Namibia
Visa
Not needed.
Arrival
Entry from Botswana
Normally entry should be very smooth, but we had to go back into Botswana to change money for the NAD 242 roadtax. All in all it took us 1h 15 min. The accepted NAD, ZAR and BWP only, no USD, EUR or cards.
Entry from South Africa (Sendelingendrift, November 2015)
Entry took about 30 min. We did not have to pay roadtax again. We asked for 1 month and got 3. A police officer spent 15 minutes inspecting the car "searching for diamonds". It was curiosity and fighting of boredom, but certainly not a sensible search. All places that are hard to access were skipped, and much time was spent on inspection of a handbag and a documents folder.
Entry from South Africa (Nata Nata, November 2015)
Smooth process, took 15 min. We asked for 1 month and got 1 month. We did have to pay the NAD 242 road tax again.
Departure
Exit to South Africa (Sendelingendrift, November 2015)
Exit took 15 minutes without issues including a brief inspecition of the car.
Exit to South Africa
Exit took 5 minutes, just a form and a stamp.
Exit to South Africa 3 (flight to Johannesburg)
Exit took 1 minute, just a form and a stamp.
Carnet and car export
Needed. Our carnet was expired when we entered Namibia, therefore we asked customs not to stamp it. This was no problem at the 3 land border crossings that we had, but it was when we wanted to ship the car out of Namibia in a container. It took half a day to get approvel, then the exit side of the expired carnet was stamped. The inspection of the car by customs was done in one minute. For the shipping agent we needed:
Insurance
TourInsure, never asked for
Money
ATM's can be found in the bigger communities and accept at least VISA and Maestro. South African Rand is accepted everywhere at a 1:1 exchange rate. We once even got some Rands out of an ATM. About 50% of the fuel stations accepts credit cards (usually all or none per city), larger supermarkets (Spar, Pick & Pay) usually do. In general the systems work, but they can be slow. Maximum ATM dispense is NAD 1500 for Windhoek Bank and NAD 2000 for other banks (Standard, FTB).
Diesel
Diesel (always 50 ppm, often als 500 ppm) is available in the larger communities and costs about € 0.70 per liter. However, between cities and in remote areas usually no fuel stations are found, so filling up really requires advance planning.
Corruption
No incidents.
Roads
In the east part of Namibia many roads are tarred, in the west most roads are gravel. Usually they are good, (C-roads and many D-roads) allowing for speeds of 70-80 km/h, but we also had some very rough ones (unnumbered ones, but also D-roads).
Other
Ofter fresh vegetables and fruits as well as bread are only available in the bigger communities. Shopping requires advance planning. It is not uncommon for Namibians to drive 150 km one way for shopping.
Not needed.
Arrival
Entry from Botswana
Normally entry should be very smooth, but we had to go back into Botswana to change money for the NAD 242 roadtax. All in all it took us 1h 15 min. The accepted NAD, ZAR and BWP only, no USD, EUR or cards.
Entry from South Africa (Sendelingendrift, November 2015)
Entry took about 30 min. We did not have to pay roadtax again. We asked for 1 month and got 3. A police officer spent 15 minutes inspecting the car "searching for diamonds". It was curiosity and fighting of boredom, but certainly not a sensible search. All places that are hard to access were skipped, and much time was spent on inspection of a handbag and a documents folder.
Entry from South Africa (Nata Nata, November 2015)
Smooth process, took 15 min. We asked for 1 month and got 1 month. We did have to pay the NAD 242 road tax again.
Departure
Exit to South Africa (Sendelingendrift, November 2015)
Exit took 15 minutes without issues including a brief inspecition of the car.
Exit to South Africa
Exit took 5 minutes, just a form and a stamp.
Exit to South Africa 3 (flight to Johannesburg)
Exit took 1 minute, just a form and a stamp.
Carnet and car export
Needed. Our carnet was expired when we entered Namibia, therefore we asked customs not to stamp it. This was no problem at the 3 land border crossings that we had, but it was when we wanted to ship the car out of Namibia in a container. It took half a day to get approvel, then the exit side of the expired carnet was stamped. The inspection of the car by customs was done in one minute. For the shipping agent we needed:
- Consignee address - a hotel in the port of arrival was accepted
- Packing list - it was a list of 10 lines: 2 bags of cloths, one box of pakked food, one box of tools ans mantenance materials, etc.
- Carnet
- Passport copy
Insurance
TourInsure, never asked for
Money
ATM's can be found in the bigger communities and accept at least VISA and Maestro. South African Rand is accepted everywhere at a 1:1 exchange rate. We once even got some Rands out of an ATM. About 50% of the fuel stations accepts credit cards (usually all or none per city), larger supermarkets (Spar, Pick & Pay) usually do. In general the systems work, but they can be slow. Maximum ATM dispense is NAD 1500 for Windhoek Bank and NAD 2000 for other banks (Standard, FTB).
Diesel
Diesel (always 50 ppm, often als 500 ppm) is available in the larger communities and costs about € 0.70 per liter. However, between cities and in remote areas usually no fuel stations are found, so filling up really requires advance planning.
Corruption
No incidents.
Roads
In the east part of Namibia many roads are tarred, in the west most roads are gravel. Usually they are good, (C-roads and many D-roads) allowing for speeds of 70-80 km/h, but we also had some very rough ones (unnumbered ones, but also D-roads).
Other
Ofter fresh vegetables and fruits as well as bread are only available in the bigger communities. Shopping requires advance planning. It is not uncommon for Namibians to drive 150 km one way for shopping.