Hello readers! You know what’s more fun than taking two toddlers on a four hour road trip? Doing it every other day for two weeks on gravel roads! Welcome to Namibia, where we traveled around in a Toyota Hilux (aka Tacoma) for 16 days exploring the coasts, deserts and safari lands of a beautiful country. To be honest, I’m not sure if the kids or I complained more about the drives. Poor Madeline had to keep “three” children occupied and fed during long days while simultaneously navigating me around a foreign country WITH A PHYSICAL PAPER MAP. Yes, we are still married.
Podcast below. At this point I think Madeline and I are doing this so that we have an excuse to drink wine.
Where Are We?
Our next stop in Africa is Namibia, which only became a country 35 years ago with independence from South Africa in 1990. The country is massive with very few people: ~4 Million, and is 4 people per km2. For perspective, that is 1/10th the USA’s ~40/km2 population density, meaning we would drive for hours without seeing another car or sign of human life. It’s most known for its beautiful landscapes, deserts (Namib, Kalahari) and Etosha National Park in the north, which is home to a host of animals that we got unintentionally close with.
I’m setting you up for the obvious question: Why on Earth would you bring two young children to the middle of no where Africa for long drives and landscapes? I think there were three main reasons:
- Ease of Access – Namibia is safe and easily accessible by self-drive car. We wanted to go somewhere in Africa that wasn’t 100% centered around Safari’s and a common response was to look at Namibia. Everyone was genuinely nice and helpful and we felt very welcome as a family traveling here.
- Etosha National Park – Etosha is the huge national park in the north and is the perfect place to take young kids on Safari for two reasons: No Malaria and the park can be self-driven. While we would love to go on a safari with a knowledgable guide, we wanted to be realistic with the attention span of a two and four year old. The chance of them doing an early morning drive for six hours in an open air Land Rover without at least one melt down scaring away the animals is close to nil.
- The Grand Tour (Top Gear) – Ok, so this has nothing to do with kids, but if you haven’t, go and watch Season 1, Episodes 7 and 8 of The Grand Tour on Amazon Prime. The hosts build custom beach buggies and drive from the bottom of the country to the top. Watching it is what made me Google Namibia in the first place and add it to our list of destinations. Our trip wasn’t quite as crazy, but we had our fair share of adventures and washboard roads.
In total, we drove over 3000km ( ~1900 Miles) in our two weeks. I’ve made several jokes about the long drives, but in truth the kids did amazing and we were so in awe of the landscapes and what animal we might see out the window that it didn’t “feel” like they were long drives. We elected to use a travel agent for booking/planning this portion of the trip. Tim with Speke Travel was amazing and made it all super easy with route maps, emergency phone and everything we would need. As planners ourselves, it was hard to hand that off to someone else, but we were very happy to have Tim, who traveled with his young kids around Africa many times, plan it for us. Seriously, if you are thinking of going to anywhere in Southern Africa and want to hit the easy button, use him.
Our Route
Favorite Experiences
Here were some of our favorite activities from the trip! I put these on the map above with our route if you want links and more information.
Places
- Sossusvlei– If you Google “Namibia”, the first 10 images will be of this National Park with the petrified trees (Deadvlei) on the salt flats and the large, red dunes of the Namib desert behind. The photos don’t do it justice, this place was spectacular and hiking up the Big Daddy dune is a must (we put Mae and Emmett in backpacks for this). The kids where less enthused, but did have fun watching desert creatures scurry around and play in the sand.
- Swakopmund Waterfront – As the midpoint in our driving around Namibia, we elected to spend a few extra days (four total) in the costal town of Swakopmund. There are plenty of extreme sports and skydiving opportunities for older families, but for us, the strolls along the waterfront path and the jetty were a good reprieve from the bumpy roads. We also liked have a break from the lodges we were staying in where, despite being in the middle of nowhere, you could feel trapped since there was literally no where else to go other than the small compound you were on.
- Lodge Damaraland – This was our bougie lodge stop along the way and had the best food, awesome family room accommodation and amazing staff that all engaged the kids. They lovingly called Emmett “King Lion” since he was in a pretending-to-be- a-lion phase and brought out a whole Duplo safari set for Mae (“Little Lion” due to her baby lion noises) to play with in the mornings. We enjoyed the place so much that we ended up forgoing a day hike in the area (and extra 3 hours of driving) to just stay and relax by the pool. We ended the day with a phenomenal sundowner walk from the lodge with a local guide who taught us about all of the local flora and fauna and treated us to Gin and Tonics on the top of a mountain at sun down.
- Etosha National Park – I could write an entire blog post about our experiences over three days of self-drive safaris in Etosha. Each day, despite traveling many of the same roads, was an entirely new and special experience that began with leaving our tented accommodations at 6:30am to get in the park at sun rise. Armed with a map and a checklist of animals in the park, which Mae kept track of for us, we would set out to drive between the dozens of watering holes spread throughout the park. A few highlights:
- Watering Hole at Dusk – Our first night in the park we stayed till just before sunset waiting at the Okaukuejo watering hole, which is one of the fenced havens you can actually stay at the park and get food at. We sat for almost an hour with the kids watching herds of zebra, elephant and springbok migrate in from across the plains while a huge male lion watched from the brush on top of a ridge. It felt like the quintessential Africa experience.
