On our way to Swakopmund we made a quick stop at Solitaire.
Along the road we witnessed a lot of old car wrecks, probably one of the raisons why many people find it a pittoresk place.
Not much to see in reality, but there’s a petrol station and the Moose McGregor bakery with famous apple pie, which we didn’t try.
We filled up the tank and continued our trip. It was going to be a long rough & tough (350km) drive turned out afterwards.

First 150km were interesting, crossing the Gaub Pass and the Kuiseb river. The rocky hills sometimes looked like they were carved by humans. Entering the Namibia Naukluft National Park the road started to look like a Suisse Emmental cheese. Potholes everywhere and our jeep started to dance and jump around like crazy. This was the moment you realise why one invented a 4×4 modus. Once switched to all wheel drive our Toyota found back his stability and we continued at a steady pace. Only 80km left we drove straight into a sandstorm. Visibility dropped to nearly zero and little dunes began to form on the road. At first i thought they would be soft sandy hills, but with riding over them, i quickly realised they were little nasty things that are best to avoid.

We were really very happy when we finally arrived at the Strand hotel in Swakopmund after such an exhausting drive. We took a refreshing shower and walked along the beach to the Jetty, a bar/resto on a pier to grab some food and drinks.
The city itself looked like a German one with plenty of ‘bierstube’ and German shops. A bit of a bummer after our previous days surrounded by nature and calm.
But hey, tomorrow we are going to see Walvis bay!