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FORBIDDEN DIAMOND ROUTE OF THE NAMIB

 UNIQUE, IN SO MANY WAYS

You will drive directly north from Luderitz through the active Namdeb Diamond concession area,  experience the romantic mystique that surrounds the oldest desert in the world, the amazing star-filled night skies, the unforgettable beaches, driving the ocean of giant sand dunes and specifically endeavouring to follow some of the various routes, as close as legally possible, the legendary Mose Kahan used for his explorations and diamond prospecting.

The FORBIDDEN DIAMOND ROUTE of the NAMIB is a UNIQUE, NEW ROUTE never offered commercially to the public before. 

COMBINE THESE FACTORS AND YOU HAVE A MUST VISIT DESTINATION.

Shortly after leaving Luderitz you will visit the remains of a deserted diamond mine before continuing north, past Kegel Mountain, over the salt-mudflats at Anigab to Hottentots Bay. Here, to this very day, diamonds are still commercially mined. We will pass Blue Mountain before reaching Gibraltar, 26° latitude south, the official border between Spergebied I and Spergebied 2.

The first two evening’s en-route on the FORBIDDEN DIAMOND ROUTE of the NAMIB we will set camp in very close proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, enjoying the beauty this desolate coastline has to offer. This will be followed by two evenings under amazingly clear skies, where it feels as if you can reach out and touch the stars, surrounded by the most amazing sand dunes.

THE NAMIB ......the amazing desert

The word Namib originates from the Nama language and means “Vast Place”.  The Namib Desert is the world’s oldest desert, approximately 270 000 square km in size and is situated on the south western coast of Africa, mainly in Namibia and has no permanent inhabitants. It is also home to some of the highest sand dunes in the world. The older dunes are tinted red by iron oxidation and small pieces of garnets, over millions of years, while the younger dunes in turn are lighter and greyer in colour.

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The Forbidden Diamond Route of the Namb is facilitated by

The average width of the Namib Desert stretching into the main land is between 100 and 130km. It is within this dune belt that one will encounter various types of dunes namely; Linear, Barchans, Crescentic and Parabolic dunes. The Namib is unique and the only place where you will find phenomena like majestic sand mountains, moving dunes, fossilized driftwood, deserted diamond settlements, discarded machinery of the time, skeletons, ancient granite mountains and shipwrecks.

Various types of animals and small creatures have adapted to live in the inhospitable environment like oryx, ostriches, jackals and brown hyena, as well as various beetle species, spiders, dune ants, insects, snakes, lizards. The coastal dunes between northern Namaqualand and Walvis Bay are the only place in the world where the dune lark can be seen. It is also home to the white-breasted and Cape cormorants, black oyster catchers, kelp and Hartlaub gulls, plover and numerous wading species.

The low rainfall in the Namib Desert is due to the cold Benguela Current and the seasonal prevailing winds throughout the desert. The average annual rainfall along the coastal zone is approximately 10 mm and 50mm in the interior. The desert vegetation and numerous animal species have adapted to survive in these harsh conditions and mostly rely on the regular fog rolling in from the ocean as fresh water is a very scarce commodity.

Generally the temperatures in the coastal zone is quite acceptable with the average day temperatures of approximately 25°C and evenings approximately 13°C. This is due to the cool south westerly winds off the cold Atlantic Ocean. Inland however is a different story altogether. The day temperatures can easily reach 40°C with the sand reaching temperatures of around 75°C. These are a few of the interesting fact about the Namib Desert, some of which we will see and experience on a visit to this unique place on earth.