One of our guides is based in Swakopmund and visited the movie sets while it was in production.
The scenery is stunning and I loved every moment of driving through the desert. We visited the locations before the film was released so we didn’t have any context to the locations. From Windhoek we drove to the coastal city of Swakopmund, which is near where most of the filming took place. It is relatively green and hilly around Windhoek (the inland capital of Namibia) but it soon flattens out into arid desert when you drive towards the coast. And Namibia – also like Australia – is mostly arid. Both Australia and Namibia are two of the least densely populated countries in the world (Australia ranks at 3.1 people per Sq KM and Namibia at 2.56). My first impression of Namibia when driving from the airport at Windhoek was that it felt a bit like Australia. This was also my first time to Namibia, which was a bonus. As a Mad Max fan this was a dream invitation. Two months before the movie was released I was invited to visit the Mad Max filming locations on behalf of the Namibia Tourism Board. ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ will melt your face offĪnd for those who haven’t seen the first three (probably most people born after 1985) you can still watch the new movie without missing a beat, but you may be inspired to watch Mad Max, Mad Max 2 (Road Warrior), and Mad Max 3 (Beyond Thunderdome) after seeing Fury Road. Mad Max: Fury Road is an astonishing work of art If you prefer not to see the preview then these two headlines will give you an indication of the awesomeness that is Fury Road: If you haven’t already seen the movie here is the preview. When I initially read that a new Mad Max was being filmed outside Australia I was sceptical, but having since visited the Namib Desert and watched the movie I can say that Namibia does an outstanding job as a stand-in for the Australian outback. I also feel an affinity for the films as the original Mad Max was filmed in and around my home city of Melbourne, and Mad Max 2 (Road Warrior) was filmed in Western NSW, not far from where I grew up. What was Australia’s loss became Namibia’s gain.Īs a child of the eighties in Australia I had watched the first three Mad Max films several times over. Excellent news for farmers, but hardly a backdrop you would want for filming scenes of a dystopian future. It was originally going to be shot near Broken Hill in Australia until heavy rains turned the usually-barren landscape into a carpet of grass and desert flowers. While the Mad Max world is still set in a post-apocalypse Australia, there is a new Max (Tom Hardy replacing Mel Gibson) and a new filming country (Namibia).įury Road was filmed in the Namib Desert near Swakopmund, Namibia. Mad Max: Fury Road heralds the return of the Mad Max franchise thirty years after the third film was released. Visiting the filming locations of Mad Max: Fury Road in the Namib Desert