- Trapped by Elephants – While not on my 2025 bucket list, being trapped on a road between two herds of elephants was definitely a memorable one. We ran into a herd of 30+ elephants taking their sweet time crossing the road and snacking on the surrounding bush so we tried to turn around to take an alternative route only to be faced with another herd of elephant. After a good 20 minutes, one herd started moving our way, forcing us to make a mad dash past the original herd to freedom. We were within a few feet of a massive elephant that watched us slowly scoot by without flinching.
- Cheetah’s Playing – We were driving along one of the main roads when two Cheetah’s darted across the road. We slowed to watch two big cats rassle with each other in the underbrush a few yards from us.
- Waterberg Wilderness – We sadly only had one night here but it made a huge impression. This is a reserve focused on rhino conservation. It was verdant green area with red rocks jutting out and felt like being on another planet. I want to come back to Namibia specifically to go back here and do the rhino drives. Oh, and Etosha again.
Food (& Wine)
Most of our food in Namibia was through the accommodations. When the nearest “restaurant” is over two hours away, there wasn’t another option. Luckily they mostly had great food and were willing to make the kids any dish they wanted. We opted for them to just a half of the adult set menu meal, which meant they picked at the carbs and then I had to eat three meals so we weren’t “that” family wasting food in Africa. I’ve never eaten that much red meat in my life. There were a few places worth mentioning along the way that we stopped at for lunches:
- McGregor’s Bakery – This bakery in the literal middle of no where is famous for their apple pie and being visited by the unrelated Ewan McGregor. The link between Star Wars and Namibia made this a must hit and the pie lived up to its name. The “town” of Solitaire that it is in is definitely worth a stop and feels like the Wild West.
- Cactus and Coffee Teagarden – Another random oasis in the middle of a desert. This place was a really cool shaded cactus garden with fountains the kids could play in (or if you are Emmett, wash cars in). It was a good place to try Namibian kapana (grilled meat with sweet pepper chutney) and pap (corn meal, think thick polenta, but white corn).
- Lighthouse Restaurant – This place in Swakopmund made the list not for the food but proximity to an awesome playground and the beach. The beer was cold, fish cakes were fried and Madeline and I got an hour of adult time while the kids played next door.
Family Moments
- Dune Run – Apart from the views, the big reward of hiking the nearly 1000 vertical feet up Big Daddy Dune in Sossuvlei is the part where you get to run down one side of it to the salt flats. The kids were nervous at first, but once we showed them how it was done, they were laughing and running down (or in Emmett’s case scooting/crawling) on their own. We all got to be kids for a minute.
- Kids Watching Elephants Have a Bath – Whenever we found some animals that we wanted to watch in Etosha, we would pull over and let the kids unbuckle and sit on our laps to watch. Emmett would use the “‘noculars”, looking in the wrong end of course and Mae would talk about the detailed family dynamics of which animal was the mom and which was the kid. We sat watching a pair of elephants bathe in a wateringhole and when almost an hour later we decided to move on, it was the kids who were sad and wanted to stay watching longer.
- Per Mae (4 Yr Old): Favorite moment were “Dune” and “Elephants” – Mae loved the elephants and after we left a herd she would immediately ask when we could see more elephants.
- Per Emmett (2 Yr Old): Favorite moment was “zebra” – Emmett got a “special treat” and we turned his carseat around to forward facing while in the park. He lost his mind spotting animals out his window and loved the zebra that always seemed to be closest to the road.
Tips & Lessons Learned
This is where we put all of the things we learned along the way about traveling in the region as well as traveling in general with toddlers.
About Namibia:
- Driving – There’s a lot to say about driving in Namibia. First, there are a lot of gravel roads, so make sure you have a 4-wheel drive rental with spare tire (ours had two) and air-down the tires when getting to the gravel area for better ride and traction. We were also warned not to wait too long between fill ups since, especially in southern Namibia, the nearest gas station may be +100km away, oh and it may be out of gas.
- Book Early – For the high season of June-August (cooler weather and best time for Etosha) you need to book early. We booked in January for our July trip and things were already filled up.
- Stay Close to Attractions – If booking early enough, stay as close as possible to any early morning jaunts. While we were “close” to Sossusvlei, it was still a 1.5 hour drive to the dune. Staying inside the first gate gets you access before dawn for early driving. Similar with Etosha, staying in the park would have saved us 30 min of driving in and out everyday.
About Traveling with Toddlers:
- Drive During Nap Time– Even with all the distractions in the world, kids get bored on road trips. We were able to survive our daily +4hr drives by leaving often after lunch and allowing the incessant vibration of the car rock the kids to sleep and give us at least a few hours of not asking for water or saying they are bored. The rest of the time, their Yoto players and headphones kept them entertained.
- At Least 2 Nights – We moved around a lot in Namibia and it felt like all we did was pack and unpack. Apart from the occasional need to be close to the airport for an early flight, we’ve sworn off one night stays as brutal.
Closing
Thanks for reading everyone! We are heading to Zimbabwe and short stay in Botswana next for family volunteer work, Victoria Falls and more elephants.
I’m loving your updates and photos!
So amazing! Thank you for sharing
You make me feel like I’m right there with you! Excellent writing, Alec. I can’t wait for the next installment.
Thanks Becky! I’m glad you are enjoying it, it’s been a fun way for us to document it as well!