The Windhoek Guide - Your Guide to Namibia's Capital

Taxis used to be (until end of 2009) a mode of transport that nobody should use - but a lot of commuter had to use taxis anyway.

After signing an agreement between officials in Windhoek (Police, The Namibia Bus and Taxi Association, City of Windhoek) in mid 2009, a re-registration of all taxis took place. All official taxis now have large stickers with their taxi registration number on all sides of their vehicles (e.g. A98). Most of them are also installing large yellow roof signs showing some advertisement as well as the letters TAXI.

However, still, using a taxi is not the safest way of transportation in Windhoek. If tourists want to use a taxi, they should only use those that are called by a hotel or restaurant. Never stop a taxi on the road, which is in any case not allowed between Bahnhof St and Fidel Castro Street.

The main taxi stand is at Independence Avenue, opposite the Kalahari Sands Hotel & Casino, right at the tourist information stall.

A short taxi ride in Windhoek costs a flat fee of N$ 8.00; a trip across the city centre N$ 16.00. Very few so-called "Radio Taxis" with a taxameter exist in Windhoek. They are generally overpriced.

Taxi drivers do generally not know any street addresses or so. When taking a taxi you should know a recognizable place (a large supermarket, a church, etc) close to the address you want to go to in order to make it clear to the driver where your destination is.