Been there recently.Unbelievable landscapes.The Kalahari and Namib desert.The red dunes.The strange plants.The animals.The sandblasted-abandoned diamond city of Kolmanschoop.The good and relaxed indigenous tribes.The Skeleton Coast wrecks and fog and freezing Benguela current.The many sightseing companies of Swakopmund will offer you the flight of your lifetime in a Cessna210.
https://www.you-fly.com/airport/fywb/Walvis_Bay
https://www.you-fly.com/airport/fysm/Swakopmund
https://www.you-fly.com/airport/fylz/Luderitz
Did you charter a plane for yourself or went along for a sightseeing ride?
Can you recommend charter outfits and tell us a bit about their rates, condition of aicraft, necessity of licence validation etc.?
I’m considering doing the BMW X5 safari there either in 2017 or 2018. The flying looks spectacular there too.
I have flown there myself and held a validated license (lapsed now). It is indeed the most amazing place to fly ! Simply stunning. When I did my validation and trips there (about nine years ago), the process was relatively straightforward: you needed to pass an air law (written) and radio op (aural) test and a check ride. Also some ground school, mainly focussing – correctly! – on hot-and-high procedures. They did take the tests serious, had apparently too many Europeans wrecking planes due to totally unfamiliar circumstances. Then rented a C182 and had some of the flights of my life!
Now, just a couple of days ago I spoke to someone who has been there recently and it appears the procedures have changed. Didn’t discuss in detail, but it sounds as it’s become more complicated. The people to talk to are Westair at Eros Airport (yes, that’s really what it’s called!) in Windhoek.
A note of caution to anyone with a UK license: the CAA demand that you sign some forms allowing them to release the info and then of course make you pay. On top of that they claim a turnaround time of ten working days, so if you have another license, then validate that!
@blueline: No,I didnt fly myselfe,I just embarked a C210 with some other tourists.The price is about 100Euros per person/per hour when all seats are occupied.If not,then the charge increases to VIP standards.
I also talked to the German chief pilot of the sighseing company and he told me that allthough it is an ex-German colony,EASA papers are invalid and they want you to go the difficult-bureaucratic proccess if you want self fly there.Now if you want to open a business,then all licenses must be Namibian.All functioning pilots were German though.Most tourists are Germans,South Afrikans and Chinese.
Check here:
http://scenic-air.com/
http://www.sossusfly.com/
