Compare 8-Day Classic Namibia Special Safari by Nature Travel Namibia vs Namibia to Victoria Falls Explorer by World Luxury Cruise Vacations

Day 1: Sossusvlei, Namib Desert

Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

Accommodation: Sossusvlei Lodge; Mid-range lodge bordering Namib-Naukluft NP without fences

Main Destination: Sossusvlei (Namib-Naukluft NP)

After breakfast and meeting your guide for the safari you will depart for Sossusvlei. We will drive through the Khomas Hochland and down the escarpment via one of the scenic mountain passes into the Namib Desert. This journey will take about 4 hours depending on the number of stops for photographs. After lunch and settling in at the lodge we will depart for a late afternoon scenic nature drive or an excursion to Sesriem Canyon. Dinner and accommodation will be at one of the best lodges in the area perfectly situated to explore the surrounding desert and its attractions.

Drinks not included

Day 2: Swakopmund

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation: Sandfields Guesthouse; Mid-range guest house located in or near Namib-Naukluft NP

Main Destination: Swakopmund

After an early breakfast and coffee, we will depart for a morning excursion to Sossusvlei and Dead Vlei. We will stop at the scenic Dune 45 along the way and spend a couple of hours at both Sossusvlei and Dead Vlei. Some of the dunes in the area are a few hundred meters high but the view from the top for those that dare is one you will never forget. After lunch we will depart for Swakopmund via the Namib Naukluft National Park. We will spend the night at a guesthouse and have dinner at one of the top restaurants in Swakopmund. Please note that dinner tonight is not included and for your own account.

Swakopmund is a very popular holiday destination for many Namibians and will probably be the only place that you will visit on the Namibian safari that has a real town feel to it. Wedged between the Namib Desert and the cold Atlantic Ocean.

Drinks not included

Day 3: Swakopmund

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation: Sandfields Guesthouse; Mid-range guest house located in or near Namib-Naukluft NP

Main Destination: Swakopmund

After breakfast you will have the whole day to explore this lovely town and its surroundings. Swakopmund which is known for its very relaxed atmosphere, has something for everybody. There are plenty of great restaurants and bars, good shopping opportunities and fascinating architecture. We can also assist in arranging some optional activities for you. If you are up for an adventure then there is Quad Biking, Sand boarding or for just an wonderful outdoors experience there is a living desert tour or kayaking around pelican point. Other optional activities that could be arranged include scenic flights over the coast and dunes or a scenic catamaran sailing tour.

Day 4: Damaraland

Meals: Breakfast  and Dinner

Accommodation: Brandberg White Lady Lodge; Mid-range lodge bordering Namib-Naukluft NP without fences

Main Destination: Damaraland (Kunene Region)

Best Time to Visit: May to September (Animals are easier to see)

High Season: July to November (Some places can get quite busy)

Best Weather: May to August (Less hot during the day)

Then we continue our safari northwards along the Skeleton Coast. After visiting a shipwreck and the massive Cape Fur Seal colony at Cape Cross Seal Reserve we will turn inland towards Damaraland. We will drive past the Brandberg, Namibia’s highest mountain with the highest peak at 2573 meters. We will be at our lodge in time for a sun-downer drink while we enjoy the view over this beautiful landscape.

Drinks not included

 Day 5: Etosha National Park

Meals : Breakfast  and Dinner

Accommodation: Mopane Village; Budget lodge located just outside Namib-Naukluft NP

Main Destination: Etosha National Park

Best Time to Visit: July to September (Animals come to water)

High Season: July to November (The park gets crowded)

Best Weather: May to August (Less hot during the day)

After breakfast we will visit the Twyfelfontein rock engravings (Namibia’s only world heritage site), burnt mountain and organ pipes rock formation and the Petrified Forest en route to Etosha National Park where will spend the next 3 nights. Etosha is one of Africa’s biggest and best National Parks and one of the main tourist attractions in Namibia. It is 22 912 km 2 in size of which the Etosha Pan, a shallow depression that only holds water after good rainy seasons, is 5000 km 2 in size. Etosha is known for its spectacular game viewing and the waterholes attract huge numbers of game in the dry season when all the open water has dried up. During the rainy season the park is transformed into a green oasis and this is the time you find young of various animal species in huge numbers.

