The town of Solitaire has fascinated more than a few travellers over the years.
It is quite literally a town in the middle of nowhere, just off the C14, a route that connects its roughly 100 residents with the rest of the world.
Those who visit the settlement are usually entranced by its eccentric vibe.
The first thing you see as you enter the town is its sort of Mad Max welcome sign. Then you pass a series of rusted cars, some animal bones, and desert plants, before arriving in what one Instagrammer described as one of the “strangest towns you’ll ever stop at in Namibia”.
Many treat Solitaire as a stopover, but if you give it your time and attention, it might just be one of your favourite things about your holiday.
Where is Solitaire, Namibia?
On the map, Solitaire looks like a single dot dropped into a long stretch of nothing, roughly where anyone driving south from Windhoek starts wondering, and slightly worrying about, how much fuel is left in the tank.
It sits at the junction of the C14 and C19, in Namibia’s Hardap Region, on the eastern edge of the Namib-Naukluft National Park.
The Naukluft Mountains rise faintly to the north-east, and gravel plains run in every other direction, patched with camelthorn trees and the occasional startled oryx.
It is not scenery that is particularly fascinating; rather, it just keeps going, on and on, into the distance, until what you think is a mirage of a town appears in front of you, before Solitaire seems to materialise out of nowhere.
The town is about 83 kilometres from Sesriem, the entry point for Sossusvlei’s dunes, and a good four-hour drive from Windhoek across the Khomas Highlands, down through either the Spreetshoogte or Remhoogte Pass.
Heading the other way, toward the coast, the next fuel or shop is around 260 kilometres further on. For anyone driving Namibia’s southern circuit, Solitaire goes from being a possible detour into a stop on your itinerary.
What to do in Solitaire, Namibia?
Most visitors arrive with one single-minded goal, food and fuel, and leave, an hour or two later, wondering where the time went.
When you are visiting Solitaire, one of the things you simply have to do is visit the bakery.
A slice of the famous apple pie, baked to the same German Apfelstrudel recipe that made the place famous decades ago, arrives warm enough to fog a coffee cup left too close, and tastes absolutely scrumptious.
Regulars like to eat it on the shaded terrace, where they can savour the slice and relax with a cup of coffee.
Once you’ve ticked pie off your to-do list, the next thing you can do is go on a slow walk.
Vintage cars and old farm equipment sit rusting in the sand around the shop and the small church nearby, more of an accumulation than a statement display, decades of vehicles simply left where they finally gave up.
Wind moves through the empty frames with a faint metallic creak, and in the low, orange light of early morning or late afternoon, the rust seems to hold onto the day’s heat a little longer than the ground around it.
For those staying the night, nearby lodges run guided drives up the escarpment at sunset, usually via Spreetshoogte Pass, and several run their own mountain bike trails out into the surrounding gravel plains.
A short drive away, a private conservation project runs guided cheetah visits. This stretch of Namibia is as much working land as it is scenery.
Fuel, tyre repairs and a well-stocked shop round out any of the practicalities needed to be done, and you’ll want to stock up, because the next stop is quite a distance away.
What is special about Solitaire?
Even after fuel and pie, Solitaire tends to stick in the memory more than places twice its size, and that mostly has to do with it being quite an interesting place. These are just a handful of the things that make the town so special:
Its name has two meanings.
When Willem Christoffel van Coller’s wife named the farm in 1948, she chose Solitaire because it means both a single, mounted diamond and a lonely, isolated place. Both turned out to be accurate.
It was built as a farm, not a pit stop.
The original homestead covered a massive 33 000 hectares and began life as a two-room cottage. The petrol pump, shop and bakery all came much later, added out of necessity rather than any grand plan.
Almost nobody actually lives here.
Solitaire has a petrol station, a bakery, a general store, a lodge and a handful of staff quarters, but no real residential population to speak of. Everyone here is either working or passing through.
The apple pie has a Scottish accent.
Percy “Moose” McGregor, the baker who put Solitaire on the map, was a Scotsman who settled in the desert in the 1990s and turned an old family Apfelstrudel recipe into a local legend, long before food blogs existed to spread the word for him.
It really is the last stop for a very long way.
Heading toward the coast, the next fuel and shop are roughly 260 kilometres away. The town has, over the years, rescued more than one under-prepared traveller.
The car wrecks are not for show.
Every rusting vehicle scattered around the settlement broke down or was simply abandoned here at some point. Nobody curated the collection. The desert did.
The nights are something special.
Moose McGregor once explained that he stayed for the barking geckos and the stars, which have almost nothing between them and the ground to dim them.
By the time your tank is full and the last morsel of your apfelstrudel is gone, you will understand why this town, built almost by accident, is such a special place.
Solitaire is best known for its apple pie, baked to a German Apfelstrudel recipe made famous by Percy “Moose” McGregor, and for the scatter of rusting vintage cars parked around the settlement. Between the two, it has earned a reputation well beyond its size.
Solitaire sits roughly 83 kilometres from Sesriem, the entry gate for Sossusvlei’s dunes, putting it about an hour’s drive away. Most self-drive itineraries treat it as the last practical stop before or after visiting the dunes.
Yes, and it matters more than fuel usually does. Heading toward the coast, the next petrol station is roughly 260 kilometres further on, so topping up in Solitaire is less a convenience than a requirement.
Solitaire lies in the Hardap Region, at the junction of the C14 and C19 roads, on the eastern edge of the Namib-Naukluft National Park. It sits roughly four hours’ drive south-west of Windhoek.
Yes, several lodges operate in and around the settlement, ranging from simple camping to more comfortable rooms with a pool. Staying the night also makes it easier to catch sunset drives up the escarpment or an early start toward Sossusvlei.
