Day 1 - Flight to Namibia
Begin your Remote Namibia Safari with a scheduled overnight flight from London Heathrow to Windhoek, via Johannesburg, with South African Airways.
Includes dinner on the flight.
Day 2 - Windhoek
After clearing Namibian customs you will be met and transferred to a comfortable guesthouse situated in one of Windhoek's leafy suburbs. Take time this afternoon to relax by the pool or set off to explore the town. Choose among Windhoek's many good restaurants for dinner.
Includes breakfast on the flight.
Day 3 - Namib-Naukluft National Park
After breakfast your guide collects you at the guesthouse to begin your journey through Namibia. Heading southwestward, you stop for a picnic lunch on the escarpment of the Khomas Hochland highlands and enjoy the sweeping vistas below, before descending to the flat coastal plain of the Namib Desert. Here you'll stay at one of the lovely Kulala properties situated on a remote private desert reserve.
Accommodation will be in spacious and comfortable chalets known as kulalas. Each en-suite chalet has a well-designed luxury interior, panoramic views of the surrounding landscapes and a rooftop 'sky bed' for guests who wish to stargaze under a clear African sky. The camp's main area houses a small bar, a dining area and a reference library and there'll be a refreshing swimming pool nearby.
During the afternoon, with your expert safari guide, you look more closely at the Namib Desert's unique fauna and flora by exploring the private Kulala Reserve, before enjoying a delicious candle-lit dinner.
Windhoek to Kulala Reserve: approx. 5.5 hours (340km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 4 - Namib-Naukluft National Park
You are woken before dawn, and then drive deep into the Namib Desert's Great Dune Field as the rising sun casts a warm glow over the desert plains. You'll enter Namib-Naukluft National Park at a private gate and follow the course of the ephemeral Tsauchab River. Your end point is Sossusvlei, where the river's path is finally swallowed into the great mass of apricot sand dunes, some towering up to 300 metres high. Experiencing this area while the morning light is soft, you'll see one of Namibia's most photogenic landscapes at its best; it's totally magical. Those energetic enough to climb a dune are rewarded by a stunning view from the top.
As the desert heats up in the late morning, you leave Sossusvlei and retreat to the cool haven of your lodge. Your chalet has a great view over the valley and the mountains beyond. Here, you can enjoy a swim in the pool, and perhaps a nature drive or walk into the local area.
Kulala to Sossusvlei to Kulala: approx. 2 hours (140km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 5 & 6 - Swakopmund
Today you travel northwest, traversing the vast Namib-Naukluft National Park and the impressive Gaub and Kuiseb canyons. This route takes you right across the Namib Desert - beside striking sand dunes, through dark craggy canyons and across wide, flat gravel plains dotted with isolated inselbergs. It's a spectacularly varied and scenic drive, with a chance to see some of the desert's wildlife and unique Welwitschia plants. A picnic stop en-route allows you to soak up this remote wilderness. Your journey ends in the historic German town of Swakopmund where you stay at the colonial style Hansa Hotel, said to be one of this pleasant coastal resort's oldest buildings.
Your second day begins with a short drive along the coast to the port town of Walvis Bay. Spend the morning on a boat cruise within Walvis Bay harbour, in search of close encounters with the Atlantic Ocean's rich marine life and diverse birdlife. Favourites are always the playful Cape fur seals and the rarer Heaviside dolphins. A private lunch is set up for your safari group at a remote spot along the beach; the delicious fare usually includes the fresh seafood for which this area of Namibia is well known.
After lunch you return to Swakopmund, where your afternoon and evening on this day of the Remote Namibia Safari is free simply to relax or to explore the town's cafes, restaurants, waterfront, art galleries, museums, gem stores and curio markets.
Kulala to Swakopmund: approx. 5.5 hours (370km)
Includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Day 5 (dinner is excluded on Day 6, the second night in Swakopmund).
Day 7 - Damaraland Camp
As you drive north from Swakopmund, you travel along the infamous Skeleton Coast, perhaps stopping at Cape Cross to visit a huge breeding colony of Cape fur seals. Then, turning inland, you head northeast, using back roads to travel across the windswept gravel plains around Brandberg, Namibia's highest mountain, and into Damaraland. This is an area of stark desert beauty typified by sandstone mountains, plateaus and rare succulent plants sustained only by the sea mists. Depending on time, you may stop to explore remote petrified forests and the Gai As spring with its archaeological stone circles. You arrive at the lovely tented Damaraland Camp in the late afternoon, ready for a chilled sundowner drink around the campfire.
