Goanikontes

Swakopmund


If you're on a quest to see welwitschias, continue east along the Welwitschia Drive to the Moon Landscape, a vista across eroded hills and valleys carved by the Swakop River. Here you may want to take a quick 12km return side trip north to the farm and oasis of Goanikontes, which dates from 1848. It lies beside the Swakop River amid fabulous desert mountains, and serves as an excellent picnic site.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Swakopmund attractions

1. Moon Landscape

0.16 MILES

If you're on a quest to see weltwitschias, continue east along the Weltwitschia Drive to the Moon Landscape, a vista across eroded hills and valleys…

2. Old German Cemetery

20 MILES

It's worth having a quick wander past the historical cemeteries beside the Swakop River. The neatly manicured Old German Cemetery dates from the colonial…

3. Alte Gefängnis (Old Prison)

20.17 MILES

This impressive 1909 structure, on Nordring St, was built as a prison, but if you didn’t know this, you’d swear it was either an early train station or a…

4. OMEG Haus

20.22 MILES

Thanks to the narrow-gauge railway to the coast, the colonial company Otavi Minen und Eisenbahn Gesellschaft (OMEG), which oversaw the rich Otavi and…

5. Living Desert Snake Park

20.27 MILES

This park houses an array of serpentine sorts. The owner knows everything you’d ever want to know – or not know – about snakes, scorpions, spiders and…

6. German Evangelical Lutheran Church

20.37 MILES

This neo-baroque church was built in 1906 to accommodate the growing Lutheran congregation of Dr Heinrich Vedde – it still holds regular services.

7. Bahnhof (Railway Station)

20.39 MILES

This ornate railway station, built in 1901 as the terminal for the Kaiserliche Eisenbahn Verwaltung (Imperial Railway Authority), connected Swakopmund to…

8. Old German School

20.46 MILES

The 1912 baroque-style Old German School was the result of a 1912 competition, which was won by budding German architect Emil Krause.