves chatting to a German lady off a cruise ship.
An early start for our visit to the deserted diamond mining town of Kolmanskop. Once the richest place in the country, it was abandoned in c.1955 when the water supply was switched off Now sand blows around empty winfows, piling up inside the buildings which will soon be overwhelmed. . The climate was interesting here, apart from sand trying to reclaim homes and roads, it was probably the coldest, most overcast morning of the trip but bright sunshine come the afternoon. Luderitz was a spur off our main track so we spent some time getting back to Aus before continuing to Sossusvlei. .
Our stop in Sossusvlei was to enable the energetic to get to Big Daddy sand dune (the biggest) at an acceptably cool time in the early morning – walk up and slip/slide down – as the next night’s hotel was only 50 odd km away. No way Allison could have managed the dune so after trekking in the Sesriem Canyon, we decided on a trip into the countryside and found the Neuras Winery. The guide book advised to book ahead but we were the only visitors; a tasting lunch but whilst Allison was able to undertake an extensive sampling, as driver my scope was more limited! The winery doesn’t have an export licence so we bought a few bottles to take back home.
Next day was a straight forward half day run of 300km into Swakopmund, past the once strategically important harbour of Walvis Bay. . Swakopmund retained its German heritage both in building names and in speech – Allison needed some replacement spectacle frames and whilst English was spoken, the local visitors were speaking German. The optician’s along with other shops had a restricted entry system with a gate and most doors and windows had protective metal shutters. The afternoon of our arrival and next day were rest days. So many of the group wanted to do the rest day desert flight that we opted to do it the afternoon we arrived – and we were the lucky ones! The pilot of our 5 seater plane was chatty and informative and when he heard that David, a fellow passenger, was a pilot he was given the controls and we had an excellent flight – just over 2 hours but took us all the way back over Big Daddy Dune – which looked pretty insignificant from the air! . This view as particularly interesting with the line of a river bed separating two different deserts – the light brown shingle to the north and the redder sand and dune to the south. We could see how the dunes were formed by wind blowing the sand up the sandy slopes until the weight became too great and the sand fell off the edge leaving sharp ridges of dune. We saw deserted mining buildings, clustered together and slowly falling victim to the relentless sand. One of the highlights was the wreck of the Eduard Bohlen from 1909, now some 400 metres inland as the sand has pushed the ocean back into the sea.
We had been warned about security – having seen the door and window grilles, we were aware of an issue; if we went out to eat in the evening fairly close to the hotel we should be ok but any further away, unless in a large group we should get a taxi back. We ate close by. Next day we started at Walvis Bay on a catamaran trip to see whales, dolphins, seals etc. Our guide had already made friends with the local birdlife . At leisure in the afternoon.
Next day we continued north, passing but not seeing the Skeleton Coast. We decided against a 90km each way trip to see more seals – those who went say a gate was locked anyway! Stopped at Damara museum of local life, very hot and apart from some dancing and a demonstration of fire lighting using dry sticks and grass (doesn’t work too well in UK) the rest passed me by.
We decided to miss the Twyfelfontein Rock Art as Allison would find the walking difficult so instead took the deviation to the petrified forest – which she didn’t go to either! This meant we were amongst the last to arrive at the hotel but we did catch some elephant near the road.
The next section was through Etosha Reserve; we would stay 2 nights in different hotels as we meander through from west to east with no particular route to follow (apart from using only proper roads – gravel of course with a 60kph maximum speed). We arrived early afternoon with 48 hour tickets and soon realised that the only viable place to see the animals was at water holes, some natural and often dry and others man-made and generally with water. In this place its all about being in the right place at the right time – so we missed the lion taking out an oryx. On a more mundane note, we were instructed not to leave the vehicles whilst in the reserve – the hotel compounds were safe but there were also numerous rest areas surrounded by high metal fences and gates, with loos and seating areas – ok you had to jump out to open and close the gates! The last watering hole was surrounded by must be thousands of wildebeest – too many to sensibly show in a small photo! Our hotel – a real architectural monstrosity (and highly expensive) was just outside the park; each room had a private and very cold pool – probably filled up that day for our arrival I guess from boreholes.
Continuing south vis Tsumeb, we visited the museum, mainly of German relics including many rescued from nearby Lake Otjikoto where the fleeing Germans dumped their supplies during WW1. . And so on to Okonjima Plains for our last night of Namibian countryside and a sundowner game drive, this time looking for Leopards. Which we found as many were tagged with radio collars so the guides drove around wearing headphones and waving a large aerial out of the windscreen. well he was sleeping until two landcruisers came up about 3 feet away from him, one each side!
And a short hop to Windhoek, return of the trucks – no damage for us though one truck was damaged going off the road to avoid a collision with another of our group; also no punctures though the group did suffer nine or ten punctures overall. A short trip into Windhoek where the main street was closed for a Christmas market before an evening flight home.
Some other super photos taken by others in our party: