Experience Namibia’s beauty with Westair Aviation’s Scenic flights

Westair Aviation offers the ultimate bird’s eye experience of what Namibia’s south looks like after the life-giving rain. Revel in the vast landscape, breathtaking vistas, ageold geological formations, mountains and rivers during a scenic flight that takes you over the popular Sossusvlei as well as some other natural gems.

Flights take off from Windhoek’s Eros Airport in the heart of the central plateau and head southwest across the rugged Khomas Hochland. The tall grass covering the hundreds of hills in this area is a special sight to behold. As the plateau suddenly drops over the escarpment, the Namib Desert quickly takes over and in the distance its red dunes line the expansive desert plains.

The riverbeds along the way are proof of the force with which water shapes the land when the rivers occasionally come down in flood. The most impressive example of water erosion is the Sesriem Canyon. The deep gorge cut into the rock took millions of years to form and is prominently visible from the sky.

Seeing the Tsauchab Valley from above is an exceptional experience. The dry Tsauchab River makes its way west to Sossusvlei with some stunning red dunes on either side until it is eventually blocked by a massive ‘dune sea’. The flight allows you time to take in this unusual sight as well as the world-famous Deadvlei with its white pan and sun-blackened camel thorn tree skeletons.

The route back to Windhoek passes Tsondab Vlei, north of Sossusvlei, before turning east across the Kuiseb Canyon. This area was made famous by geologists Henno Martin and Hermann Korn who lived there for two years to avoid internment during the Second World War.

Seeing Namibia’s fourth-highest mountain, the massive table-topped Gamsberg rising 500 metres from the Khomas Hochland, signifies the last leg of the flight before touching down at Eros Airport.

Westair Aviation’s scenic flights across the natural beauty of the south and central-south take place on Fridays and Saturdays. The journey of two and a half hours costs N$ 2 300 per person. Landing and a stopover at Sossusvlei are available at extra cost.

Photos supplied by Günter Brettschneider, a passenger on one of Westair’s special scenic flights.