Sossusfly – Namibia from Above

We are heading on a scenic flight
 "Sossusfly"
Namibia 2026

Namibia from Above

This time, we have decided to see Namibia from a rather different perspective and booked perhaps the most popular scenic flight in Namibia, the “SOSSUSfly”, also known as the “Sossus Scenic”.

We are going to fly for approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes, covering around 630 kilometres in our own chartered Cessna 210. According to Sossusfly, less than 20% of the route can be seen when travelling by road.

We have already driven an enormous amount in Namibia — probably more than 30,000 kilometres over our various journeys — reaching some of the most remote corners of the country. But this flight will take us over vast areas of the ancient Namib Desert that are far beyond any drivable route, as well as the southern Skeleton Coast, much of which is normally difficult to access.

One of the most exciting aspects is that we will follow the green ribbon of the Kuiseb River inland towards the Kuiseb Canyon, before crossing the desert at very low altitude and heading north along the Atlantic coast.

We visited Sandwich Harbour from the ground only yesterday (link).

Today, we are going to see it from above.

Before Take-off

Pre flight breefing
Sossusfly, Swakopmund
Namibia 2026

Our route, the red one
Sossusfly, Swakopmund
Namibia 2026

We are collected in the late afternoon from our chalets at The Stiltz and driven to Swakopmund Airport.

All four of us are excited. After all, it is not every day that you get to undertake an adventure like this.

At the airport there is plenty of activity. Small aircraft are landing and taking off, while some passengers are preparing for skydiving.

I notice our pilot checking the fuel quantity in both wings.

He remembers to screw the fuel caps back on.

Good start!

We are ready for depature
Namibia 2026

Before departure, we have provided our individual weights and signed a declaration which, I suspect, probably exempts the airline from almost everything that could possibly happen to us. ;-)

There is also one final opportunity for a biological break.

There is no toilet on this little aircraft, and certainly no stewardess.

Although, technically, I suppose I am the stewardess.

I am sitting at the back, where I can reach the small luggage compartment containing our drinks and other essentials.

My wife and sister-in-law occupy the middle seats, while my brother gets the prestigious seat next to the pilot.

My brother in copilot seat
Namibia 2026 

He has everything necessary to fly the aircraft.

He just doesn't know what any of it does.

We hope he learns quickly in the event of an emergency!

Following the Kuiseb River

Below us is the Kuiseb River,
Namibia 2026

We take off smoothly from Swakopmund and head towards Walvis Bay before turning inland, following much the same route as the one we drove two days earlier.

Below us is the Kuiseb River, mostly a dry riverbed, but with groundwater and good rainfall over the last two years sustaining a remarkable diversity of plants and animals in this extraordinarily arid environment. The river's groundwater also plays an important role in supplying the coastal settlements.

From above, the contrast is astonishing: the apparently barren desert is suddenly intersected by a narrow, greenish ribbon of life. It also looks spectacular where green meets desert, sometimes in a very sharp contrast (see photo I).

We also see the Kuiseb Delta, which we explored from ground level only yesterday.

Kuiseb Delta
Namibia 2026

It is fascinating to see how the landscape we experienced from a Land Rover is transformed completely from the air.

At one point, the second Cessna that took off with us crosses back and forth over our aircraft — sometimes above us, sometimes below us — before suddenly diving off to one side.

I can understand why they looked slightly pale when we saw them again at the airport later!

Second Cessna that took off with us
Namibia 2026

The Sossusvlei Dunes from Above

We continue towards the famous Sossusvlei area.

The wind-sculpted dunes around Sossusvlei are among Namibia's most spectacular natural features, with some dunes rising more than 300 metres. Big Daddy, between Sossusvlei and Deadvlei, is around 325 metres high.

At the heart of the landscape lies Sossusvlei itself, a vast clay pan that only very occasionally fills with water after exceptional rainfall. Nearby are smaller pans such as Hidden Vlei and Deadvlei, the latter famous for its ancient, dead camel-thorn trees.

Sossusvlei area from above
Namibia 2026

We have visited these places several times before (link), but seeing them from the air is something completely different.

The enormous dunes stretch endlessly in every direction, their shapes and colours constantly changing with the angle of the late-afternoon sun.

And the shadows!

The low sun creates long, sharply defined shadows along the ridges, emphasising the contours of the dunes in a way that is almost impossible to appreciate from ground level.

Shadows along the ridges
Namibia 2026

Across the Endless Namib

 Endless desert heading for the coast
Namibia 2026

Now comes a long flight across seemingly endless desert.

For kilometres, the dunes form remarkably regular lines, arranged broadly perpendicular to the prevailing winds like enormous parallel sand ridges.

We cross roughly 120 kilometres of desert.

Looking down at this immense wilderness, it is easy to understand how unforgiving the Skeleton Coast must have been for shipwrecked sailors in the past. From the coast, there was essentially an enormous desert between them and any meaningful chance of reaching civilisation.

It is not difficult to understand where the name Skeleton Coast came from.

The Diamond Camps

One of the dimond camps
Difficult to really see
Namibia 2026

We eventually reach the old diamond camps — Charlottenfelder, Holsatia and Conception — the last remains of the diamond-rush era in the northern Diamond Area.

