3100 clicks in 15 days seems trivial to me, especially in wide open spaces like Namibia - a couple of hours driving per day on average. I can't imagine how you could do it for much less if you want to see some country.
True, but the TA had us staying a couple of nights in most places and then driving 4 to 5 hours the next day. Another website I found suggests that with sightseeing, etc. most of these drives would be more like 6 to 7 hours. Still doable but more of a challenge in a 2x2 during/after rain.
4x4s are very common in Namibia. Toyota Fortuners are extremely common, while HiLux and Ford Ranger dual-cabs are often set up as campers. The main dirt roads are very good and certainly don't require 4x4. My experience was only in the dry season - but if and how wet the wet season in the desert of Namibia is may be moot. Like arid inland Australia, I expect heavy rain would stop everything.
If you had any thought of getting off the main dirt roads, I'd say get a 4x4 for the peace of mind. I got onto a back road from Karibib to the Welwitschia (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welwitschia) (well worth a visit IMO) and through to Swakopmund that en route petered out to a track at one point that technically I probably should not have been on without a permit but even that probably would have been passable (slowly) in a larger 2WD.
I can't recall thinking fuel costs were an issue. I had a Ford Ranger diesel 4 cylinder and fuel economy was good. I can't recall what fuel cost but I don't think it was outrageous.
You'd have no trouble getting from Fish R, N through Sossusvlei, Sesrien, Solitaire to Swakopmund in a 2WD. If you do go 2WD, make sure to slow down at livestock grids. Some of them can be quite a bump - but great fun for almost getting airborne at speed in a tough 4x4
. They also narrow quite a lot relative to the generally very wide dirt roads. This is all trivial for an Australian used to driving on the left and who probably has some experience on dirt, but by all accounts it's mainly where Europeans come badly to grief. They probably slam on the brakes as they approach the suddenly narrow grid, hit the bump and over they go. I saw one fresh rollover (a 4x4 - in the wrong hands they are probably more vulnerable than a 2WD) N of Sossusvlei with the victims being dusted off by helo.
Thanks for the thoughts on 2WD vs 4x4. If it was dry season I would have no hesitation with a 2WD but as it is the wet a 4x4 would obviously be better.
The rental car companies will most likely want you to view their awareness video. I refused it as a waste of their time and mine, pointing out that we drive on the left here, I was fully accustomed to driving on dirt in Australia and used to a 4x4. They accepted that. The cautionary stuff is really directed at Europeans who by and large haven't a clue about such things.
Thanks for that. Having seen the way some Europeans (read Italians and Spanish) drive on bitumen, it's no wonder they get into trouble on dirt. While no expert on 4x4s I have driven the Bloomfield Track, Fraser Island, many back roads, etc., and drove one for work for more than 10 years, so I have a bit of an idea what they/I can & can't do.
Remember - Africa is not for sissies, as it says on the T-shirts
. The dirt driving in the tough Ranger was some of the better driving fun I've had
. But, that said, I was flying solo
.
