Accommodation: Windhoek Country Club resort
Meals: All Meals
Included activities: Sossusvlei, Deadvlei & Sesriem excursion
Optional activities: Scenic flights & Hot-air ballooning

Today our route takes us to Dead Valley Lodge. The Dead Valley Lodge is situated inside the Namib-Naukluft Park, between Seriem and Elim Dune on the D826 road leading to the world-famous Dead Valley at Sossusvlei. The lodge offers twenty (20) free-standing, climate-controlled luxury tented chalets, each with a panoramic view of the Namib Desert with towering red sand dunes, rugged mountain ranges, and arid desert savannahs. The restaurant serves delicious Namibian-style cuisine, while guests can relax in the picturesque bar with a swimming pool overlooking the Elim Dune.

Day 3: This morning starts before sunrise as we drive to see the beautiful Namib sunrise. The Sossusvlei, Namibia's famous highlight in the heart of the Namib Desert, is a huge clay pan enclosed by giant sand dunes. Some of these spectacular sand hills reach heights of 300 meters, making them the highest in the world. Only after a rare heavy rainfall in this area does the vlei fill with water. As the clay layers hardly allow any water infiltration, a turquoise lake will remain for quite some time. After lunch, we visit the Sesriem Canyon, one of the amazing features of the Namib. Here, the Tsauchab River has carved a gorge—up to 30 meters deep and about 1 km long—into the conglomerate gravels deposited some 15-18 million years ago during a wetter phase in the history of the Namib. From the parking area, a track leads to the canyon floor, and a walk into Sesriem is like descending through the layers of time.

Accommodation: Hansa Hotel
Meals: All meals
Included activities: Scenic drive to Swakopmund
Optional activities: Sand boarding, sky-diving, fishing, sightseeing & shopping

This morning, after breakfast, we travel by road to Swakopmund. Swakopmund is a city on the coast of northwestern Namibia, 280 km west of Windhoek, Namibia's capital. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. The town has 42,000 inhabitants and covers 193 square kilometers of land.

The area of Namib Desert around Swakopmund is named the West Coast Recreational Area. Recreation is the town’s number one draw card, offering countless pursuits to help you spend your time. For those interested in adventure activities, Swakopmund offers sandboarding, quad biking, dune carting, parachuting, hot air ballooning, shark fishing, deep sea fishing, and beach angling, to name but a few. For the more sedentary, there are restaurants, cafes, art galleries, museums, a snake park, and an aquarium.

The four-star Hansa Hotel is nestled in the center of Swakopmund and offers easy access to everything the town has to offer. This classical building dates from 1905 and is an integral part of the architectural heritage of the area. The Hansa has twice received the Best Hotel in Namibia Award. It is also a five-time winner of the Award of Excellence, a Golden Award of Excellence, and a HAN Gold Award winner. The hotel has also been awarded the prestigious Diners Club Wine List Platinum Award for its outstanding selection and quality of wines.

The restaurant is among the most popular in Swakopmund. The Terrace is a perfect venue for a leisurely lunch and overlooks the inner gardens. Breakfast and dinner are served in the main dining room. The 'à la carte' menu includes soups, cold and warm starters, main courses of seafood, game and grilled meats, vegetarian dishes, and a huge selection of mouth-watering desserts. If you've had enough to eat, then why not retire to the residents' bar? It features a large fireplace, a welcome relief from the cool Swakopmund night as the fog rolls in, not to mention a wide variety of spirits, beer, wines, and after-dinner drinks. There is also a secluded garden courtyard where guests will be well-protected from any inclement weather. The Hansa Hotel prides itself on providing the finest and most luxurious accommodation that Swakopmund has to offer.

Accommodation: Hansa Hotel
Meals: All meals
Included activities: The Living Desert Tour
Optional activities: Sand boarding, sky-diving, fishing, sightseeing & shopping

Spend the day exploring Swakopmund. We have included the Living Desert Tour for the day.

The Living Desert Tour:

Your Living Desert Tour guide will collect you at your hotel. This desert tour concentrates on exploring the local dune belt between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, taking care not to damage the gravel plains and cause unnecessary harm to the dune ecosystem. The gravel plains are protected and home to the nesting Damara Terns, which are endemic to this area. Conservation, geological structure, and the reasons behind the existence of the desert will be discussed in detail en-route. Plenty of time is available for frequent stops to take photos of the dunes and the surrounding environment. We will continuously stop to look for animal tracks on the dunes (known locally as reading the bushman paper), to determine which animals were active the previous night and, wherever possible, try to catch some of them to show you. We take great care to share our knowledge with you on each desert animal and plant, including emphasis on special adaptations and perfect design used for survival in the desert. Time and care are taken to ensure each animal is returned safely to its home. Geckos, rolling spiders, scorpions, lizards, snakes, chameleons, skinks, and a variety of beetles and insects are some creatures to be found on this tour. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the desert alive and up close!

