We think that gastronomy is an important part of every culture and country and, thus, we try to eat traditional food in each of our trips. When we started planning our trip to Namibia, we though that several types of meat would be offered at a good price due to the wildlife of the country. And, indeed, that was the case. In fact, almost all camping sites have a braai (barbecue in Afrikaans) available for guests to prepare their own meal. But in Namibia, particularly on the coastal side, you will also find good fish and seafood. Do you want to know which was the best meal we had during our trip? Just keep reading!

The answer is Swakopmund. The city of Swakopmund might be the most important one in the west of Namibia. It was founded in 1892 as the main harbour for the German South West Africa, since the only harbour existing at that time, Walvis Bay, was owned by the United Kingdom. The city grew and lots of import and export agencies settled there. However, after the First World War all activities were transferred to Walvis Bay. Nowadays, both cities are mainly visited by tourists looking for adventure. Scenic flights, quad biking, marine cruises and other adventure activities are offered. Thus, it is not surprising that Swakopmund has the best shopping and gastronomical offer in Namibia(after its capital, Windhoek, of course).

When reading about the restaurants of Swakopmund, we discovered a special one: Jetty 1905, which is unique due to its location. Jetty 1905, as you can imagine from its name, is placed over the landing jetty that was built (under difficult working conditions) for the purpose of off-loading the boats that arrived to the Swakopmund harbour. The jetty was completed on 1905. Years later, due to the historical importance of the jetty for the city of Swakopmund, its unsafe structure was repaired and it was opened to the public on 2006.  The town council allowed the construction of the restaurant as a good manner to make the jetty commercially viable and it opened its doors on 2010.

In Jetty 1905 you can enjoy sushi and seafood, but also a good number of Namibian traditional meats, such as the springbok meat, as you will see in the pictures below. Just a warning: you might get hungry!

If you wish to eat in Jetty 1905, don’t forget to book a table on their website, since it seemed quite crowded when we were there. Fortunately, we had booked in advance and we managed to get a table with views over the sea. The bad thing was that the day was so foggy and we couldn’t see much of the outside. However, walking on the jetty under the fog was also a great part of the experience.