Swakopmund

The town is named after the Swakop River. The German settlers rendered it Swachaub, and when in 1896 the district was officially proclaimed, the version Swakopmund (German: Mouth of the Swakop) was introduced. The Herero called the place Otjozondjii, which means 'place of seashells'. Captain Curt von François founded Swakopmund in 1892 as the main harbour for the Imperial German colony—the natural deep-sea harbour at Walvis Bay belonged to the British. The founding date was on August 8 when the crew of gunboat Hyäne erected two beacons on the shore. Swakopmund was chosen for the availability of fresh water and a relatively easy connection into the centre of the South West African territory, particularly Otjimbingwe and Windhoek. Other sites such as Sandwich Harbour and Cape Cross were found unsuitable due to dune belts that block the way to the hinterland. …

Surrounded by the Namib Desert on three sides and the cold Atlantic waters to the west, Swakopmund has a desert climate (BWk, according to the Köppen climate classification) with mild conditions year-round. The average temperature ranges from 15 to 25 °C or 59 to 77 °F. Rainfall is less than 20 millimetres or 0.8 inches per year, making gutters and drainpipes on buildings a rarity. The cold Benguela Current supplies moisture for the area in the form of fog that can reach as deep as 140 km (87 mi) inland. Fog that originates offshore from the collision of the cold Benguela Current and warm air from the Hadley Cell creates a fog belt that frequently envelops parts of the Namib desert. Coastal regions can experience more than 180 days of thick fog a year. …

Swakopmund was the filming location for Mad Max: Fury Road. In August 2008, filming commenced in Swakopmund on the AMC television series The Prisoner starring Jim Caviezel and Sir Ian McKellen. In 2002, the city appeared on The Amazing Race 2 and was visited again in The Amazing Race 26. In 2019, MTV's The Challenge: War of the Worlds was filmed in Swakopmund, including the dunes of the Namib Desert and Swakopmund's coast.