Brandberg, and beyond!
Henties Bay is famous for its fishing waters that attract anglers from across Southern Africa. But a hundred years ago there was no town here. Back then, in 1929, Hendrik (Hentie) Stefanus van der Merwe shot a rhino. He had heard about an American museum offering good money for a complete skeleton of a rhino, so he took a small hunting party into Damaraland to find one.
Rhino shot and bones collected, Hentie and his party ran out of drinking water. They headed for the coast, and then southwards until they found water near the mouth of the Omaruru River.
Once he had sent off the bones and collected his reward Hentie returned the following December to build himself a small holiday shack. Gradually, more people did the same and that’s how Hentie’s Bay came to be.
Today the town is busy during summer holidays but a sleepy hideout for the rest of the year. House names like Rendezvous, A-Team and Ougat reflect the kind of people who have an affinity for Henties: retired Namibian farmers who drive around town in their 1970s Cruisers, families who gather here once a year, and fishermen who don’t mind a bit of good, clean fun around the braai fire.
But what if you come here to fish but the fish aren’t biting?
