Amother and two toddlers paddle by on an orange kayak on the blue waters of the brimming Oanob Dam. Coming from the opposite direction is a motorboat… and when the kayak and boat pass each other, friendly waves are exchanged.
Other visitors – mostly locals, if the chatter is anything to go by – lounge on the deck of the restaurant with a beer or a milkshake, perusing the menu (hmm, the Wiener schnitzel for R130 looks good…). The Oanob Dam, named after the river it stems from, was completed in 1990 and provides water to the nearby Rehoboth. When the dam is full to the brim, you can paddle or drive a boat for almost 10 km. Namibians enjoy their time here with their fishing rods – there’s carp, bream and bass – but for South Africans touring through the country, Lake Oanob Resort’s lovely camping facilities are the main attraction.
That’s precisely why this is the starting point for this route, as it’s a logical place to camp at the end of your Namibian tour before you head home (if you’ve been to Etosha, for example). Enjoy the expansive body of water in front of you, because once you leave, it’s roughly 900 km before you see a substantial body of water again on your arrival at the Orange River.
This route is a dirt-road alternative to the B1. The B1 is no one’s friend: long, straight, and lately, quite busy with trucks too. And you do love dirt roads, the red dunes of the Kalahari and the silhouette of a camel thorn tree, right? Well then, you’re in the right spot…
Reset your odometer to 0 when you leave Lake Oanob’s reception. At 3 km, you reach a crossroad but you continue straight. If you need to refuel or shop in Rehoboth, turn right at the crossroads; you can rejoin the route from the town.
It’s a good dirt road – at 8 km you reach the B1. Rehoboth with its colourful houses is now to your right -drive straight over the B1 and onto the C25 tar road.
The town quickly recedes, and you enter a sandy flatland where the camel thorn trees stand tall and dense as you approach Rehoboth station (also