Drinks not included

 Day 6: Etosha National Park

Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

Accommodation: Mopane Village; Budget lodge located just outside Namib-Naukluft NP

Main Destination: Etosha National Park

We will do morning and afternoon games drives and relax at the pool or camp waterhole between drives. The area and vegetation is very different to the south-eastern and eastern part of the park and the Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra can be found here.

In this area and with a more undulating landscape, it makes for a very different wildlife experience. White dust and clay which makes up the Etosha Pan turns to a reddish brown soil during this time which may lead you to believe you have entered an entirely new park when you visit.

Drinks not included

 Day 7: Etosha National Park

Meals: Breakfast and Dinner

Main Destination: Etosha National Park

Accommodation: Namutoni Resort, Etosha National Park; Mid-range resort located inside Namib-Naukluft NP

From here we will make our way across the park in a full morning game drive to Namutoni on the eastern boundary where we will spend the next night. In the vast arid space of Northern Namibia lies one of Southern Africa’s best loved wildlife sanctuaries. The Etosha National Park offers excellent game viewing in one of Africa’s most accessible venues. Zebra and springbok are scattered across the endless horizon, while the many waterholes attract endangered black rhinoceros, lion, elephant and large numbers of antelope.

Etosha, meaning ‘place of dry water’, is encloses a huge, flat calcrete depression (or pan) of about 5000km². The ‘Pan’ provides a great, parched, silver-white backdrop of shimmering mirages to an area of semi-arid Savannah grassland and thorn scrub. The pan itself contains water only after very good rains and sometimes for only a few days each year, but is enough to stimulate the growth of a blue-green algae which lures thousands of flamingos.

Drinks not included

 Day 8: Windhoek

Meals: Breakfast

Main Destination: Windhoek

After an early morning breakfast, we will depart for Windhoek where you will catch your connecting flight.

Drinks not included

End of tour (See Getting There for more details)

Additional accommodation can be arranged for an extra cost.

A transfer back to the airport (or hotel) can be arranged for an extra cost.

Day 1: Windhoek

On arrival this afternoon in Windhoek, you have free time to explore the capital city of Namibia. Overnight Hotel Safari (or similar accommodation).

Day 2-3: Sesriem / Sossusvlei (approx 370 kms - 90 kms tarmac & 280 kms gravel/5 hrs drive)

Meals:  Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

We will be met at 10:00hrs in the reception area of the hotel for our transfer to Sesriem. Note that this transfer is operated by a local Namibian transfer service and is unescorted. Our journey takes us south through ever changing scenery to our campsite located on the edge of the Namib Desert, considered by many geologists to be one of the world's oldest deserts. The following morning is an early departure driving 70 kms (1 hr one-way), stopping in the dune belt to witness the changing colours of the world’s highest sand dunes. We undertake a 5km walk to Sossusvlei and Deadvlei. The name "Sossusvlei" is of mixed origin, and roughly means "dead end marsh". Sossusvlei owes this name to the fact that it is a drainage basin without outflows for the ephemeral Tsauchab River. The pan holds rainwater to form a lake and due to the high clay content of the ground, water is retained for long periods of time. Deadvlei is another clay pan, about 2 km from Sossusvlei. A notable feature of Deadvlei is that it used to be an oasis with several acacia trees. The pan is thus punctuated by blackened, dead acacia trees, in vivid contrast to the shiny white of the salty floor of the pan and the intense orange of the dunes. This creates a particularly fascinating and surrealistic landscape, that appears in uncountable pictures and that has been used as a setting for films and videos. In the afternoon we enjoy a short hike through the Sesriem Canyon, which is a natural canyon carved by the Tsauchab river in the local sedimentary rock, about a kilometre long and up to 30 metres deep. A portion of the canyon permanently contains water, which many animals use.

Day 4: Swakopmund (approx 380 kms/6 hrs drive)

Meals:  Breakfast & Lunch

Today we travel through the Kuiseb canyon, site of the famous book by Henno Martin, The Sheltering Desert before we stop off at Walvis Bay to view the flamingos (seasonal). The Walvis Bay wetlands - the lagoon, mudflats, shoreline and salt works - constitute the single most important coastal wetland in southern Africa for migratory birds. The wetland therefore serves mainly as a dry-season and drought refuge for migrating species like the Greater and Lesser Flamingos, Plover, Grebe and African Black Oystercatcher. We arrive in Swakopmund, a quaint beach town with a strong German influence and with a sizable part of its population still German-speaking today. Founded in 1892 as the main harbour for German South-West Africa, Swakopmund is German for "Mouth of the Swakop" as it is at the mouth of the Swakop River. We spend the afternoon and following day exploring this German colonial town or enjoying one of the numerous optional excursions (at own risk and own expense). Overnight in a local guesthouse.

