Accommodation: Windhoek Town Lodge
Meals: Dinner
Included activities: Visit Windhoek Bird Sanctuary
Optional activities: N.A.

A representative from SafariWise will meet you at Hosea Kutako Airport. We then transfer to our overnight accommodation. The Daan Viljoen lodge is situated inside the Daan Viljoen Natural Willdlife Park approximately 20 kilometres from Windhoek on the C28 road. The lodge offers walking trails and game drives inside the park.

Birds likely to be seen: Rosy Faced Lovebird, Pygmy Falcon, Black Shouldered Kite, Black-breasted Snake Eagle, Verreaux’s Eagle.
We visit Windhoek Bird Sanctuary where the following species can be found : Black-crowned Night Heron, Squacco Heron, Maccoa Duck, Hottentot Teal, Black Crake, Purple Gallinule, Monteiro’s Hornbill, Violet-eared and Black-cheeked Waxbills, Pin-tailed, Shaft-tailed and Long-tailed Wydah’s. Honey Buzzard, African Black Duck and Black Heron are rare visitors to this sanctuary.

Accommodation: Alte Brücke
Meals: Breakfast, picnic lunch, dinner
Included activities: Birding with your guide
Optional activities: N.A.

After breakfast, we drive west to the coastal town of Swakopmund. As you travel towards the Atlantic Coast you will see the scenery change from sand dunes to dark craggy canyons and then to flat gravel plains. You will also visit the Moonlandscape, which reveals the famed Welwitchia plants that grow on seemingly lifeless gravel plains. Enjoy a picnic lunch en route.

Birds likely to be seen: Ruppels Bustard, Herero Chat, Monteiro’s Hornbil, Mountain Wheatear, Trac trac Chat, Karoo Chat, Burchells Courser, Double-banded Courser, Namaqua Sandgrouse and a few larks.
The Namib is an important breeding area for the Lappet-faced Vulture and you are likely to see these large raptors perched at the top of Camel Thorn Trees lining the river washes during the breeding season (May to September).

Accommodation: Alte Brücke
Meals: Breakfast, picnic lunch, dinner
Included activities: Birding with your guide
Optional activities: N.A.

Today we visit Bird Paradise, saltworks, Walvis Bay Lagoon, Rooibank, The Guano Platform and Paaltjies.

Birds likely to be seen: Pelagic seabirds that can often be seen from Paaltjies: White-chinned Petrel, Sooty Shearwater, Wilson’s and European Storm Petrels, Cape Gannet, Pomarine and Longtailed Skua’s.

Walvis Bay lagoon has been listed by RAMSAR as a Natural Heritage Site because of the sheer numbers of Palaearctic waders it supports each summer (about 20 000 birds), together with spectacular numbers of both Greater and Lesser Flamingos. Some of the most abundant of the migratory species are Greenshank, Marsh and Wood Sandpipers, Red Knot, Ruddy Turnstone and Curlew Sandpiper. Whimbrel, Curlew and Bar-tailed Godwit occur in smaller numbers. This lagoon is one of the few sites in southern Africa where Redshank, Broad-billed Sandpiper and Red-necked Phalarope are fairly regular. This phenomenal wader spot also regularly attracts Greater and Mongolian Sandplovers, and Terek Sandpiper, all birds that are much more typically found on the subtropical east coast of southern Africa.

Resident birds of the lagoon include Black-crowned Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, White-fronted Plover, and the sought-after Chestnut-banded Plover. A visit to the Walvis Bay Sewage Works is expected to yield good numbers of interesting water birds, such as Hottentot and Cape Teals, Cape Shoveler, Egyptian Goose, Red-billed Duck, Eared (large flocks), Little and Great Crested Grebes.

Accommodation: Alte Brücke
Meals: Breakfast, picnic lunch, dinner
Included activities: Pelagic Boat Excursion
Optional activities: N.A.

This morning we go on a Pelagic boat excursion in the morning & spend some time birding in and around Swakopmund.

Accommodation: Omaruru Guesthouse
Meals: Breakfast, picnic lunch & dinner
Included activities: Birding with your guide
Optional activities: N.A

Today we drive to Omaruru. Omaruru is a green and picturesque town astride the (usually dry) Omaruru River, in a hilly area. This vegetation zone is very attractive to birds, from ground feeders to those that forage for food in the bushes and canopies of trees.

Birds likely to be seen: Watch the ground for Red-billed Spurfowl, Helmeted Guineafowl, Namaqua Sandgrouse, Rufous-naped and Monotonous Larks, Black-cheeked, and Violet-eared Waxbills. We will bird along the Omaruru River-bed and look for Red-billed Woodhoopoe, Ruppel’s Parrot, Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill, Damara Hornbill, Goldentailed, Cardinal and Bearded Woodpeckers.

