Solitaire
Solitaire is a petrol station, a general store, a bakery and a scatter of rusting vintage cars half swallowed by sand. It is barely a town and it is the most famous stop on any Namib road trip, for apple pie once baked by the late Moose McGregor. It sits around 280 kilometres southwest of Windhoek on the road to Sossusvlei.
What Solitaire Actually Is
Setting expectations matters here more than at most places, because the reputation is larger than the settlement.
Solitaire is a single desert outpost rather than a town. There is a fuel station, a general store, a bakery, a lodge and a scatter of derelict cars sinking into the sand outside.
Nobody comes here for the architecture. It exists because it sits at a junction in country with nothing else for a long way in any direction, and because of the pie.
The rusting vehicles are the visual signature and the reason it appears on more photographs than its size warrants. They are genuinely half buried, and the combination of wrecked American saloons and desert has an appeal that is hard to argue with.
Most visitors stop for forty minutes, buy fuel, eat a slice, photograph the cars and drive on. That is the correct use of the place.
Fill the tank here whether or not you think you need to. Solitaire sits between Sesriem and the Gaub and Kuiseb passes towards Walvis Bay, and the gaps in either direction are long. Fuel is the practical reason the outpost exists, and travellers who calculate that they can reach the coast without stopping are the ones who find out otherwise on a gravel road.
The Apple Pie
The pie is not a marketing invention and it deserves the paragraph.
It was made famous by the late Moose McGregor, a baker whose apple pie became known across Namibia and beyond, to the point that the stop became a fixture on every Namib itinerary.
The bakery still keeps the tradition, and a slice with coffee here is close to a rite of passage on a Namibian road trip.
Whether it is the best apple pie in the world, as some accounts have it, is beside the point. It is a genuinely good slice of pie in the middle of a desert, several hours from anywhere, which is a different and better proposition.
Buy it fresh in the morning if you can. Later in the day it has been sitting.
The bakery also sells bread and other baked goods, which is worth knowing if you are self catering onwards.
Where It Sits
The position is what makes Solitaire useful rather than merely charming.
It lies around 280 kilometres southwest of Windhoek, roughly three and a half hours by road including gravel sections.
More usefully it sits on the route between Sesriem and Walvis Bay, at the top of the run over the Gaub and Kuiseb passes, which is one of the more scenic drives in the country.
Travellers heading from Sossusvlei to Swakopmund pass through, as do those going the other way. It is also on the route north towards the Naukluft and the C14.
Sesriem is a comfortable drive south, which makes Solitaire a viable base for anyone who cannot get accommodation nearer the gate, at the cost of a longer pre dawn start.
It is best visited as a stop en route rather than as a same day return trip from Windhoek.
Staying There
There is accommodation, and it is worth knowing what it is for.
A lodge operates at Solitaire with rooms around a courtyard and a pool, along with a campsite, and there are further properties in the surrounding country.
The case for staying is convenience on a long driving day, or availability when the Sesriem area is full, which it frequently is in peak season.
The case against is distance from the dunes. Guests at Solitaire face a considerably longer pre dawn drive to reach the Sesriem gate at opening, and they still cannot pass the inner gate, which is limited to guests staying inside the park.
For anyone whose priority is photographing Deadvlei at sunrise, staying inside the Sesriem gate matters more than anything else, and Solitaire is a fallback rather than a choice.
For travellers breaking a long drive between the desert and the coast, it works well.
The Drive Either Side
What surrounds Solitaire is better than Solitaire, which is worth planning for.
North and west, the C14 runs over the Gaub and Kuiseb passes towards Walvis Bay, dropping through canyon country with viewpoints worth stopping at. This is one of the better drives in Namibia and it takes longer than the distance suggests.
South, the road runs to Sesriem and the Sossusvlei gate, with the Naukluft massif to the east holding perennial pools, day trails and the country’s hardest multi day hike.
East, the roads climb towards the escarpment and eventually Windhoek, through the Spreetshoogte Pass country.
The Tropic of Capricorn is marked with a signpost on one of the roads in this area, which is the kind of photograph people stop for.
Wildlife along these roads includes oryx, springbok and ostrich on the gravel plains.
The Cars
The derelict vehicles outside are the thing people photograph and they deserve a note.
They are genuinely abandoned rather than arranged as a display, American saloons and pickups from several decades back, sinking gradually into the sand with paint stripped to rust by sun and wind.