Day 5: Spitzkoppe (approx 150 kms - 125 kms tarmac & 25 kms gravel/2 hrs drive)

Meals:  Breakfast & Dinner

Leaving Swakopmund after lunch we set up camp among the boulders of the Spitzkoppe Mountains. The afternoon is free to explore the stunning surrounding area on foot. Northeast of Swakopmund is the stark grandeur of The Spitzkoppe (sharp head), one of Namibia's most recognizable landmarks. The summit of this imposing granite rock formation (1,728m) was first scaled only in 1946, and its shape has inspired its nickname, The Matterhorn of Africa. The spectacular setting of our remote bushcamp is sure to leave a lasting impression.

Day 6-7: Etosha National Park (approx 530 kms/9 hrs drive)

Meals:  Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

We enter Etosha via the Western corridor and travel through the park to Okakeujo Restcamp. The Park was first established in 1907, when Namibia was a German colony known as South West Africa. At the time, the park's original 100,000 km² made it the largest game reserve in the world. Due to political changes since its original establishment, the park is now slightly less than a quarter of its original area, but still remains a very large and significant area in which wildlife is protected. This Park is one of the most important reserves and game sanctuaries in Africa with thousands of wild animals such as blue wildebeest, springbok, zebra, kudu, giraffe, cheetah, leopard, lion and elephant making this area their home. Floodlit waterholes at Okakeujo & Namutoni Restcamps attract an abundance of animals throughout the evening, providing us with many amazing wildlife sightings. We enjoy early morning and late afternoon game drives (approx 150 kms drive/12 hrs including lunch). Overnight Okakeujo & Namutoni Restcamps inside Etosha.

Day 8: Kavango River - Rundu (approx 420 kms/6 hrs drive)

Meals:  Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

After a morning game drive we exit Etosha and travel to Rundu on the banks of the Kavango River. Our camp is set amongst the lush vegetation overlooking the Kavango River.

Day 9-10: Okavango Delta (approx 300 kms/5 hrs drive)

Meals:  Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Continuing into the Caprivi we cross into Botswana and travel by road to our campsite on the edge of the Okavango Delta. The following day we do mokoro and boat excursions in the back channels of the Nxamasire area of the Delta. Game walks are also done on the smaller islands in the area subject to water levels of the delta.

Day 11: Kwando River (approx 310 kms/6 hrs drive)

Meals:  Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Departing the Delta by boat we return to our vehicle and we cross back into Namibia. Driving through the Caprivi we set up camp on the banks of the Kwando River.

Day 12-13: Chobe River (approx 230 kms/5 hrs drive)

Meals:  Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

Continuing through the Caprivi we cross into Botswana and travel through the Chobe National Park setting up camp on the banks of the Chobe River. Chobe is famous for its beautiful scenery, magnificent sunsets and abundance of wildlife and birdlife. The following day we relax on a game viewing cruise on the Chobe River. A morning game drive in Chobe National Park is optional (at your own expense).

Day 14: Victoria Falls (approx 90 kms/3 hrs drive)

Meals:  Breakfast

We travel across the Zimbabwean border to Victoria Falls, without doubt one of the greatest and most spectacular sights in Africa. Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park (otherwise known as Victoria Falls) is a UNESCO world heritage site. The Park covers 66 km2 from the Songwe Gorge below the falls in a northwest arc along about 20 km of the Zambian riverbank. Two countries - Zambia and Zimbabwe, share the magnificent falls. Nothing can compare to viewing the awesome power of 'The Smoke that thunders" for the first time. There will be plenty of opportunity to view the Falls 'up close and personal' by traversing the many walkways in and around the rain forest that surrounds the many view points (entrance fee own account). In the wet season, be sure to wear a raincoat as the spray can give you a thorough drenching! Victoria Falls is also the "adventure capital" of Southern Africa and there are many optional activities on offer to whet your appetite. These range from game drives in the nearby national park, scenic micro light or helicopter flights, or for the more adventurous white water rafting or bungi jumping. Victoria Falls also has many markets where you can browse for African curios. All lunches, dinners and optional activities will be at your own expense. Overnight Sprayview Lodge (or similar).

Day 15: Victoria Falls, trip concludes

Meals:  Breakfast

Our tour ends today after breakfast.