Accommodation: Mowani Mountain Camp
Meals: All meals
Included activities: Twyfelfontein rock paintings, Organ Pipes & Burnt Mountain excursion, search for the Desert-adapted elephant, Petrified Forest excursion
Optional activities: N.A

After an early breakfast, we depart to Damaraland. Mowani Mountain Camp is distinguished by its thatched dome-shaped structures, a mirror-image of the granite boulders amongst which they are built. Mowani is taken from the word M'Wane, meaning 'Place of God', indicating a high level of peace and tranquility. This lodge is one of the finest in the Damaraland region of Namibia, and it lies in a vast and unspoilt wilderness, between the Ugab and Huab Rivers. Outstanding desert scenery, fascinating geological formations and archaeological sites, and an inimitable variety of desert flora and fauna make this a compelling destination for many visitors.

We go in search of the desert-adapted elephant. Namibia's desert elephants are a source of great interest. Although not a separate species and not much different from other savannah elephants, Namibia's desert-dwelling elephants are special nonetheless. They live in the Kunene Region, encompassing 115,154 km² of mostly sandy desert, rocky mountains, and arid gravel plains in Namibia's northwest. They have adapted to their dry, semi-desert environment by having a smaller body mass with proportionally longer legs and seemingly larger feet than other elephants. Their physical attributes allow them to cross miles of sand dunes to reach water. They have even been filmed sliding down a dune face to drink at a pool in a desert oasis. They survive by eating moisture-laden vegetation growing in ephemeral riverbeds and by their ability to go several days without drinking water. Sometimes they must travel long distances to reach a water source. By living in smaller-than-average family units of only two or three animals, they decrease pressure on food and water resources. Researchers have noted that they destroy fewer trees than elephants living in higher rainfall areas in other parts of Africa.

Accommodation: Grootberg Lodge
Meals: All meals
Included activities: Scenic drive to Grootberg Lodge & Himba Village excursion
Optional activities: Guided walks, Elephant or Rhino tracking, Scenic drives, Horse riding

After breakfast at Mowani Mountain Camp, we travel to Grootberg Lodge. Perched on the rim of the Grootberg Plateau, the Grootberg Lodge stands sentinel over the Klip River Valley. Twelve thousand hectares have been set aside by the Khoadi/Hoas community for conservation and tourism, and it is through this pristine wilderness that you meander either on foot or by vehicle to encounter the inhabitants of this remote biosphere. Grootberg Lodge is a landmark in Namibia's tourism industry as it is the first middle-market establishment in the country that is 100% owned by the conservancy. The European Union funded the project through the Ministry of Environment and Tourism's Development Programme, and the private sector supplies the training and management skills until the community becomes self-sustainable. The local community benefits greatly from the revenues generated by the Lodge. Grootberg Lodge offers personal service, delectable food, and professional guides in stunning surroundings. Desert elephant, black rhino, and lion are some of the more impressive mammals to be found, but you will also find a myriad of smaller mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, and plants.

Himba Village

The Himba are a tribe of nomadic pastoralists who inhabit the Kaokoland area of Namibia. The Himba are actually descendants of a group of Herero herders who fled into the remote northwest after being displaced by the Nama. The Himba have clung to their traditions, and the beautiful Himba women are noted for their intricate hairstyles and traditional jewelry.

As Himba men and women wear few clothes apart from a loin cloth or goat-skinned mini-skirt, they rub their bodies with red ochre and fat to protect themselves from the sun, which also gives their appearance a rich red color.

The Himba jewelry is made from iron or shell and, due to its intricate designs, has become very popular among Western tourists. Himba homesteads are cone-shaped structures made from palm leaves, mud, and cattle dung. During the course of a year, the family will move from one home to another in search of grazing for the animals. For this reason, it is important not to take anything from a Himba hut, even if it appears abandoned. The traditional village at Puros or the luxury Epupa Lodge are both good places to visit if you want to learn more about the Himba way of life.

Accommodation: Dolomite Camp
Meals: All meals
Included activities: Game drives while in Etosha (with our guides and vehicles)
Optional activities: Night game drives NWR guides

Today, after breakfast, we travel to Etosha National Park, entering through the western gate. Proceed to Dolomite Camp, located in western Etosha National Park near the Dolomietpunt waterhole. It is the first camp to be built on this side of Etosha, opening up a territory previously not accessible to mainstream tourists.

