The City Between the Dunes and the Ocean

Swakopmund — my second home

It’s not a place I would have selected if I had planned my moving away from home. It’s too German. Too cold the ocean. And maybe just not exotic enough. But is that true?

It happened as I didn’t have any plans in life that I got a job offer while traveling through this inconsiderable city in Namibia back in 2015. While strapping a snowboard to my feet and cruising down a sand dune I fell in love with this place.

Slowly but surely. It definitely wasn’t love at first sight. It took me some months. Maybe years to realize what this place really meant to me. I never planned on staying. I was going to do a seasonal job. Work here for three months.

I was doing what I loved. And I ended staying almost six years. Because I loved my life. I was happy. I was active. I picked up many new sports and made friends for life.

Swakopmund was a bustling party city. Back then. When tourists were flooding the streets. And youngsters like me (I was only 21) were ruling the activities in town. Pilots, skydiving instructors, and surfers were my friends. And still are.

We went rock climbing, crayfish diving, and stargazing in our free time.

But let me come back to the city. This isn’t about me. Or is it? Yes, this is my love story to a city like no other I connect with. I am not a city person. Yet I fell in love with this place.

The city center

Being a former German colony the country of Namibia doesn’t just have still a German population but also lots of buildings of that history. Old German-style houses are decorating the city center.

German-named restaurants serving traditional food are standing next to accommodation places like the “Hansa Hotel”, “Hotel Schweizer Haus” or “Hotel Deutsches Haus”.

Another advantage of the history for any beer lover are several German breweries throughout the country. Despite not having a brewery in Swakopmund anymore you can still get all the Namibian beers brewed according to the German “Reinheitsgebot”.

The oceanfront

Swakopmund is in the Namib desert. Yet the west side of town is connecting with the ocean. Some of its buildings getting regularly into trouble when the tides are high and waves keep on crashing onto the shore.

At the Mole, a small harbor has been created to prevent the beach from being washed away and to create a safe spot to swim in. The Atlantic ocean is a rough sea with lots of rip currents and dangerous depths.

Surfers are loving the waves and I can often watch them from my window catching waves in the sea. As a stand-up paddler, I’m a fan of the calmer days and spend hours on the ocean. Only when the water is flat.

Except for lots of beach bars and restaurants, there is a lovely beach walk you can do from the south side of town all the way to the new shopping mall in the north of town.

During summer and especially the holidays the beaches are packed by families with their kids and friends having a good time on and in the ocean.

The dunes

The southern border of the town is fixed. The riverbed of the Swakop river is preventing the city from expanding in this direction. Despite the last flood of the river reaching the ocean being ten years ago, this is not a place to build in.

On the other side of the riverbed, the dune belt of the Dorob National Park starts already. Dunes reaching up to one hundred meters attracting adventure enthusiasts throughout the year.

But it’s not only the adrenaline-based activities like sandboarding and quad biking you can do in this area. You can also go on a slower expedition looking for the “little five” on a living desert tour. Finding beetles, lizards, geckos, and snakes in the sand is not a challenge for most tour guides.

The endless vastness of the landscape

While Swakopmund cannot extend towards the west due to the ocean and to the south due to the riverbed and the dunes it can extend unlimitedly to the other two directions.

And it does. Grow. A lot. Even in those few years, I’ve lived here I’ve seen an incredible extension of the city. Due to its location in the desert and the flat landscape surrounding the town it has no limits on growing further.

Swakopmund does not (yet) have any skyscrapers. It used to have a rule implemented that no building is allowed to be taller than three stories. Which created this lovely charm of the city.

Due to this restriction, they would just build new houses where there was space.

These vast landscapes surrounding Swakopmund are also an attraction for many people. A shooting range, motocross tracks, a go-cart track, and many other adventure playgrounds got created.

The sky

There is something about the sky you need to know about. Being a city in the desert, Swakopmund has a lot of hot air rising from the high temperatures inland.

But due to the cold Benguela current flowing right off the coast a lot of cold air stays in town. This combination creates fog on most days of the year. Which keeps the town cool and grey.

But when the fog lifts and you can get the chance to walk around and you will get to see those incredible colors of the sky meeting with the dunes. A view second to none.

Final words

There is so much more I connect with this place but I can’t write it all down. If you’ve lived here before you’ll know what I mean. If you’ve visited the place as a tourist you might have picked up the vibe as well.

However, Swakopmund has a lot to offer. For young and old. From the adventurous adrenaline junkie to the museum’s lover. Everyone will find something to do in town.

Swakopmund is also the place I met my husband and where his family lives. Which is why we will always come back here. But also to visit all our friends. I’ve built connections to people in this town like no other. They are my second family. Away from home.

They are my new home.

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Anne Bonfert is a traveler. Photographer. Writer. Teacher. Skydiving instructor. Adventure enthusiast. Nature lover. And fell in love with the African continent.