Explore More Than 21,000 Km In Namibia With Google Street View

10 Jun 2025

 

"I'm out and about on the streets of Windhoek," writes a Namibia fan to the Namibian.org editorial team enthusiastically from Berlin, some 10,000 km away. Adding by way of explanation: "Namibia is finally on Google Street View."

Of course, that's not entirely true. For years now, Google Maps has featured links to 360-degree images at certain locations. Such as the picnic area at Sossusvlei. Or the viewpoint in the Etosha Pan.

But yes: Namibia's presence on Google Street View has recently reached a whole new dimension. Now, more than 21,000 km of the land of endless horizons can be explored visually. This milestone was even worthy of a post on Google's blog.

The person responsible for this milestone is Namibian entrepreneur Melkisedek 'Melkies' Ausiku. His successful start-up Lefa Transportation Services landed the Google Street View contract in September 2023 (see the report at the time by the news portal THE BRIEF). Lefa was the first Namibian counterpart to 'Uber'.

Equipped with special cameras, Lefa vehicles systematically drove along roads. The images were then edited together to create the familiar Street View photo routes. At the same time, Lefa also helped to correct inaccurate entries on Google Maps.

Random samples from Namibian.org showed that Google Maps and Google Street View still have a lot of room for improvement in Namibia. And it is safe to doubt that digital exploration can replace the experience of being there in person. Even the enthusiastic Street Viewer in Berlin occasionally books a flight to the real Namibia ;))

 

Sven-Eric Stender