How to Visit Sossusvlei on a Budget Without Driving

I struggled to find a way to get to Sossusvlei from the Namibian capital Windhoek on the cheap… but got there in the end after several days of research, and piecing everything together myself.

The cheapest tours I could find from the capital were a whopping £550, and once I’d crunched the numbers on renting a 4WD for 3 days, driving down, exploring, staying for 2 nights, driving back and refilling with petrol, this option was hardly cheaper as a solo traveller.

If you have friends to split costs with, then driving can be cheaper. But if you’re on your own, that’s also gonna blow a hole in your bank balance.

You can rent a cheaper 2WD instead, but will have to stump up an additional $18 USD for a return shuttle to take you from the 2WD car park in the Namib Desert to Deadvlei and Sossusvlei themselves, and you face a higher risk of maintenance issues.

And the budget option? I ended up renting camping equipment in Windhoek, taking a shuttle to Sesriem (returning 2 days later), staying at Sossus Oasis campsite for 2 days, and booking a half-day tour with Adventure Centre at Sossusvlei Lodge.

It took a little extra effort. But I’m going to dive into the costs and exactly what you can expect in more detail below.

How Much it Cost me to Visit Sossusvlei

Below is a full breakdown of everything I spent. You can expect to pay a similar amount. Read the notes underneath for a full understanding of the figures, and extra costs you may pay.

• Camping equipment for 3 days/2 nights: N$569 (£25.89 or US$34.94)
• Shuttle from Windhoek to Sesriem: N$790 (£36.19 or US$48.54)
• Two nights at Sossus Oasis campground: N$430 (£19.64 or US$26.34)
• A 6-hour tour from Sossusvlei Lodge: N$1,370 (£63.46 or US$85.13)
• Shuttle back to Windhoek: N$790 (£35.95 or US$48.20)
• Total costs: N$3,949 (£181.13 or US$243.15) + food

Note 1: You’re also meant to pay for a compulsory “breakfast basket” if you aren’t staying at Sossusvlei Lodge. This costs a whopping N$180 (£8.24 or US$11.05). They reluctantly waived this fee for me after I explained I have dietary requirements and can’t accept the breakfast without knowing what’s in it.

They weren’t happy and it took a fair bit of pushback. So just be aware you may have to pay this additional cost, or put up a bit of a fight to get it removed. After seeing flies walking all over the food later on, I’m glad I didn’t pay for this…

Note 2: I’ve omitted food costs as they’ll vary by person. I spent around £10-15 for a ballpark reference figure. I bought snacks and water from Windhoek. There is a small convenience store at Sossus Oasis by the petrol station though, food there generally costs 1.5-2x what it does in Windhoek but saves you the hassle of lugging it from the capital.

Note 3: You may notice that I paid N$790 both my shuttle to Sesriem, and the return journey to Windhoek, but the converted costs are slightly different. This is because I booked the shuttles two days apart. I left the differing prices in to make you aware of potential currency fluctuations. Also know that there’s no discount for booking multiple journeys at once.

What You Need to Book For This Trip to Work – And How to do it

There are a few pieces of the jigsaw that need placing together for everything to run smoothly during this budget-friendly trip. And here’s what you need to sort, with the exact methods I used to arrange everything for my own trip.

• Hire camping equipment from Adventure Camping Hire in Windhoek. Do this the day before your trip (or earlier since they close on weekends). Contact them on WhatsApp: +264 81 129 9135.
• Book a tour from Sossusvlei Lodge in Sesriem. Do this first to make sure there are tours running when you go. Email their tour company “Adventure Centre” at [email protected].
• Book shuttles to Sesriem and back. Do this after confirming your tour, and make sure you book early enough for them to not sell out. Book on the Go2.na website. There’s no discount for booking multiple journeys in one go, but do it anyway to avoid hassle.
• Book a camping spot at Sossus Oasis. Do this last. Book early enough to make sure they aren’t full, but even if Booking says they are (as they did when I went), contact them anyway as they may have more space. Book with the link I just provided, but if they have no space, email [email protected] and hopefully they’ll sort you out instead.

I booked everything very last minute and it worked out. This isn’t recommended. Sossus Oasis had no space left according to Booking, and I had to push my trip back a day as the shuttle also had no availability.

Just make sure you can do all these things on your planned dates before committing to booking everything. You don’t want to book the tour and campsite, only to find the shuttle has no room.

