A guided expedition of up to five days from Walvis Bay into the restricted Meob concession, run as a radio-linked convoy behind a guide who has spent decades reading this sand. You drive your own 4x4; the permits, the recovery, three meals a day and a bed each night—the beachfront Meob Lodge or its luxury tented campsite—are somebody else's problem.
This is a guided run out of Walvis Bay into one of the most restricted corners of the Namib—south past the salt pans to Paaltjies, where the Meob concession begins and the public is turned back. The pace is deliberately unhurried and the radio-linked convoy stops on request, so photographers get their light. The first day alone takes in the lagoons of the Sandwich Harbour coast, high dune viewpoints, long runs along the 'Golden Highway' where the dunes drop straight into the sea, and the wrecks of the Shawnee and the Eduard Bohlen—the latter beached in 1909 and now lying some 600 metres inland, with jackals sheltering in her ribs.
Two things anchor the trip: Meob Bay itself, and the fishing. This is permit-only water inside a protected concession, which makes the angling a genuinely rare thing—family-friendly days on an empty beach where the permits allow a set number of fish for the pot and the rest are returned unharmed, deliberately, so the fishery is never dented. Every night is spent at the beachfront Meob Lodge or its luxury tented campsite, with a kitchen that turns the day's catch into dinner.
Around all of that lies the old Diamond Area No. 2. Fischersbrunn, a natural freshwater spring, made this one of the most important points on the coast during the 1908 diamond rush, and oryx still come down to drink there. The ghost mining settlements and a lone ox-wagon sit slowly vanishing into the sand, big Cape fur seal colonies and clouds of coastal birds work the shoreline, and sundowners at the renowned Afklimbaai viewpoint—where the great dunes tumble into the Atlantic—are hard to better. For those who want it, the concession holds some of the most demanding dune driving on the coast, on the notorious Yoyo and Arre se Gat.
The last day retraces the coast back to Walvis Bay, timed around the tide—at high water the surf reaches the foot of the dunes and there is simply nowhere to drive, so the convoy runs the beach while it can before rolling back into town.
In pictures
Day by day
What the days actually look like, start to finish.
- Day 1Walvis Bay to Meob Lodge along the shipwreck coast
The group gathers on the edge of Walvis Bay for an early start, radios fitted in every vehicle, and rolls south past the salt pans to Paaltjies, where the restricted Meob concession begins. It is a full, action-packed day of driving—past the lagoons of the Sandwich Harbour coast, up to high dune viewpoints, and along the 'Golden Highway' where the dunes run straight into the sea—with stops at the wrecks of the Shawnee and the Eduard Bohlen on the way. You reach the beachfront Meob Lodge with time to spare for a camp-cooking master-class from Nessie, Armand's right-hand man.
- Day 2A permit-only fishing paradise at Meob Bay
The morning opens gently with coffee, rusks and a continental breakfast, and everyone builds a packed lunch from the table before the fishing begins. Because this is a protected concession where only permit-holders may cast a line, the angling is a genuinely rare, once-in-a-lifetime experience—one of the few places on earth where landing fish comes easier than the waiting. The fishing days are wonderfully family-friendly, with children playing on the beach, swimming and soaking up the Namibian sun, and the day's catch is what feeds the group that evening.
- Day 3Dune driving and Afklimbaai sundowners
How this day unfolds is up to the group, and more often than not the fishing simply carries on—the die-hards never quite get their fill. It is usually capped with a sundowner at the renowned Afklimbaai viewpoint, one of the coast's truly singular sights, where the great dunes tumble straight into the Atlantic and the sun sets through the sea mist. For those wanting more adrenaline, the day can also take in some of the concession's most demanding dune driving, on the notorious Yoyo and Arre se Gat.
- Days 4/5Fischersbrunn, the ghost mines and unhurried days
These days belong to the group and its own pace. Many use the time to visit Fischersbrunn, the freshwater spring that sustained the old diamond-rush years, or the abandoned mine settlements scattered among the dunes—but the shape of the later days is always yours to set, whether that means more fishing, more dune driving, or simply more of the vast Namib quiet.
- Final DayThe tide-timed drive back to Walvis Bay
The last day retraces the route back to Walvis Bay, though a little more briskly—the timing is set by the tide, which must be beaten before it closes the narrow gap between the dunes and the ocean and cuts the convoy off.
From your guide
The person who leads this trip — because on ground like this, the guide is the trip.
Armand “Wax Hom” Basson
Armand Basson has spent more than twenty-five years driving the remote corners of southern Africa, and is known across Namibia for his skill and professionalism in deep sand. You meet him the evening before departure, when he runs through the do's, don'ts and maybes of the days ahead. As a registered Namibian tour operator he holds the concession permits that open the Sperrgebiet, Rosh Pinah, the Skeleton Coast and other restricted ground — which is what makes a crossing like this possible at all. Every vehicle in his convoy carries a radio, so nobody is ever out of contact with the leader.
What the tour costs
A guided self-drive expedition: you bring the 4x4, the tour brings the permits, the guides, the kitchen and a bed each night at the beachfront Meob Lodge or its luxury tented campsite.
What's included
- Concession fees payable to the Ministry
- Park entrance and usage fees, per person per day
- Radio communication between vehicles (compulsory)
- Two or three guide vehicles, depending on group size
- Three meals a day
What to bring
- A mechanically sound 4x4 on high-flotation tyres (no tube tyres)
- Two spare wheels, a pump and a pressure gauge
- Recovery points front and rear, plus tools, spares and emergency gear
- Enough fuel — allow ±3 km/litre petrol, ±4 km/litre diesel
- Warm layers and a good jacket—desert nights are genuinely cold (beds and bedding are provided)
- At least 60 litres of water, plus 2 litres per person per day for drinking
- Two large bags of firewood and one of charcoal
- Your own cutlery and crockery, strong bags for your own waste
Departures run a few times a year, with tailor-made dates on request. A 50% deposit confirms the booking and the balance is due one month before departure. We confirm the current price, the exact dates and the vehicle requirements with the operator when we plan your trip.
A concession that pays its way
This whole crossing runs inside a restricted tourism concession in the Namib-Naukluft Park, part of the UNESCO-listed Namib Sand Sea. Only permit-holding concession operators may travel here, and every guest pays a levy toward the government and the local communities who share this coast—so the desert stays quiet, lightly travelled and protected rather than open to all comers.
The concession holders—Piet and his son PW—have built the beachfront Meob Lodge that anchors the trip, and income from tours in the area is put back into looking after it. That means keeping this fragile stretch of the old Diamond Area No. 2 intact: the lone transport manager's hut, the surfboats, the police station turned tiny museum and the ghost settlements of the early diamond rush are all slowly deteriorating in the salt air, and low-impact paying visitors are part of what keeps them standing.
The fishing is run to protect the fish—the permits allow a set number for the pot and the rest are returned unharmed—the camps leave no trace, and the numbers are deliberately small. Spending a few days on this concession helps fund the people and the permits that keep the southern Namib both accessible and cared for—exactly the kind of low-footprint travel Sandura sets out to support.
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