Ovahimba Point
Edit SpotAbout
If the wind starts to blow too bad youll need to move away from the coast untill its cleared because its unbearable. You dont come necessarily just for the wave, it is the whole experience of getting there that makes it all worth it. It is a mission bringing your board with so go slow. We come here when on holiday.
Atmosphere:
This wave is classic and rewarding if you are willing to get to it. Go with friends as it would be impossible to get to alone, not to mention stupid and dangerous, the Namibian desert has claimed many a life in its day. Once you park the car, you first need to camouflage it well enough of have someone drive it back somewhere.You could pay a local to watch over it for you but it might be gone when you get back and then you're proper fucked! It is a 2 day hike there and back through temperatures that often easily reach 40+. Obviously you need to bring everything with you from food, sleeping equipment, map, compass (GPS helps), first aid kit and loads of water. The last part of the hike is tough getting towards the coast. You are on private property here so if you get caught, youll be find and maybe even imprisoned. Just keep a lookout and use caution when making fires at night. Once there camp out for a while and live off the sea. Found it by accident hiking to the coast. Have made 3 trips here so far and have been classic each time. Noone around for miles but the catch is that if something happened to you, noone would ever find you so come well prepared, life and death out here!
Additional Info:
A very long shallow point break setup, with heavy waves. Big open barrels. Theres a descent beach break further up aswell. I doubt anyone has ever surfed this wave. Theres a great feeling knowing you are amongst the first human beings to have been here, besides the bushman hundreds of years earlier. Great shark fishing in the area.
Location
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This could be one of the best but most inaccessable surf spots in the world. It is located in the Namibian skeleton coast reserve, closish to a Ovahimba village called 'Okandjombo'. (The closest human settlement to it.) First get to this village then carry on driving west along the river bed untill you reach a deadend. Drive your 4x4 as far as it can go, then walk. A 2 day hike along the dried up river bed to the coast, then head North and youll see it. You have more chance of reaching this wave than what you do trying to get to the many perfect lefhand pointbreaks on Namibia's private diamond mining property. You can see it using google earth..
Walk | Long walk (>30 min) |
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Public access | No |
4x4 required | Yes |
Boat required | No |
Wave Characteristics
Type | Point break |
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Direction | Left |
Bottom | Flat rocks with sand |
Power | Hollow, Fast, Powerful, Ledgey |
Frequency | Regular (100 days/year) |
Normal length | Long (150 to 300m) |
Good day length | Exceptional (>500m) |
Ideal Conditions
Wind direction | NorthEast |
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Swell direction | West, SouthWest |
Swell size | 3ft-5ft - 10ft+ |
Tide | Mid and high tide |
Tide movement | Rising tide |
Crowd
Week | Empty |
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Weekend | Empty |
Dangers
Rips / undertow, Rocks, Private beach, Sharks
Videos
None