Day 1 - Flight to Namibia
Begin with a scheduled flight from London to Windhoek, via Johannesburg, with South African Airways.
Includes dinner on the flight.
Day 2 - Windhoek
You are met on arrival in Windhoek and transferred to your accommodation, a comfortable guesthouse. Spend the afternoon relaxing or wander into town to explore. We recommend you consider visiting the Namibia Craft Centre for a delicious afternoon tea and a browse through interesting craft stalls. Dinner this evening is at your own expense as there are plenty of good restaurants to choose from. Alternatively you can order in at the guesthouse. You will find the staff there friendly and helpful, and our Namibian team is easily contactable and happy to answer any queries you might have.
Includes breakfast on the flight.
Day 3 - Namib-Naukluft Park
You will be met at the guesthouse between 08.00 and 08.30 ready to begin your journey. Travel out of Windhoek across the Eros Mountains and along scenic roads, southwest towards the flat gravel plains of the Namib Desert. Stop for a picnic lunch en-route and for a tea break at the tiny outpost of Solitaire. You aim to arrive at your camp on the edge of the desert during the late afternoon, leaving time for a dip in the pool before enjoying the sunset over the Naukluft Mountains.
Windhoek to Desert Camp: approx. 5˝ hours (350km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 4 - Namib-Naukluft Park
Rising well before dawn, you drive deep into the desert, home to some of the world's highest dunes and stunning scenery. The shifting, contrasting patterns of light and shadow on these dunes are always enthralling, and the view from the top (if you have the energy!) is spectacular. After breakfast in the desert you continue through breathtaking scenery to some of the world's highest dunes at Sossusvlei. Spend the morning exploring on foot these, marvelling at the surroundings and the wildlife. After a relaxing lunch-stop at Sesriem, you drive to nearby Sesriem Gorge, where the force of the ephemeral Tsauchab River has sculpted amazing shapes from the rock.
Desert Camp to Sossusvlei to Desert Camp: approx. 3 hours (240km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 5 - Swakopmund
Drive north then west across the gravel plains of the Namib, traversing the steep Gaub and Kuiseb passes. When you meet the ocean, you stop for a lunch in the port town of Walvis Bay. It's a picnic lunch enjoyed overlooking a lagoon where you'll usually see flamingos, pelicans and other water birds. It's then a short drive along a dramatic coastal road to Swakopmund where your afternoon is free to relax and explore. There are many interesting shops and craft centres here, and several excellent (and great-value) seafood restaurants to choose from for your evening meal.
Namib Desert Camp to Swakopmund: approx. 5˝ hours (300km)
Includes breakfast and lunch.
Day 6 - Swakopmund
With Swakopmund as your base, you've a wide choice of things to do. This small seaside town is a major centre for activities, from dune-boarding, quad-biking, sky-diving and dolphin cruises to scenic flights over the desert. Your guide will explain these and many other options to you (costs are paid locally and activities undertaken at your own risk), and help you make bookings. Alternatively, spend your time exploring the town with its museums, galleries, curio shops and historic buildings, relax in one of the many cafés, or take a quiet stroll along the beach. Lunch and dinner are at your own expense, although the group and guide often arrange to meet up.
Includes breakfast.
Day 7 - Brandberg
Leaving early and heading north along the coast, you'll first pause to visit Cape Cross, a large colony of Cape fur seals, and you can walk to within feet of these gregarious creatures. From here you turn inland, back towards the desert environments, and drive across vast plains to the town of Uis. Once there was a busy and thriving community here, centred on a large tin mine; but the mine closed a few years ago, and now Uis is much quieter and almost sleepy. Semi-precious stones such as amethyst and tourmaline can be found here at bargain prices. It's then only a short drive to your campsite in the shade of Brandberg, which at 2,573 metres is Namibia's highest mountain and a national monument.
