Sandwich Harbour
Dunes meet the ocean at Sandwich Harbour
42 km south of Walvis Bay Sandwich Harbour is situated. The name Sandwich Harbour refers to the former harbour as well as the lagoon. Sandwich harbour is only accessible by 4x4. Guided tours from Walvis Bay are offered.
Specifications
Dune driving
The harbour was founded in 1486 already by Portuguese sailors. It is not known what importance the harbour had at that time. There are sources that claim that there was a moderately sized commercial port based around whaling and small scale fishing during the 19th century. In 1884 the hard to reach harbour gained more importance as a supply harbour for the colony German South-West-Africa. This only lasted a few years as it was replaced by the harbour in Swakopmund. Today Sandwich Harbour is of touristic interest and does not refer to the forgotten harbour, but solely to the lagoon.
The lagoon used to be an oceanic bay and was reachable from the coast. As the bay silted up the 10 km long lagoon is now surrounded completely by sand and reeds. The main attraction of the lagoon is the incredible abundance of birdlife and the attractive landscape of contrasting sea and dunes. The huge bird colony is home to some 200,000 birds mainly terns, flamingos, cormorants and pelicans.
Sandwich Harbour Tours
Many tour operators offer trips to Sandwich Harbour. It is only reachable by 4x4 from Walvis Bay. Access to the lagoon can be further hampered by high tide, which means that not all scheduled tours are able to reach the lagoon or that guests have to walk the last stretch.
We recommend the exciting tours with Sandwich Harbour 4x4.