A Complete Guide Detailing my Budget Sossusvlei Trip

Here are my exact experiences of this adventure, with all details included.

Day 0: Preparation and Renting Camping Equipment in Windhoek

The trip will take 3 days in total, and you’ll have to return to Windhoek afterwards to return your camping equipment. After much searching, I couldn’t find anywhere that would rent equipment in Windhoek and let me return it to Swakopmund, my next planned destination.

This is the only reason I came back to Windhoek afterwards.

Anyway, I needed a day to prepare, that’s why I’m calling this “day 0”.

I did two things on day 0. I rented my camping equipment from Adventure Camping Hire, located at 8 Acacia Street, a little out the way of where you’re likely to be staying in the Namibian capital. It should cost you N$20-30 (£1-1.50 roughly) to reach if you book a taxi on InDrive.

The other thing I did was stocking up on food and water at Model Supermarket. There are other supermarkets you can use though, it comes down to personal preferences.

You can contact Adventure Camping Hire on WhatsApp to let them know you’re coming, and receive an updated price list. Their number is +264811299135.

Once at the shop, they have a booklet with images of all the equipment then have available to rent out. You don’t need 95% of stuff from there.

As a solo traveller I had to think purely about what I could carry all the way from Windhoek to Sesriem alone, and back of course.

In the end I settled for the 2.1×2.1 igloo tent for 2 people (N$115 x 3 nights), a single mattress (N$28 x 3 nights), and a sleeping bag (a fixed price of N$140 for 7 days).

Even in the winter (mid-June) I didn’t need to borrow a blanket, and I didn’t require any of their many car or cooking supplies either.

I ended up taking two rucksacks full of my stuff, two plastic bags full of food and drink attached to my back rucksack with a carabiner, the sleeping bag and mattress in one hand (both light to carry fortunately, but bulky), and the tent and poles in my other hand (quite heavy in all honesty).

In hindsight, I would’ve left one of my rucksacks at the hostel I stayed in (the excellent Chameleon Hostel – Windhoek’s only proper backpackers’ hostel). I thought I would need lots of extra clothing for the cold winter nights, but two layers + the sleeping bag were just about enough.

I used InDrive to lug all this stuff to the hostel, then again to the Windhoek Truckport the following day (this is where the shuttle leaves from). The only real walk I had with everything was around 10 minutes from the shuttle stop at Sossus Oasis, to the campsite itself. Well, longer than 10 minutes with all this added weight…

As mentioned, I also went to Model supermarket to stock up on supplies. If you’re happy to pay slightly more, you’re better off bringing minimal supplies and making do with the Sossus Oasis convenience store for 2 days. It doesn’t have a lot, but there’s enough there to make do with the basics, and given the weight you’ll be carrying, it’s the better option.

Get an early night in before your tour. You’ll need it.

Day 1: An Early Shuttle to Sesriem, and Setting up Camp

On day 1, I woke up at 5:30am. Perhaps I could’ve slept a little longer, but with all the camping equipment to drag around, and not knowing how easy it would be to get a taxi at 6ish, I decided it’s better to be 1 hour early (well, 30 minutes early as it turned out) than 1 minute late.

The shuttle leaves at 7am from Windhoek Truckport. It’s easy to find. It has Go2 Namibia branding on the side.

It turns out InDrive was pretty easy to use at 6:15am. The price from Chameleon Hostel was N$27. I had a N$30 note so was always going to pay that. Not all drivers have change.

InDrive is fun. Unlike Uber or Bolt, you set a price you’re willing to pay, and drivers will come back to you with offers.

I’ve learned never to start with your preferred price up front. Drivers will just offer higher prices and you could wait a while to get a taxi.

The app will tell you a fair price straight away. So you can select that, a lower price (not recommended if you’re in a rush), or a higher price (will get you a quicker ride).

The shuttle left 15 minutes late at around 7:15am, thanks to a late duo who didn’t turn up on time… Eventually they agreed to drive to Rehoboth (the town where we would make a quick pit stop) and join the shuttle from there.

I dream of the day where I never have to deal with African timekeeping ever again…

The driver, a friendly chap called Edward, seemed pretty irate, but reluctant to leave them behind.

We stopped twice after leaving, once in Rehoboth (very quickly), then for around 15 minutes in Solitaire, a small town with Wild West vibes, famous for its apple pies which were the legacy of the late Scot, “Moose” McGregor who settled in this remote Namibian outpost.