Namibia’s dry air preserves metal in a way damp climates do not, which is the same reason the dead camel thorns at Deadvlei have stood for centuries and the shipwrecks on the Skeleton Coast survive as long as they do.
They photograph best in early morning or late afternoon, when low light picks up the rust texture and throws shadow across the shapes. At midday they flatten out like everything else in this country.
Wide angle work with dune or plain behind them works better than tight detail shots, since the point is the incongruity rather than the vehicles themselves.
They have become one of the more recognisable images in Namibian travel photography, which is an unusual fate for a scrapyard.
The Passes Either Side
The two passes near Solitaire are among the better pieces of driving in Namibia and they deserve time rather than being treated as transit.
The Gaub Pass drops through a canyon of layered rock with a picnic spot at the bottom under camel thorns, which is a reasonable place to stop and eat.
The Kuiseb Pass descends into the Kuiseb Canyon, where the river runs west along the northern edge of the great dune sea and acts as a barrier stopping the sand migrating further north. That is why the dunes end where they do, and standing at the pass makes the geography legible in a way a map does not.
The Kuiseb is also where two German geologists hid for two years during the Second World War after escaping internment, an episode recorded in a well known book about the desert.
Both passes are gravel, graded and manageable in an ordinary car in dry conditions, and both are slow. Allow considerably longer than the distances suggest.
Oryx, springbok and ostrich work the gravel plains on either side, and the country changes character several times across the run.
Practical Notes
Fuel. The practical reason the place exists. Fill here regardless of your calculations, since the gaps in both directions are long.
The store. A general store for basics, useful for anyone self catering onwards. Do not treat it as a substitute for stocking up in a real town.
Time needed. Forty minutes for fuel, pie, the cars and a look around. A night if you are breaking a long drive or Sesriem is full.
Vehicle. Roads in involve gravel, where higher clearance is more comfortable, though the main routes are manageable in an ordinary car in dry conditions.
Best Time to Visit
Solitaire is a stop rather than a destination, so timing follows whatever route you are driving.
April to September gives comfortable conditions on the surrounding roads and passes, which are the reason to be in this country.
Summer from October to March brings serious heat in the desert interior, and the drive over the passes is hard work in the middle of the day.
Morning is the time to arrive for fresh pie and for the light on the rusting cars, which flattens badly at midday like everything else in Namibia.
The place is open year round and the fuel station is the thing that matters most.
Solitaire Questions
What is at Solitaire?
A petrol station, a general store, a bakery, a lodge and a scatter of rusting vintage cars half swallowed by sand. It is a single desert outpost rather than a town, and it exists because it sits at a junction in country with nothing else for a long way in any direction. Most visitors stop for forty minutes, which is the correct use of it.
Is the apple pie worth it?
Yes, though not because it is the best in the world as some accounts claim. It was made famous by the late Moose McGregor and the bakery still keeps the tradition. It is a genuinely good slice of pie in the middle of a desert several hours from anywhere, which is a different and better proposition. Buy it fresh in the morning.
Where is Solitaire?
Around 280 kilometres southwest of Windhoek, roughly three and a half hours including gravel sections. More usefully, it sits on the route between Sesriem and Walvis Bay at the top of the run over the Gaub and Kuiseb passes, so travellers going between Sossusvlei and the coast pass through in either direction.
Should I stay overnight?
Only if you are breaking a long drive or the Sesriem area is full, which it frequently is in peak season. Guests at Solitaire face a considerably longer pre dawn drive to reach the Sossusvlei gate at opening, and still cannot pass the inner gate, which is limited to guests staying inside the park. For sunrise at Deadvlei, staying inside the gate matters more than anything else.
Should I fill up there?
Yes, regardless of your calculations. Fuel is the practical reason the outpost exists and the gaps in both directions are long. Travellers who work out that they can reach the coast or Sesriem without stopping are the ones who discover otherwise on a gravel road with nothing around them.
What is the drive like either side?
Better than Solitaire itself. North and west, the C14 runs over the Gaub and Kuiseb passes towards Walvis Bay through canyon country with viewpoints worth stopping at, which is one of the better drives in Namibia and takes longer than the distance suggests. South runs to Sesriem, with the Naukluft massif to the east.
Do I need a 4×4?
Not for the main routes in dry conditions, where an ordinary car with reasonable clearance manages the gravel. Higher clearance is more comfortable on Namibian gravel overall. The passes are graded and manageable, though they are slow and worth allowing time for rather than treating as a transfer.
Booking Your Namibia Trip
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