Place to stay · Dorob National Park
Jakkalsputz Campsite
Namibia Wildlife Resorts campsite on the open coast just south of Henties Bay, used mostly by anglers and open only in December and January.
Jakkalsputz is a plain beach campsite on the Atlantic coast south of Henties Bay, run by Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR). People come for one thing above all, angling, and the camp offers little beyond a pitch, running water and a fire pit. The catch is the season. NWR opens it only in December and January.
What to expect
NWR lists 99 campsites, each taking up to eight people. There are no power points at the sites, so bring a generator or a solar setup if you need one. Water and showers are not part of the camping fee and are paid for at the camp, and NWR suggests buying drinking water rather than relying on what comes out of the tap. Its notes for the coastal camps mention a kiosk selling firewood, ice, bait, cool drinks and alcohol.
Anglers fish from the shore or from boats for shark, kabeljou and galjoen. Away from the rods, NWR points visitors to the seal colony at Cape Cross, further north up the coast, and the unmarked Jakkalsputz walking trail runs about 18 km along Solitude Beach (Farilhao Bay) from the Gallows at the south end of Henties Bay to the camp. Walk it at low tide, when the rock pools show.
Practical details
- Phone: +264 64 694 007 or +264 61 285 7200 (both listed on the NWR page).
- NWR puts it 367 km from Windhoek.
- Book through NWR. Rates are per person and exclude water, electricity and showers.
Good to know
Treat this as self-sufficient camping. Henties Bay is the nearest town for supplies. Outside December and January the camp is closed, so anyone fishing this coast at other times needs a bed in town.
Last updated 7 October 2026. Sources: Namibia Wildlife Resorts, Jakkalsputz, Henties Bay Tourism Association, Beaches (archived copy, 2019), Travel News Namibia, Hiking and backpacking in Namibia (August 2013).
The beach chalets Jakkalsputz was promised and never got
In November 2007 the spring tides went through Mile 14, the camp north of Swakopmund. Toilet cabins and concrete braai slabs ended up in the surf, and about nine tenths of the two kilometre camping strip was declared unsafe. Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR) shut it to overnight campers and offered people holding December bookings a pitch at one of three other camps instead. Jakkalsputz was the nearest of the three. The fisheries ministry’s chief biologist at Swakopmund told New Era he had watched it happen before. Beaches wear away, he said, and he would not pin it on climate change alone.
The chalets that were promised
By 2007 the whole 200 km West Coast Recreation Area, since folded into Dorob National Park, had been earmarked for private partners. In July 2008 a Namibian company, Tungeni Africa Investments, signed for Jakkalsputz, Mile 72, Mile 108 and the resort at Von Bach Dam. The environment and tourism minister quoted defending the deals that month was Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who is now the country’s president. Early in 2009 Tungeni talked of beach chalets at the three coast camps, camping gear waiting on site and light breakfasts, all meant to bring people in outside the holiday rush.
None of it is there. By 2014 a camper who had been several times was writing that she had read in Republikein about facilities running down. In October 2015 it was NWR that announced Jakkalsputz and its neighbours would stay shut over the holidays for repairs. NWR opened the camp again for December 2020 and today lists campsites and nothing else. I could not find a report of how or when the lease ended.
The second or third last toilet
Ask a regular where to pitch and the answer comes in toilets. On the 4x4 Community forum in 2009 one of them told a newcomer to aim for the second or third last toilet on the southern side, where he had taken kabeljou right in front of his camp. There are rocks at that end too, which is where he sent people for galjoen. Others in the thread had booked six and ten days over Christmas, one party five vehicles strong. On this stretch of shore it counts as bad manners to pull up and cast beside someone who got there first.
The 2014 camper is the only one I found who describes a day there. She was woken by the sea, a few hundred metres from the tent, and sometimes by the wind. No flushing toilets. Quiet, apart from the few hours a day when the generators run. A forum poster in 2019 told people to give the camp a miss and said things get stolen. That is also one person’s word.
Jackal or strandwolf at first light
The same camper wrote of meeting “a Strandwolf or Jackal” on the beach early in the morning. Bet on the jackal. Counts along the Namibian coast run from one every ten kilometres to thirteen in a single kilometre, and far more beside the seal colonies. Strandwolf is the old name for the brown hyaena. About half of Namibia’s 800 to 1,200 live on the coast, but they are mostly out after dark, and I found nobody who reported a definite one at the camp.
Keep your hands off the jackals. In 2024 scientists in South Africa traced rabies in Cape fur seals to a jump from black-backed jackals, and Namibia has confirmed six rabid seals since June 2025.
The trawler Zeila sits in the shallows about 7 km down the coast towards Swakopmund.
Park fees
Jakkalsputz Campsite is inside Dorob National Park. International visitors pay from US$17 €15 · N$280 a day. See all Dorob National Park fees