Solitaire has a bunch of ruined cars lying in the sand. Seems cool to begin with, but it turns out they were placed there intentionally to create a vibe. So they aren’t legit desert wrecks (of which Namibia has many in more remote spots), and that gives it more of a theme park feel.

We eventually stopped at a couple of more luxury lodges, where passengers were being dropped off/picked up, and arrived at Sossus Oasis just before 1pm. The journey from Windhoek was around 5 hours 45 minutes in the end, a little longer than the 4 hours on maps, although stops contributed to that.

There’s a petrol station at the oasis. This is the drop off and pickup point for shuttles.

You have to go inside the shop to be given your camping spot number. The man in the shop was pretty grumpy and told me off for bringing my tent inside. I decided it wasn’t worth a sarcastic “well I don’t know where else to put it”.

His colleague helped show me to the campground, where I erected my tent in the sand. I had a raised stone platform outside, which even had electricity sockets. They require a type D/M plug. You can buy a converter for N$45 (just over £2) at the oasis shop.

There was even a weak mobile data connection, which was enough to let me get some work done. I hotspotted my laptop from my phone, taped my umbrella to a pole to provide some shade so my equipment didn’t overheat, and charged everything whilst writing fresh travel content.

The sun sets quickly near the equator. Within an hour, it went from warm and sunny to freezing cold and pitch black. Make sure you bring a head torch here. I don’t use mine 99% of the time, but it’s the reason I didn’t step on a scorpion on the way to the toilet by accident. So that 1% of the time, it’s invaluable to have.

The Namib Desert is a different place after sunset. Suddenly, hundreds of thumb-sized crickets that looked like giant cockroaches started crawling around, and the howls of hyenas could be heard during several occasions where I woke up in the night.

Apparently the hyenas sometimes come in the camp to scavenge for food. I didn’t dare unlock my tent…

I also made sure there were no holes in my tent for large bugs to enter. I always carry duct tape (you’ll be surprised at how useful this is), and used it to patch up an opening in the corner. Then eventually managed to sleep a little.

Day 2: My Budget-Friendly Sossusvlei Tour

Day 2 started early. I was up and out by 6:45am, ahead of the 7:15am meeting time for the 7:30am tour from Soussusvlei Lodge. Please note, the tour timings vary depending on when you go – it all revolves around the time of sunrise.

The lodge was 15 minutes from the campsite, and I needed my head torch to see the way since it was pitch black.

As I arrived, a man in a game drive vehicle coming the opposite way said “are you Alex?” It seemed like he was coming to pick me up. This wasn’t pre-arranged though, so it’s best not to assume this will happen to you. It’s not dangerous to walk if you have your head torch.

I paid for the tour at reception, and received a bemused scowl from a woman in the office, after she very reluctantly agreed to waive the N$180 “compulsory breakfast basket” fee that you had to pay ahead of the tour.

She acted like she had to pay the fee herself, whilst explaining that I could bring my own food, but would be sat with everyone on the tour, so I couldn’t not purchase the basket. Interesting logic…

After getting out of that, I waited in reception until the 9-strong tour group was together, and we got in the game vehicle. You need to wrap up warm, as it’s FREEZING at this time, even more so as we drive at speed and get blasted by the wind. There’s no shelter in the open vehicle.

I should add that the tour includes all entry fees and other nonsense you’d have to worry about if you were to drive here. It takes all the hassle out of it, which further cements this budget option as a good way to do things.

We stopped a couple of times to take pictures of the oryx and jackals we spotted roaming around. Plus at a small dune, where our guide described which animals made each of the many tracks we spotted in the sand. Snakes, lizards, mice, spiders, beetles, and larger beasts too. The Namib Desert is very active in terms of wildlife.

We continued our drive, past the famous “Dune 45” which gets its name because it’s 45km from the entrance. It was the first one that became popular to walk up.

We soon came to the 2WD car park, where anyone without a 4WD will park and pay a whopping $18 USD for a shuttle across the sand to the main attractions here. Our vehicle had no issues churning through the sand, and we made it to the other side.

Eventually, we reached the Big Daddy Dune, the most significant one here, as you can overlook Deadvlei from there.

Deadvlei is a series of scorched trees, which have an eerie appearance having been unable to decompose for over 1,000 years due to the sheer dryness of the region.

