Walvis Bay
All off-road vehicles and quad-bike enthusiasts visiting the coast this year are once again reminded to be extremely careful when doing such activities. This is according to the Walvis Bay Municipality that is urging visitors to only enter or drive in areas they are allowed to preserve Namibia’s breathtaking coastline, dunes and living organisms.
However, a permit is required for off-road or dune excursions by quad bike or four-wheel drive vehicles. Permits and identifying stickers are available free of charge at the Ministry of Environment and Tourism offices in Swakopmund (tel. 404 576) and Walvis Bay (tel. 205 971/2) and Dare Devil Adventures at Langstrand. No vehicles other than emergency services are allowed to drive in vegetated and fenced-off areas.
Quad bikes must be licensed and riders must wear helmets at all times. Quad bikes are only allowed in the central dune belt between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay as demarcated by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. Motorbikes and quad bikes, other than registered tour operators with permission, are not allowed in the following areas:
• They should not at all enter the beach stretch between the Swakop River and Sandwich Harbour (including Pelican Point), the low water mark and the first crest of the western side of the sea-facing dunes between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay up to the Kuiseb Delta.
They should also not enter any unproclaimed roads or tracks on the eastern edge of the dune belt, any gravel plains, or anywhere in the Swakop River.
However, four-wheel drive vehicles are allowed near the beach area north of Langstrand up to the Swakop River mouth. But no quad bikes or four-wheel drive vehicles are allowed between the northern edge of the Langstrand Resort and the southern tip of the Afrodite Beach development.
The central dune area between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay may be accessed from the demarcated corridors opposite Langstrand, Dolphin Beach and at Dune 7.