page_title: Tourism in Namibia
section_title: Walvis Bay
hierarchical_section_title: Tourism in Namibia / Tourist destinations / Walvis Bay
context_page_description: Tourism in Namibia is a major industry, contributing N$7.2 billion to the country's gross domestic product. Annually, over one million travelers visit Namibia, with roughly one in three coming from South Africa, then Germany and finally the United Kingdom, Italy and France. The country is among the prime destinations in Africa and is known for ecotourism which features Namibia's extensive wildlife.
  In December 2010, Lonely Planet named Namibia 5th best tourist destination in the world in terms of value.
context_section_description: Walvis Bay, as the fourth biggest town in Namibia, is host to the main port of the country, as well as the Walvis Bay International Airport. Geographically the town is uniquely situated, as it is the meeting place of extreme landscapes – on the one side the Namib desert, the oldest desert in the world, and on the other side a massive lagoon and harbor flowing from the Atlantic Ocean. Both of these landscapes lend themselves towards some of the most unusual sight-seeing opportunities in Namibia.
  The lagoon and harbour is home to various species and large numbers of sea mammals and bird life. The Namib desert on the other side is called "The Living Desert", because of the large number of living species found there.
  Walvis Bay is one of many tourism activity centers of Namibia. Activities include various water-related actions, like shore angling, boat angling, shark angling, sight seeing and photographic boat cruises, sea kayaking and wind- and kite surfing. Walvis Bay yearly houses one of the international legs of speed kite and wind surfing.
  Land activities include Sandwich Harbour sightseeing tours, desert sightseeing tours, 4X4 dune driving tours into the massive dunes south of the Kuiseb river, dune hang gliding, dune boarding and dune skiing, guided educational, historic and anthropologic quad biking tours into the Kuiseb Delta, visits to the Topnaar people, descendants of the Khoin-Khoin, and living desert tours.
caption: Dunes near Walvis Bay
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