From Big Daddy, you have three options. The easy walk which takes around 20 minutes to reach Deadvlei, the “Half Daddy” walk, taking you over slightly more of the dune, or the full Big Daddy route, which is said to be tricky, and you may not even make it to Deadvlei in time if you can’t complete the walk and have to backtrack.

Avoid the tricky one on this tour. I chose the easy one, simply because I came to see Deadvlei and not test my hiking skills. In fact, 7/9 of us did, and the other two went up “Half Daddy” which they enjoyed, but it meant less time exploring Deadvlei for them.

Deadvlei is pretty cool. Namibia was my 100th country, and this was a landscape I’d never seen before. You need to walk around 6-7 minutes to get away from where 80% of the tourists gather, and find some good trees you can take pictures with undisturbed.

We were told to be done by 11:30am and meet back at the vehicle then. All tours here run very early, as it gets ridiculously hot within a couple of hours of sunrise.

We’d started out Deadvlei walk at 9:30am, and the guide said to leave our jackets behind as we’d get hot walking. I thought he was mad given how chilly it was, but after returning all hot and bothered two hours later, it was clear he gave good advice.

We then drove to Sossusvlei itself. Won’t lie, the most famous spot here wasn’t that interesting. Then we sat around a table for breakfast. I was pretty pleased to opt out when I saw flies crawling all over the food our guide placed on the table… Aside from that, it definitely wasn’t worth the N$180 fee.

Soon afterwards, we drove back to Sossusvlei Lodge, arriving back at 1:45pm, meaning the tour lasted 6 hours and 15 minutes in the end.

I walked back to the campsite, and that was it. A bit of work in the sun, then bed, and it was on this night that I encountered the scorpion mentioned earlier. Unfortunately the quality of my picture wasn’t good enough for ChatGPT to identify if this was a dangerous species or not.

Day 3: Returning to Windhoek

You need to check out of the campsite at 10:00am. I was a bit slow packing up, cut myself twice on the metal tent hooks, and took time cleaning my wounds with antiseptic wipes. No one came to boot me out though.

The shuttle back to Windhoek isn’t until 1pm however, so you have 3 hours to kill, and there’s nothing to do in the middle of the desert.

I attempted to work, only for the driver to tell me we could be leaving soon (at 11:30am) as we were only waiting for 1 more person. They arrived at 12:30pm, so we still left 30 minutes early.

Unlike our journey to Sesriem, there was only one stop on the way back, at a petrol station for 10 minutes or so.

We got back to Windhoek Truckport at 4:40pm. Adventure Camping Hire had told me to message them 30 minutes before returning, so someone could be in the office to collect the supplies I’d borrowed. It was a Sunday, and they weren’t open on Sundays, but would still expect everything back.

InDrive couldn’t find any drivers, and the super kind lady at the camping shop offered to come and collect the equipment from me at the truckport. Not only that, but she gave me a lift back to Chameleon Backpackers.

She said taxis are hard to find on Sundays as few people work that day, plus they would have expected much higher fees for coming all the way from Central Windhoek and going back.

And that was it. The end of my camping adventure, and the start of writing this blog post since all information was still fresh.

Was This DIY Namibia Adventure Worth The Effort?

I had a great time exploring Namibia this way. It was a different experience to a tour where everything’s arranged for you. Yes, it was more challenging, but to save nearly £400, I’d say it was worth it.

If there are more than one of you thinking of doing this, you may want to consider renting a car. For two people, it will probably be more expensive than my self-arranged trip. For 3+ people then rental car option is cheaper.

But to be honest, the shuttles aren’t too bad (would’ve appreciated a USB slot to charge my phone though), the tour was great, and camping was a fun experience doing something a little different.

We even got free cookies on the shuttle when heading to Sesriem, although not on the way back.

I had been concerned that this 6-hour tour would be a little brief, but that wasn’t the case at all. I saw everything worth seeing in the desert, and any extra activities would have simply been hiking up more dunes, which really isn’t a good idea when the sun starts to heat the desert up.

Namibia isn’t built for budget backpackers yet. But you can definitely have a good time at Sossusvlei by visiting using the same methods I did here.

If you don’t fancy roughing it in a tent though, there are other tours you can take to Sossusvlei, and other parts of Namibia. They are a little on the pricy side though…