Accommodation: Okaukuejo Resort
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Included activities: Game drives in the park, Birding with your guide
Optional activities: N.A

When it was originally proclaimed at the turn of the century the Etosha Park consisted of an area of 100,000 square kilometers. This was the largest reserve on earth but in the 1960’s political pressure resulted in the Park being reduced to its current size Etosha, meaning “Great White Place”, is dominated by a massive mineral pan. The pan is part of the Kalahari Basin, the floor of which was formed around 1000 million years ago. The Etosha Pan covers around 25% of the National Park. The pan was originally a lake fed by the Kunene River. However the course of the river changed thousands of years ago and the lake dried up.
The pan now is a large dusty depression of salt and dusty clay which fills only if the rains are heavy and even then only holds water for a short time. This temporary water in the Etosha Pan attracts thousands of wading birds including impressive flocks of flamingos. The perennial springs along the edges of the Etosha Pan draw large concentrations of wildlife and birds. Okaukuejo, located 17 km from the Southern entrance of the park, was the first tourist camp to open in Etosha. Okaukuejo is famous for its flood-lit waterhole, where visitors can observe at close quarters a spectacle of wildlife congregating and interacting. It is the main administrative centre and headquarters of the Etosha Ecological Institute, where research and nature conservation management in Etosha are conducted.

Birds likely to be seen: Green-winged Pytilia, African Hoopoe, Giant Eagle Owl, Cape Glossy Starling,Yellow-bellied Eremomela, Burnt-necked Eremomela, Fork-tailed Drongo, Cape Shoveller, South African Shellduck, Pale Chanting Goshawk, Blue Crane, Burchell’s Sandgrouse, Red-crested Bustard, Northern Black Korhaan, Kori Bustard, Secretary Bird, Ruppel’s Parrot, Meyer’s Parrot, Alpine Swift.

Accommodation: Namutoni Resort
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Included activities: Game drives in the park , birding with your guide
Optional activities: N.A

A short distance from Etosha National Park, you’ll discover the revamped Mokuti Etosha on its eastern edge. Stepping onto its spacious grounds, you’ll immediately feel calm and embraced by serenity. With bush surroundings, three glistening pools, and stunning vistas, it’s like entering another world. Mokuti Etosha has a unique charm that captivates travelers, with its architecture and designs echoing nature through earthy colors, natural materials, and tactile textures, all reminiscent of Etosha’s essence – both familiar and distinct.

Birds likely to be seen: Green-winged Pytilia, African Hoopoe, Giant Eagle Owl, Cape Glossy Starling, Yellow-bellied Eremomela, Burnt-necked Eremomela, Fork-tailed Drongo, Cape Shoveller, South African Shellduck, Pale Chanting Goshawk, Blue Crane, Burchell’s Sandgrouse, Red-crested Bustard, White-quilled Bustard, Kori Bustard, Secretary Bird, Ruppel’s Parrot, Meyer’s Parrot, Alpine Swift.

Accommodation: Waterberg Resort
Meals: Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Included activities: Birding with your guide
Optional activities: N.A

After breakfast, we depart to the Waterberg Plateau Park. The Park was created as a sanctuary for the rare and endangered species of the Caprivi, and is one of Namibia’s most interesting parks in terms of flora and fauna. The Park covers an area of 40 549 hectares. The plateau lies in a Northeast/Southwest direction and is 48 km in length and varies in width from 8 – 16 km. Several short walks have been laid out in the park and will take you right up to the plateau. Game such as Roan – and Sable antelope are likely to be found when you partake on a game drive on top of the plateau. This is an extra optional activity and is done by Ministry of Environment and Tourism and can be organised through your guide. The high diversity of birdlife in this semi-arid region is due to the location of the Waterberg at the meeting point of broadleafed woodland on northern Kalahari sandveld on top of the plateau and mixed thornbush savanna below. A third habitat is provided by the cliffs and scree slopes.

Birds likely to be seen: Cape Vulture, Booted Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Rosy-faced Lovebirds, Ruppel’s Parrot, Bradfield’s, Alpine, African Palm, Little, Common and White-rumped Swifts, Hartlaub’s Francolin, Monteiro’s Hornbill, Freckled Nightjar, Rockrunner, Short-toed Rock Thrush, Violet Woodhoopoe, Carp’s Black Tit, Coqui, Red-billed and Swainson’s Francolins, Bradfield’s, Southern Yellow-billed, African Grey and Red-billed Hornbills.

Accommodation: N.A
Meals: Breakfast
Included activities: Last minute birding on our way to the airport
Optional activities: N.A

After breakfast, we can explore the area and depart for Windhoek to be in time for your flight. En route we can visit the wood carving market at Okahandja and we can also visit the Windhoek Bird Sanctuary to catch up on any lost species.