Sample Safari -
Game Viewing / Sightseeing / Photography Tour
Our tours begin and end in Windhoek, the capital city of the Central Region of Namibia. Windhoek international airport is a convenient point to enter and depart the country and is a good base for local excursions. With its German architecture, activities and
atmosphere, Windhoek is well-known as Africa's cleanest city and an excellent year-round travel destination.
Accommodations and breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided each day of the tour.
Click on links throughout the text below to find our more about the sights to see!
Please note- this is a sample tour only , meant to give you an idea of the points of interest in this beautiful area of Africa. We may need to vary the accommodations and schedule depending upon availability.
Namibia is a country of amazing contrasts, perpetual sunshine, unspoiled landscapes and huge variety of game animals. Namibia attracts increasing numbers of visitors from each year from all over the world. With its broad horizons, clear unpolluted skies and a population density among the lowest in the world, the feeling of tranquility and stillness is palpable.
On the tour we will see the desolate Namib Desert with its high dunes of changing colour, and the Central Plateau's thorn bush savannah and rugged mountains, rising up from the plains. In the north of Namibia, the dense bush gives way to open plains on the great Etosha Pan, and changes to savannah and lush vegetation. We'll see dinosaur footprints - all relics of an ancient time.
Day 1 - Arrival in Windhoek
You will be met and transferred to either your overnight accommodation at a Guest Farm or a comfortable Pension, depending upon your arrival time
at
Windhoek.
Day 2 - the Komas Hochland highlands to the Namib Desert
This morning we traverse the
Komas Hochland highlands, stopping for lunch at Spreetshoogte Pass where you will find one of the most stunning viewpoints. We then descend to the
Namib Desert, and proceed to our Lodge or Rest Camp for the evening.
Day 3 - Namib Desert to Swakopmund
We rise very early this morning for a drive into the world's highest sand dunes - some over 1,000 feet over the surrounding plains. The morning will be spent walking amongst their awe-inspiring change of colour and contrast. After breakfast we continue through the Naukluft Park, have lunch at Solitaire and drive via Walvis Bay to our hotel accommodation at
Swakopmund,
the principal coastal resort
of Namibia. This charming town with its German atmosphere is surrounded by the Namib Desert and has many
buildings and houses dating back to the German colonial era.
Day 4
Our morning will be spent touring some of the local "Moon" landscape areas and visiting the ancient Welwitschia Plants.
The first Welwitschia plant was discovered by Austrian botanist Friedrich Welwitsch
in 1860 in the Namib desert in the southern part of Angola. This amazing plant survives in very harsh conditions where the annual rainfall is often less that 25 mm. The
Welwitschia's oldest living specimens are estimated at 1500 to 2000 years of age.
Day 5
Damaraland is our destination today, by way of the
Skeleton Coast, so-called for the skeletons of ships found there many years ago, Henties Bay, which is a well-known anglers destination, and to the
Cape Cross Reserve which is home to thousands of Cape Fur Seals - actually a species of sea lion.
There are as many as 650,000 of them in 24 colonies along the Namib and South African Coastline. Stargazing under crystal-clear night skies is an amazing way to spend the evening in our destination, Damaraland, with stars brighter than any you can imagine.
Day 6
This morning we visit Twyfelfontein's wealth of
rock paintings and petroglyphs. The area gained nature reserve protection in 1986, and is one of Africa's richest sites of rock art. On our drive we stop at the Petrified Forest where a large number of petrified trees lie on a bed of sandstone. Some are partially
buried, while others lie completely exposed, the sandstone surrounding
them eroded away. We drive on to our accommodation at Kamanjab where we will be in time for a late afternoon game drive.
Day 7
Today we travel north for a day visit to a Himba Village, peopled by one of Namibia's last semi-nomadic tribes. The
Ovahimba are an extraordinary people who have resisted change and
maintained their rich and unique cultural heritage. We will spend about 3 hours at the village with Jacov, a caucasian who was adopted by the village as a child. He was raised with the Ovahimba people, speaks English and acts an a guide / interpreter on this amazing glimpse into a primitive culture. On the way to the village we will stop for a picnic lunch.
Day 8
Etosha National Park is Namibia's premier wildlife reserve and encompasses an area of over 22,000 square kilometers. We will spend most of the day there before making our way to overnight accommodations at the Okaukuejo Lodge and Camp. In the evening we will spend some time at the Lodge's floodlit waterhole, famous for sightings of black rhino and elephant as well as lions, leopards, oryx, springbok, gemsbok and hartebeest.
Day 9
Our travels next take us east through Etosha Park where we will take time to visit many water holes and take in the incredible views of the shimmering salt pans dominating the centre of the park. After lunch we leave at the Namutoni Gate and head for Tsumke and our overnight accommodation for the next 2 nights.
Day 10
Our next day touring takes us to visit a Ju/'hoan village to become acquainted with the culture and traditions of the
Bushmen. This includes a walk in the bush to collect traditional food and to track game. Late this afternoon we return to our accommodation.
Day 11
Next we head south through the town of
Grootfontein and on to the
Waterberg Plateau Park. Leopard, buffalo, and the rare and endangered roan and sable antelope live atop
this magnificent brick-red sandstone block.
This 200 metre high, flat-topped plateau is sometimes described as the Lost Eden,
because once up there, the animals have no way down.
Day 12
Traveling south takes us through the town of Okahanja where the Herero people gather together every August for their pilgrimage to the graves of their ancestors buried in the town. We have time to visit open air arts and crafts market before continuing to our overnight accommodation.
Day 13
A horseback trek and picnic lunch on a game and cattle farm is the highlight of the day, just a short distance south of Okahanja. We then continue on to Windhoek late in the afternoon.
Day 14
Leisure time in Windhoek rounds out your tour before your flight home from Windhoek International Airport.
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