Safari Quick Facts

We have a full day in the Namib Desert and get the opportunity to visit the Sossusvlei dunes, one of the great sights of Africa. We get up early to watch the early morning light over the dunes and there is then time to climb some of the highest sand dunes in the world. Alternatively just enjoy the changing colours on the towering dunes from lower down as the sun gets up. If we're lucky we may see gemsbok or ostrich among the dunes, an irresistibly photogenic scene! In the afternoon there is a visit to the Sesriem Canyon. From here we drive to our camp an hour away, Agama Camp.

A full day's drive through Namib-Naukluft Park to Swakopmund, visiting Walvis Bay en route. The scenery is spectacular.

All day in and around Swakopmund - a German colonial resort town. There is time to go fishing or laze on the beach, or alternatively just enjoy a cream tea and a seafood dinner along the front. You can also go walking among the dunes outside the town, but more exciting than this is the very popular new sport of sand boarding or quad-biking on the dunes (optional). There is also a chance to drive out to the desert, a serene and ethereal landscape with incredible colours at sunset. Alternatively there is the opportunity to go dolphin watching or sand skiing.

Drive towards the stark Skeleton Coast visiting the Seal Colony at Cape Cross. This gives a wonderful opportunity to take some close up shots of the hundreds of seals and sea lions frolicking and fishing in the nearby surf. If the wind is blowing the wrong way it is not always the best place for lunch! We then continue inland to Brandberg.

A few miles further into Damaraland bring us to Twyfelfontein. This is remarkable rocky country, which makes for spectacular driving, including the petrified forest (three million years old), extraordinary organ-pipe rock formations and some ancient and well-preserved rock-paintings. We travel a little further north to our camp for the night, this is a community run campsite, and therefore all fees go straight to the local community.

This day is spent with a scenic drive to Etosha. We should arrive in time for a late afternoon game drive before camping at Okaukuejo, which has an excellent waterhole for viewing game at night.

Our itinerary allows plenty of time to really enjoy this fabulous game park. Etosha is a huge park of mixed forest and grassland centered around a large salt pan. Etosha is home to a great variety and number of game, which is easy to find as the animals congregate at different times around the waterholes. There are waterholes next to the excellent campsites, and it is not uncommon for us to spend all night watching a gala performance of animals: wildebeest, zebra, impala, springbuck, kudu, elephant, giraffe, lion and even rhino are all common sights here. Take plenty of film, camera memory and lots of patience and you will be rewarded by one of the greatest game spectacles in Southern Africa. Etosha is also a good place for birds, with plenty of water birds on the lakes (when filled with water), and weaverbirds and hornbills in the trees. While in Etosha we move our camp from Okaukuejo to Namutoni or Halali.

See day 9 for Itinerary

We have a morning game drive in Etosha, return to camp for brunch and then drive to Otjiwarongwe where we camp for the night.

In the morning we visit the Cheetah Conservation Center. You will have the chance to meet the local residents, cheetahs who cannot released back into the wild and visit the education center and museum. We then drive to the Waterberg Plateau, a 200 meter high gigantic flat topped plateau with bushveld on top, which is one of the more fertile areas in Namibia, very colourful especially after the rains. Here there are several walking trails, including one leading to a spectacular viewpoint near the top of the plateau for a great view.

A drive of three hours or so brings us back to Windhoek.