{"id":101224,"date":"2026-04-21T14:19:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T14:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/sossusvlei-restrictions-draw-schlettweins-ire"},"modified":"2026-04-21T14:49:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T14:49:34","slug":"sossusvlei-restrictions-draw-schlettweins-ire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/sossusvlei-restrictions-draw-schlettweins-ire","title":{"rendered":"Sossusvlei Restrictions Draw Schlettwein&#8217;s Ire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Former Cabinet minister Calle Schlettwein has come out swinging, saying the government\u2019s decision to restrict access to the Deadvlei in the Namib-Naukluft Park is wrong.<\/p>\n<p>It is Schletwein\u2019s fervent position that it is a mistake that needs revision.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) announced that only two categories of operators will be authorised to provide shuttle services to Deadvlei in the Namib-Naukluft Park, effective 1 May 2026.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe closure of Sossusvlei for self-drive visitors, making them pay a single concessionaire, is robbing Namibians of what is ours. Namibian citizens should have free access. Sossusvlei belongs to Namibian citizens after all,\u201d the former agriculture and finance minister said on his official social media platforms. The ministry, in a public notice last week, said the measures form part of its concession agreement and are aimed at regulating and controlling access into the Deadvlei area, one of the country\u2019s most popular tourist attractions. It said Grow Namibia, trading as About Adelt Sossusvlei Management, and registered tour guides employed by lodges within and around the park will be the only operators permitted to ferry visitors between the Sossusvlei 2\u00d74 parking area and the Deadvlei 4\u00d74 parking area. It said that lodge-employed tour guides must be registered with the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB) and may only transport their own clients, further cautioning that no other operators will be allowed to offer shuttle services to the Deadvlei access point. \u201cAll visitors wishing to access Deadvlei will be required to make use of the authorised shuttle services, as self-driving beyond the 2\u00d74 parking area will no longer be permitted for tourists,\u201d it read.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Namibia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. Former Cabinet minister Calle Schlettwein has come out swinging, saying the government\u2019s decision to restrict access to the Deadvlei in the Namib-Naukluft Park is wrong. It is Schletwein\u2019s fervent position that it is a mistake that needs revision. Last week, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) announced that only two [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":101222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-101224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sossusvlei Restrictions Draw Schlettwein&#039;s Ire - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Cabinet minister Calle Schlettwein has come out swinging, saying the government\u2019s decision to restrict access to ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/sossusvlei-restrictions-draw-schlettweins-ire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sossusvlei Restrictions Draw Schlettwein&#039;s Ire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Cabinet minister Calle Schlettwein has come out swinging, saying the government\u2019s decision to restrict access to ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/sossusvlei-restrictions-draw-schlettweins-ire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-21T14:19:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-21T14:49:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2026\/04\/sm_1776770268.586818.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1728\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1152\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/sossusvlei-restrictions-draw-schlettweins-ire#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/sossusvlei-restrictions-draw-schlettweins-ire\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Sossusvlei Restrictions Draw Schlettwein&#8217;s Ire\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-21T14:19:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-21T14:49:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/sossusvlei-restrictions-draw-schlettweins-ire\"},\"wordCount\":287,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/sossusvlei-restrictions-draw-schlettweins-ire#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2026\/04\/sm_1776770268.586818.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/sossusvlei-restrictions-draw-schlettweins-ire#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/sossusvlei-restrictions-draw-schlettweins-ire\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/sossusvlei-restrictions-draw-schlettweins-ire\",\"name\":\"Sossusvlei Restrictions Draw Schlettwein's Ire - 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