Dunes and surf
Golden sand running into the Atlantic.
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Sandwich Harbour is an area on Namibia's Atlantic coast south of Walvis Bay, with a bay in the north and a lagoon in the south. Here tall Namib dunes meet the ocean directly, one of the country's most dramatic sights, and the lagoon is best known for its birdlife. It may have been named after an English whaling ship that worked here in the 1780s, or the name may be a corruption of a German word for a kind of fish. It was formerly a modest port for whaling and fishing. The Royal Navy surveyed it in the 1880s and judged it far inferior to Walvis Bay. In the 1930s an ambitious project set out to build a guano island, but jackals crossed at low tide and chased the birds away, leaving only the manager's house. It became a Ramsar Site on 23 August 1995. The lagoon measures 3.7 km long and 1 km wide, fed by brackish water seeping under the dunes, which supports large reed beds at its edge. You see golden dunes running down to the waves, green and blue pools between sand and water, and waterbirds along the shore. The site lies about 44.5 km from Walvis Bay and 75.8 km from Swakopmund in a straight line. It sits within Namib-Naukluft National Park, and entry needs a permit. Access is by four-wheel drive over sand and depends on the tide, so go with an experienced local operator and do not attempt it alone.
Golden sand running into the Atlantic.
Reeds and brackish water.
Waterbirds along the shore.
South of Walvis Bay, Namibian coast
No, access is by four-wheel drive over sand and depends on the tide, best with a local operator.
Yes, as the site lies within Namib-Naukluft National Park.