From the air, it is surprisingly difficult to see much of them, even though we fly very low over the area.

If you are lucky — and quick with the camera — you can spot the remains of A-frame shacks, house ruins, an old ox wagon, rusty water pipes, wooden barrels and abandoned mining equipment. They are the remnants of a remarkably tough chapter in Namibia's history, when diamond mining dominated this remote and inhospitable landscape.

The mining settlements were eventually abandoned in the late 1930s.

Shortly before reaching the ocean, we pass a series of coastal lagoons filled with large groups of flamingos.

Another spectacular sight from the air.

Coastal lagoon with large groups of flamingos
Namibia 2026

The Eduard Bohlen and the Skeleton Coast

 The lonely wreck of the Eduard Bohlen
Namibia 2026

We now reach another of the highlights of the flight.

After flying very low over the final dunes separating the Namib from the Atlantic, we see the lonely wreck of the Eduard Bohlen.

From the air, this is about as close as most people will ever get to this famous shipwreck.

The Eduard Bohlen was a passenger liner of the Woermann Line and later a supply ship serving the diamond camps. It ran aground at Conception Bay in 1909 and has remained stranded there ever since.

We turn north along the Skeleton Coast and soon see another wreck, the Shawnee, which ran aground in 1976.

Shawnee, which ran aground in 1976
Namibia 2026

Two ships, two stories and a spectacularly unforgiving coastline.

We also pass large colonies of Cape fur seals.

From the air, they appear completely undisturbed, occupying the remote coastline far from roads, people and tourist vehicles.

Colonies of Cape fur seals
Namibia 2026

Sandwich Harbour from Above

spot some of the vehicles
undertaking the same tour we did yesterday
Namibia 2026

Eventually, we reach Sandwich Harbour — the scene of our spectacular adventure only yesterday (link).

Wedged between the Namib Sand Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, Sandwich Harbour is a unique coastal wetland consisting of a northern freshwater wetland and southern mudflats. It is an internationally important wetland and an important refuge for large numbers of waterbirds.

It is quite surreal to see the entire area from above after spending most of yesterday bouncing around it in a Land Rover.

We can even spot some of the vehicles undertaking the same tour we did yesterday.

From this altitude, they are almost ridiculously tiny.

The enormous dunes make the Land Rovers look like miniature toy cars crawling through a sea of sand.

Salt, Flamingos and Walvis Bay

Salt works south of Walvis Bay, rectangular ponds
Namibia 2026

We continue towards the Kuiseb Delta, with its distinctive “hammock dunes”, before reaching the enormous salt works south of Walvis Bay.

From above, the salt pans form an extraordinary geometric pattern of rectangular ponds.

Some of the ponds are vividly pink and red, caused by algae and other microorganisms living in the highly saline water. These colours also contribute to the spectacular appearance of the flamingos that feed in the surrounding wetlands.

The salt works produce hundreds of thousands of tonnes of salt annually for industrial and food use.

Enormous salt works S of Walvis Bay
Namibia 2026

We then fly along the coast of Walvis Bay.

Walvis Bay, once under British and then South African administration, was re-integrated into independent Namibia on 1 March 1994. Today it is Namibia's major deep-water port and an important commercial centre on the Atlantic coast.

Once again, we see large numbers of flamingos around the lagoon.

We saw many of them yesterday.

But from above, the birds, lagoon and surrounding salt pans form an entirely different spectacle.

Walwis Bay, Namibia's major deep-water port
Namibia 2026

Swakopmund from the Air

Swakop and our own little chalets on stilts
 at The Stiltz, lower right corner
Namibia 2026

Finally, we approach Swakopmund.

And there, below us, are our own little chalets on stilts at The Stiltz.

We can even see the pier where we had dinner at The Tug the previous evening.

The pier where we had dinner at The Tug
Namibia 2026

Further along the coast is the newer waterfront area around Ocean Cellar, where we are going for dinner tonight.

The newer waterfront area around Ocean Cellar
Namibia 2026

Swakopmund is truly beautiful from the air, particularly in the warm light of the setting sun.

The old German colonial buildings dominate the historic centre, standing in striking contrast to the enormous arid landscape surrounding the town.

But from above we also discover something we had barely noticed from ground level: an enormous amount of new development spreading inland from the old town.

It is quite a different perspective on a place we thought we already knew well.

Back to Earth

We have viewed familiar places
 from an entirely new perspective!
Namibia 2026

We turn inland and begin our final approach to Swakopmund Airport.

One last look at the rather rough-and-ready settlement around the airport, and then our pilot smoothly puts the wheels back on the ground.

It is over.

Two hours and approximately 630 kilometres have passed almost unbelievably quickly.

We have seen parts of Namibia that would otherwise have remained completely inaccessible to us, and we have viewed familiar places from an entirely new perspective.

The experience has exceeded our already high expectations.

We feel incredibly privileged.

If you are tempted to do the same journey, you can read more about the Sossusfly and its current route here (link). Sossusfly itself describes it as its most popular scenic flight, covering approximately 630 kilometres in around 2 hours and 10 minutes, with less than 20% of the route visible by road.

There is certainly plenty to talk about over dinner at Ocean Cellar that evening.