Swakopmund to Damaraland Camp: approx. 7 hours (365km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Days 8 & 9 - Desert Rhino Camp, Palmwag
This morning you take time to explore the ephemeral Huab River on a safari drive in search of desert-adapted elephant, before heading north through the mountains and into the immense Palmwag Reserve. Your destination is Desert Rhino Camp, situated deep in this 4,047km2 private reserve in northwestern Namibia. Your accommodation at this wonderfully remote camp is in one of seven large walk-in tents, each with an en-suite bathroom. Although the surrounding landscape appears parched, a number of freshwater springs support an amazing variety of wildlife, including desert-adapted elephant, the rare Hartmann's mountain zebra, giraffe, oryx, springbok and kudu. It is even possible to see lion, cheetah, leopard, brown and spotted hyena here too.
This remote Namibia reserve is also home to a growing population of black rhino, the largest concentration outside a national park found anywhere in the world. The rhino here are protected and monitored by Save the Rhino Trust and part of your safari is spent tracking these magnificent animals of foot. Other activities include day and night nature drives.
Damaraland to Palmwag: approx. 4 hours (110km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Days 10 & 11 - Etosha National Park
Continue on your luxury Namibia safari to the private Ongava Game Reserve, adjacent to Etosha National Park's southern boundary. Arriving in the early afternoon, you have two nights at the excellent Ongava Tented Camp, from where you can explore this superb park.
Etosha National Park covers 22,270km2 and is one of Africa's top game reserves. Days usually begin with 4WD safari explorations of Etosha, whilst in the afternoon and evening the focus shifts to the equally productive private Ongava Reserve. Within the latter you may also be able to enjoy a short walking safari and end with a spot-lit drive back to camp in search of nocturnal species. All the safari drives use open 4WDs, so expect unrestricted views of the reserve's game.
Palmwag to Ongava Reserve: approx. 5 hours (350km)
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Days 12 to 14 - Skeleton Coast
You leave the roads and your safari vehicle behind to take a breathtaking flight over Namibia's dramatic desert landscapes to the exclusive Skeleton Coast Research Camp situated in a remote 2,428km2 private reserve in the Skeleton Coast Park. This is one of the most starkly beautiful and fragile ecosystems on Earth. Skeleton Coast Research Camp has been set up as a base for research on lichens, a vital component of the coastal Namib Desert ecosystem, as well as desert-adapted elephant and giraffe. The Camp itself blends in well with its remote wilderness setting, designed to provide simple yet comfortable tented accommodation with minimum impact on the environment. The emphasis here is on providing necessary comforts whilst retaining the relaxed, rustic manner of an early explorer's camp.
Full-day safari explorations in 4WD Land Rovers allow you to discover roaring sand dunes, windswept plains and towering canyons. The desolate and uninhabited coastline is home to numerous seal colonies and a graveyard of skeletons and shipwrecks. Saltpans attract interesting birdlife and freshwater springs sustain wildlife such as springbok, oryx, steenbok, giraffe, desert-adapted elephant, brown hyena, black-backed jackal, ostrich, Hartmann's mountain zebra and even lion and leopard. A possible cultural visit to a remote village of the semi-nomadic Himba people, if in the area, rounds off a fantastic experience in one of the most hauntingly beautiful spots on the planet.
Ongava to Skeleton Coast Research Camp: flight approx. 1.5 hours
Includes breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Day 15 - Windhoek
After a leisurely morning you depart on a light aircraft flight back to Windhoek. Your Remote Namibia Safari ends here and you bid your expert guide and the group farewell. You arrive back at your guesthouse in the late afternoon. Dinner is at your own expense today so you have the choice of Windhoek's many restaurants or the option of dining at the guesthouse.
Skeleton Coast Research Camp to Windhoek: flight approx. 3 hours
Includes breakfast and lunch.
Day 16 - Flight to London
Enjoy some free time in Windhoek before you are transferred to the airport in time to check-in for your return flight to London.
Includes breakfast. Dinner is on the flight.
Day 17 - Arrive in London
Arrive home after an unforgettable safari to wild and remote areas of Namibia.
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