This western section measures approximately one-third of the total area of Etosha Park itself. Although the main wildlife spectacles occur in and around the waterholes and vegetation of the Etosha Pan, game viewing is also very good in this area. Some of the highest concentrations of wildlife in Etosha roam freely here, including Hartmann's zebra, which does not occur in the eastern section. The camp is set amongst dolomite formations, ensuring game drives are conducted in one of the park's most scenic locations.

The dolomite hill, the setting of the camp, boasts hundreds of seasonally blooming plant species, a lure for botanists and photographers alike. There are no fewer than 15 waterholes in the vicinity of Dolomite Camp. The hilly and rocky terrain here also supports extraordinary numbers of wildlife. The park is home to 114 mammals and some 340 bird species. It houses large numbers of globally endangered or threatened species, most notably black rhinoceros and African elephant. Because of its size, the park serves as a genetic reserve for various species of animals and plants.

Large herds of zebra, giraffe, and antelope wander the plains around Dolomite Camp. Black and white rhino are present in numbers, often at Klip-pan waterhole. Previously endangered species such as the black rhino and black-faced impala have been successfully bred here. Wildlife excursions are conducted by professional and knowledgeable tour guides. Apart from the normal Etosha game viewing, a special attraction of the Otjiovasondo area is the opportunity to see both the Plains Zebra and the Mountain Zebra drinking or grazing side by side and spotting the rare Sable Antelope.

Accommodation: Okaukuejo Resort
Meals: All meals
Included activities: Game drives with your guide; game viewing at floodlit waterhole
Optional activities: Night drives with NWR guides

Today, after breakfast, we travel to Okaukuejo Resort, located in central Etosha National Park. 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 1960s, 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 1,000 million years ago. The Etosha Pan covers around 25% of the National Park and 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. The Etosha Pan is surrounded by sweetveld savanna plains. 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 floodlit waterhole, where visitors can observe at close quarters a spectacle of wildlife congregating and interacting. Okaukuejo is the main administrative center and headquarters of the Etosha Ecological Institute, where research and nature conservation management in Etosha are conducted.

Nestled at the base of the Omboroko Mountains, the family-operated Okonjima Lodge is surrounded by acacia thornveld, in an area free from Malaria.

Located between Windhoek, Namibia’s capital, and the Etosha National Park, the lodge offers convenient access. It’s reachable with a mere two-and-a-half-hour drive or a swift one-hour flight from Windhoek to the private airstrip within the expansive 22,000-hectare (55,000-acre or 220 km²) nature reserve. Famed for the regular sightings of leopard, brown hyaena and pangolin during safaris, the Okonjima Nature Reserve is also the dwelling place of The AfriCat Foundation – founded in 1991 and officially registered as a private, not-for-profit, non-governmental organization (N.G.O.) in 1992.

AfriCat stands out for conducting one of Namibia’s longest-running Leopard Monitoring Projects. Additionally, the AfriCat Pangolin Research Project is among the few initiatives worldwide dedicated to studying free-roaming pangolins.

Committed to substantial conservation endeavours, AfriCat’s dedication to safeguarding wildlife in their native habitat is profound. This commitment extends across the expansive 200km² Okonjima Nature Reserve.

Their activities captivate and enlighten even the most seasoned travellers. Early mornings commence with guided explorations of the Okonjima Nature Reserve. As the day winds down, game drives traverse the acacia thicket in search of the leopard, ending in a sundowner experience true to African tradition.

The partnership between the Okonjima Lodges, the Okonjima Nature Reserve and the AfriCat Foundation is a demonstration of the symbiosis between conservation and tourism. Research by the AfriCat Foundation has confirmed that the Okonjima Nature Reserve is an ideal ecosystem for leopard, brown hyaena and pangolin. The Reserve is thus one of the best places in the country to see these normally shy and elusive animals.

AfriCat research has also demonstrated however that the ecology of species within an enclosed, protected reserve is altered – densities are higher, home ranges smaller, and there are behaviour changes to adapt to reduced opportunities for migration.

Okonjima offers leopard tracking, brown hyaena tracking, AM and PM game drives, pangolin tracking on foot, rhino tracking and foot and guided nature trails.

Whether you’re inclined towards hiking or a passionate bird enthusiast, the possibilities to immerse yourself in Okonjima are boundless.

After an early morning activity and brunch, we travel back to Windhoek for your flight home.

Accommodation: N.A
Meals: Breakfast (brunch)
Included activities: Morning game drive, then en-route to Windhoek we visit the Okahandja craft
Optional activities: N.A

After an early morning activity and brunch, we travel back to Windhoek for your flight home.