Moon Landscape and Welwitschia Drive

East of Swakopmund the Swakop river has cut the dark schist into a maze of ridges and gullies with nothing growing on it, which is why it is called the moon landscape. Beyond it a marked route with numbered stops runs across the gravel plains past lichen fields, dolerite dykes and welwitschia, the two-leaved plant that grows only in this desert and lives for well over a thousand years; the largest on the route is estimated at around fifteen hundred years old.

What you actually see

• The moon landscape - eroded schist ridges and gullies along the Swakop valley.
• The welwitschia - two-leaved desert plants, the largest around 1,500 years old.
• The lichen fields - lichen on the gravel that revives when fog rolls in.
• The numbered route - a marked drive with interpretive stops across the plains.

When to go

March to October is the cooler window. Morning fog off the coast is common and revives the lichens, which is worth seeing. Midday flattens the light on the ridges.

Honest expectations

A permit from the park office in Swakopmund is required for the Welwitschia Drive and is checked. Driving off the marked tracks destroys lichen that takes decades to recover. There is no water, fuel or shade on the route.

Nearby

Swakopmund is west, and the Namib gravel plains run south.