From our customised safari truck we explore the dramatic canyons, towering sand dunes and magnificent wildlife parks of the Namib landscape. Staying in comfortable lodges along the route we track elephants, rhinos and lions through Etosha and Waterberg Plateau National Parks. We also visit the majestic cheetah in a conservation centre and watch seals basking on the coast.
Itinerary
[+] Detailed Itinerary
Day 1:
Join tour Windhoek
Arrive Windhoek and check into hotel. There is some free time today for sightseeing in the Namibian capital, with an opportunity to visit the National Museum or perhaps a half day Katatura Township tour.
Overnight Standard Hotel (H+)
Day 2:
Drive to Sesriem
Departing Windhoek we spend the day driving south-west into the Namib Desert, to the edge of the Namib-Naukluft National Park and our lodge near Sesriem. The Namib is the oldest desert on earth, distinguished as being home to some of the strangest flora and fauna on the continent.
Overnight Lodge (H+)
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 3:
Exploring Sossusvlei and Sesriem Canyon
Today we drive into the Namib-Naukluft National Park and travel down the Tsauchab Valley to Sossusvlei to watch the sun cast its shadows over the red dunes. Sossusvlei has some of the world’s most spectacular sand dunes. The area itself is a vast depression or clay pan, towered over by sand dunes up to 300m high. In the early morning, the first rays of the sun light up the dunes with a deep orange glow – a photographer’s delight. It is a wild, beautiful and romantic spot, with sparse vegetation edging a few water courses which flow in from the Tsauchab river. Here springbok and ostrich are often seen. We’ll also explore the cool passageways of the Sesriem Canyon on foot. The canyon is small but very picturesque – many plants grow in the shade and shelter offered by the canyon, and water pools attract several species of birds and animals. Sesriem means ‘six thongs’; which refers to the six lengths of rawhide rope (from a wagon) needed to make a line long enough to lower from the rim of the gorge to the stream below, in order to haul up a bucket of water.
Overnight Lodge (H+)
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 4:
Drive to Swakopmund via Walvis Bay
An optional early morning balloon ride is an excellent way of gaining a unique perspective of the vast desert landscapes of this stunning region of Namibia. Drifting silently over the dunes, keep your eyes open for desert wildlife foraging for food. Travelling via Solitaire and through the Kuiseb Canyon, we then pass aweinspiring landscapes as we head across the Namib gravel flats to Walvis Bay. Here a large spit forms a natural deep-sea harbour that attracted the first navigators in the late 1400’s. The shallows, located where the spit joins the mainland, are home to a diverse collection of birds, the most spectacular being flamingos and pelicans that feed here seasonally. It’s a short drive from here to the coastal town of Swakopmund.
Overnight Standard Hotel (H+)
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 5:
In Swakopmund
Swakopmund is one of the world’s best examples of German colonial architecture, and served as the German’s port into what was then, German South West Africa. Like any port town has a colourful past. Today, there may be time to visit the town’s excellent museum, or visit a local township, participate in one of the numerous activities on offer, or just relax! This evening you have the chance to watch the sunset at the nearby coastal dune belt.
Overnight Standard Hotel (H+)
Included meals: Breakfast
Day 6:
Drive via Cape Cross Seal Colony to Damaraland
Travelling north towards the Atlantic coast we visit the memorable Cape Cross Seal Colony where between 80,000 and 100,000 Cape fur seals bask in the sun or swim playfully in the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The seals are natural indicators of fish stocks in the ocean. If the fish stocks are healthy, then the seal numbers are high. If the fish stocks are poor, then the seal numbers will be low. The seals are quite big, an average male weighing-in at anything up to 187kg (501 lbs). The females give birth to a single pup around late November to early December. After our visit we head inland, passing the majestic Brandberg Mountain (2,573m and the highest point in Namibia) as we enter the southern part of Damaraland. This afternoon we see the Bushmen paintings and engravings at Twyfelfontein. The massif of Twyfelfontein contains a spectacular record of the rock art of the Khoisan people, painted and incised into the sandstone of the mountain over a thousand years.
Overnight Comfortable Hotel (H++)
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 7:
Visit Petrified Forest; drive to Okaukuejo or Halali in Etosha National Park
This morning we will travel to the extraordinary Petrified Forest, with its huge fossilised tree trunks, which was declared a National Monument in 1950; it is estimated to be about 200 million years old, and both the bark and the tree rings are perfectly preserved. The Etosha National Park offers, arguably some of the best game viewing in Africa, and Okaukuejo is one of the three rest camps situated within the park where we can stay.
Overnight Rest Camp (H++)
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 8:
Game drives in Etosha National Park
We continue our safari through Etosha National Park to our second base at Namutoni. Etosha is an immense, saline desert, covering over 12,400 square miles, and the habitat for 114 species of animals and 340 species of birds. It has been described as the best game reserve on the African continent. Our programme of game drives will depend entirely on the interests of the group, and is left as flexible as possible. We should see elephant, rhino and hopefully lion. The terrain ranges from dense bush to large open plains where animals roam freely. We drive along the network of gravel roads that criss-cross the Park, visiting the various viewpoints and the permanent waterholes around which animals congregate. There is something enigmatic in the vast silent grey-white pan that covers the reserve. Numerous waterholes and underground springs attract large herds of animals including springbok, zebra, wildebeest and giraffe. At its very heart is the Etosha Pan, which geologists believe was formed some 12 million years ago from an inland lake about the size of Holland. Shrunk to its present dried-up size, it is now a gigantic depression in the ground – flat, saline and silvery, a mysterious place of mirages and dust-laden images.
Overnight Rest Camp (H++)
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 9:
Game Drives in Etosha National Park
Today we will continue our game drives in Etosha NP.
Overnight Comfortable Hotel (H++)
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 10:
Drive to Waterberg Plateau Park
We leave Etosha and travel via the Cheetah Conservation Foundation at Otjiwarongo to the Waterberg Plateau Park. The CCF is an internationally recognised centre of excellence in research and education on cheetahs and their eco-systems with an extensive visitor’s centre which encourages visitors to learn more about these beautiful cats and the efforts being made to save them. Later we will continue to the Waterberg Plateau. The Waterberg is a sandstone mountain which rises over 200m from the surrounding plains and is Namibia’s only mountain game park. There are various trails to walk along searching for the elusive Damara Dik-Dik and a good variety of birds.
Overnight Lodge (H+)
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 11:
Drive to Windhoek
This morning you could choose to explore some of the walking trails on offer or take an optional game drive in the national park. We will then head south and return to Windhoek. We have the chance to stop off en route in Okhandja and visit the local craft market.
Overnight Standard Hotel (H+)
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Day 12:
Tour ends Windhoek
This morning you may have some free time for independent sight seeing in the Namibian capital.
Included meals: Breakfast
