Day 1 - Flight to Namibia
Begin your safari of discovery to Namibia with an overnight flight from London Heathrow to Windhoek, via Johannesburg, with South African Airways.
Includes dinner on the flight.
Day 2 - Windhoek
Upon arrival at the airport you are met and taken on the 45-minute drive to Windhoek city and your accommodation in a comfortable guesthouse or hotel. Your day is spent at leisure and there's time to relax by the pool, or to explore the city with its lingering German heritage and architecture. Your guide will meet with you during the early evening to discuss your camping safari and to answer any queries you have.
Includes breakfast on the flight.
Days 3 & 4 - Etosha National Park
After breakfast, your safari guide collects you for a long but easy drive north, through the towns of Otjiwarongo and Outjo, en route to southern Etosha. Between Windhoek and Etosha National Park lies a region of gentle rolling hills, where many of Namibia's larger farms and ranches can be found. Many of these are game farms and you'll often see animals such as springbok, red hartebeest or giraffe along the fence line at the side of the road. You aim to arrive at your campsite in time for a late lunch and a short break before your first game drive.
Namibia's Etosha National Park is one of Africa's best safari reserves and its flat landscape makes it easy to spot game. At the park's centre lies the Etosha Pan, a vast shallow bowl of silvery sand. Along the southern perimeter of this salt pan, a string of waterholes attract thousands of wild animals to the area for most of the year. You spend your time here following the rhythm of the animals: rise at dawn to watch them feed; relax during the midday heat and venture out again on safari in the cool of the late afternoon. Your wildlife viewing doesn't end there as the camp has a flood-lit waterhole which is a great place to sit back with a drink, watching nocturnal visitors and their interactions.
Windhoek - southwest Etosha: approx. 5 hours (450km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 5 - Etosha National Park
Break camp before an early start to game drive your way east through this stark but beautiful park. There is time to pause and enjoy some spectacular views across the silvery expanse of the Etosha salt pan along the way. Most of Africa's big-game safari species are found here, including a high concentration of lion as well as leopard, cheetah, giraffe, zebra, black and white rhino and many species of antelope. Etosha National Park's birdlife is also prolific with over 300 recorded species. Your campsite tonight is situated on the eastern side of Etosha.
Safari drives
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 6 - Owamboland
Today you drive north into Owamboland where the majority of Namibia's population lives. This is totally different from the areas that you've seen so far: it's a lively, well-watered corner of Africa with many small-scale farms, but very few visitors. Along the way you will stop to see the famous hollow baobab tree in the Ombalantu community. The town is located at an old and unused South African military base but the baobab in question has had a much longer history than that. In the past, the tree has been used as a house, a prison and a church. You will overnight at your comfortable mobile camp near a village in this vibrant corner of Namibia.
Eastern Etosha - Owamboland: approx. 5 hours (400km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 7 - Epupa Falls, Kaokoland
You take a long and scenic drive to the remote Kunene River, which forms Namibia's northern border. You will spend the night camping under lush palm forest on its banks. The birdlife here is abundant, and you might discover palmnut vultures and endemic rarities like the rufous-tailed palm thrush. Nearby, the impressive Epupa Falls are a series of cascades where the Kunene River drops 60m over 1,500m forming a multitude of channels and rock pools.
Ovamboland - Epupa Falls: approx. 4 hours (230km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 8 - Opuwo, Kaokoland
Your safari guide will lead you on a fascinating nature walk along the Kunene River to a local Himba Village this morning. The Himba people are, in fact, part of the Herero clan, sharing a common language and heritage. The original people were nomadic pastoralists, settling in one area only long enough to harvest a crop before herding their cattle and families onward in search of more fruitful pastures. Whilst globalisation has caught up with most traditional groups in Africa, the Himba in this area of Namibia still retain many of their traditional ways. After lunch you depart Epupa Falls and drive south to the town of Opuwo, Kaokoland's administrative centre, where you overnight in a comfortable lodge.