Swakopmund to Brandberg: approx. 4˝ hours (300km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 8 - Palmwag
An early start ensures that the day is still cool for your 90-minute, relatively easy walk into the mountain, to see the world-famous 'White Lady' rock painting. Attributed to the Bushmen artists, the painting is believed by some to be more than 20,000 years old and is well worth a visit.
Climb back into the vehicle for a stunning drive through the picturesque scenery of Damaraland, a terrain made up of plateaux, sandstone mountains and open grassland. Your destination is Palmwag. Located on the banks of a dry river bed, your campsite is set 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. Spend the late afternoon relaxing by the pool or alternatively, there is a marked trail where the more energetic can enjoy a self-guided walk before sunset.
Brandberg to Palmwag: approx. 5 hours (350km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 9 - Himba Community
From Palmwag you travel east, traversing the small Grootberg mountain range on your way to the town of Kamanjab. After setting up camp and enjoying lunch, you head out to the nearby Himba community which welcomes the chance to interact with visitors. Like east Africa's Maasai, the Himba have a proud culture that they have successfully retained in the face of the modern world. Many adhere to their traditional dress and customs, living in ways that have changed little over the centuries. Each aspect of their lives has a meaning, from how they set up their kraal to honour their ancestors, to the way they wear their hair.
Oase village is the only traditionally functioning Himba community outside the far north Kaokoland region of Namibia. These tribes-people have migrated here, lifestyle and customs intact, and are following their traditional way of life in their village located on a farm. You spend the time with them at the village, where a local guide introduces you to their alternative lifestyle and helps you to learn about Himba life and culture.
Palmwag to Kamanjab: approx. 4˝ hours (300km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Days 10 & 11 - Etosha National Park
Depart Kamanjab after breakfast for a relatively short drive to Outjo where you stop for a cup of coffee and a sticky bun at the local bakery whilst your guide stocks up on supplies. From here you head north to Etosha National Park and your first game drive as you drive slowly between the park gate and Okaukuejo Camp. During the afternoon there is time to head out into the park to seek out interesting wildlife, spend part of the time driving around and part of the time watching the action at some of the more prolific waterholes.
You are up early the following morning to enjoy a full day of game viewing. A vast swathe of Etosha National park consists of the enormous Etosha Pan, a shallow depression of silvery-white salts which fills with water only in exceptionally wet years. Normally, it's bone dry, but around it are numerous perennial springs that can attract great concentrations of wildlife. Spotting the big game is easy; but travelling with a knowledgeable guide enables you also to understand and appreciate the smaller species, and to learn about some of Etosha's many birds.
Kamanjab to Southwest Etosha: approx. 3 hours (270km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 12 - AfriCat Foundation
There is time to enjoy a last game drive before you leave Etosha and drive south through the towns of Outjo and Otjiwarongo to Okonjima. You aim to arrive at your private campsite in the early afternoon. Okonjima Reserve is home of the AfriCat Foundation, and during the afternoon you learn their continuing work to conserve Namibia's big cats. You usually have the chance to visit the AfriCat clinic and see cheetah and other rescued wildlife up close.
South west Etosha to Okonjima: approx. 4 hours (300km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 13 - Windhoek
After breakfast it's time to break camp and return to Windhoek. It may be possible to make a short stop at Okahandja's craft market stalls before arriving back in the city and your guesthouse during the late afternoon. There will be a bit of time to relax at the guesthouse before your guide collects you for dinner at one of the capital's very good restaurants.
Okonjima to Windhoek: approx. 3 hours (235km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 14 - Flight to London
This morning you are taken on a trip to Katutura, one of Windhoek's large, vibrant townships. During the apartheid years this was the original workers' township and now makes up the city's largest suburb. Each visit is different, but there is usually the chance to visit a market and sample some of the local food and drink. Later in the afternoon you are met and transferred to the airport in time for your homeward flight.
Includes breakfast. Dinner is on the flight.
Day 15 - Arrive in London
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