Windhoek to Galton Experience
Total distance: 443km
Suggested time period: 3-5 days
This national road sweeps through well settled farming country. The landscape includes savannah thornveld with numerous game farms and early German settler towns with well-developed infrastructure. Novelties en-route include German delicatessens, coffee shops and locally run butcheries that source delicious game and beef from surrounding farms. The excellent highway offers glimpses of families of warthogs foraging on the road verge and quick views of kudu, giraffe and other game as you pass by.
The route is a gateway to the desert attractions of this arid eden. Towering mountain peaks, vast vistas, desert adapted wildlife, rock art, unusual geological features and a spread of rich local cultures await the adventurous traveller. The route also gives alternate access to the much less visited, western part of Etosha National Park via the Galton Gate.
Attractions:
Cheetah Conservation Fund
- Founded in 1990, the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF)'s maintains a centre of excellence in the conservation of cheetahs and their ecosystems. CCF works with all stakeholders to develop best practices in research, education, and land use to benefit all species, including people. The Education Centre provides students and visitors the opportunity to learn more about the behaviour and biology of the cheetah and the Namibian ecosystem that supports Africa's most endangered cat species. The visitor centre includes a large meeting room, a small cafe and gift shop.
Etosha National Park – Galton Gate
- Arguably Namibia's most famous natural attraction, Etosha National Park's Galton Gate allows visitors access to the previously restricted western area of the park. The Galton Gate will open up an area of Etosha National Park to travellers that is quite different to the rest of the park, both in its vegetation and wildlife. The new route links Galton with Okaukuejo along a 190km stretch of road. The route traverses three distinct ecological landscape with high concentrations of game around the Renostervlei and Ozonjuitji-Mâ Bari waterholes - especially in the dry winter months (May to November). The western area of the park is the only area Hartman's Mountain Zebra and Burchell''s Planes Zebra co-exist. Lion and elephant are also frequently seen at the waterholes along this route.
Okahandja Craft Market
- On your way into Okahandja, turn right towards the Shell fuel station and visit one of the largest open-air craft markets in Namibia. With artefacts and entrepreneurs making their way from all corners of the country and neighbouring states to showcase their products.