Epupa Falls - Opuwo: approx. 3 hours (200km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 9 - Damaraland
Depart the frontier town of Opuwo and travel south to Damaraland. This is a picturesque region of sandstone mountains and flat-topped plateaus. Your destination is the Palmwag reserve where your campsite is located on the banks of a dry riverbed in an oasis shaded by huge Makalani palm trees close to a rare desert spring. The spring often attracts a variety of animal species, occasionally including the desert-adapted elephant. There is time to enjoy an afternoon walk with your guide who helps you to gain a real understanding of the ecosystems that make up this rocky desert area.
Opuwo - Damarland: approx. 4 hours (220km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 10 - Brandberg
Continue south on your camping safari through more stunning Damarland scenery today. You stop periodically for your guide to show you points of interest, and to explain the changes of landscapes, flora and fauna that occur in this special area of Namibia. Stop for lunch at Twyfelfontein before a local guide leads you around this amazing gallery of ancient Bushman rock art, now a UNESCO world heritage landmark. Engaging the services of a local guide here ensures that the local knowledge is maintained and the revenue from tourism is ploughed back into the surrounding communities. After a pause to discover the interesting 'Organ Pipe' rock formations and the surreal Burnt Mountain you continue to your campsite in the shade of Brandberg, Namibia's highest mountain.
Damaraland - Brandberg: approx. 5 hours (235km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 11 - Swakopmund
Cross a forbidding stretch of amazingly flat and empty desert before reaching the Atlantic and the Skeleton Coast. Stop at Cape Cross seal colony, where tens of thousands of fur seals congregate to breed, and walk to within metres of these gregarious creatures. From here it's an interesting drive along the coast to the town of Swakopmund, the principal coastal resort of Namibia. After settling into your guesthouse you can spend your afternoon at leisure enjoying the charm of this old town with its German colonial atmosphere. Dinner has not been included on this night to give you the chance to sample the excellent seafood and Namibian fare offered at one of the many good restaurants here.
Brandberg - Swakopmund: approx. 5 hours (370km)
Includes breakfast and lunch.
Day 12 - Gobabeb Research Centre, Namib-Naukluft Park
Swakopmund is Namibia's epicentre of adventure activities from dune-boarding, quad-biking, sky-diving and dolphin cruises to scenic flights over the desert; and you have the morning to experience some of these (they are payable locally and undertaken at your own risk). Alternatively, enjoy a gentle stroll around this pleasant town and visit one of its art galleries or numerous curio shops, enjoying lunch at one of the atmospheric street cafés.
Leaving after lunch you drive into the barren desert landscape surrounding the oasis that is Swakopmund. Your destination is the fascinating Gobabeb Research Centre situated on the Kuiseb River deep in the desert. In the last afternoon your guide will take you on a nature walk through parts of the dune belt pointing out desert-adapted flora and fauna of interest.
Swakopmund - Namib-Naukluft Park: approx. 2 hours (120km)
Includes breakfast and dinner.
Days 13 & 14 - Namib-Naukluft National Park
From here you continue further into the Namib Desert, driving through deeply incised canyons and up onto the flat plains. Arrive at your campsite at the edge of the desert where you have time to watch the evening colours glow and change on the distant mountains to the east.
Rising well before the sun the following morning, you drive deep into the Great Dune Sea, where the dawn light spreading on the dunes is usually an amazing sight. You'll walk the last 5km into the dunes on a desert safari with your guide, who shows you the best spots to take photos and explore in and around Sossusvlei and Dead Vlei. After a lunch break under a shady camelthorn tree by Elim Dune, you travel back to your camp via the fascinating Sesriem Canyon, where you wander through its amazing rock formations.
Namib-Naukluft Park - Namib Desert: approx. 3 hours (200km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 15 - Flight to London
Drive back to Windhoek through yet more stunning scenery as you pass up and over the escarpment. You arrive back in Windhoek during the early afternoon and in time for your scheduled flight to London.
Namib Desert - Windhoek: approx. 5˝ hours (350km)
Includes breakfast. Dinner is on the flight.
Day 16 - Arrive in London
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