What a visitor's money does in Namibia: every guide rated from very cheap to very expensive, cheapest first, then the things that cost travellers money without buying anything — the ATM, the taxi, the SIM.
Namibian Dollar (NAD) · 1 EUR = 18.6 NAD · 1 USD = 16.3 NAD
The Namibian dollar is pegged one-to-one with the South African rand, and rand are accepted everywhere in Namibia — though Namibian dollars are not accepted in South Africa, so spend them before you leave. Lodges take cards; fuel stations in the desert often do not, and fuel is the thing you cannot run out of.
Avoid: assuming there is a machine in the park, because there is not
Use: Standard Bank, FNB, Bank Windhoek — in Windhoek, Swakopmund or Solitaire
Rand are accepted at par everywhere in Namibia; Namibian dollars are not accepted in South Africa, so spend them before you cross.
A short ride in Sossusvlei & the Namib: N$60–120 across town — cheap
From the airport: Hosea Kutako to Windhoek N$350–500, and it is 45km out
LEFA is metered and vetted; shared taxis are cheap and not aimed at visitors.
Lodge food, and it is generally good — game meat, oryx and kudu steaks, and braai. Namibia has a German-colonial hangover that shows up as excellent bread, sausage and beer brewed to the Reinheitsgebot. Stock the cool box in Windhoek; there is nothing to buy out here.
The cost rating is this site's own, for a visitor, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in. The general rules — the conversion prompt, shoulder season, the airport taxi — are in budget travel tips.
