Compare Namibia Photo Safari by Want Expeditions

Day 1: Arrive to Windhoek

Accommodation: Luxury hotel

Your special photography safari of Namibia commences upon international arrival at Windhoek airport. After you collect your baggage and exit the airport, you will be greeted upon arrival by our driver, and transferred to our beautiful hotel. To make sure you have time to relax and unwind, our official program doesn't begin until 7 PM, when you will gather in the hotel's gourmet restaurant for a welcome dinner and chance to discuss your photography objectives with your guide.

Day 2: Windhoek/Waterberg Plateau National Park

Accommodation: Luxury safari lodge

From Windhoek, we head north to the Waterberg Plateau National Park – our first nature stop and great introduction to African wildlife on this itinerary. Due to the distance we have to cover today, and the exciting opportunities that await, we'll have very few stops enroute, but your guide will take advantage of the time to discuss equipment, light conditions and photography techniques you can expect to utilize on this trip. With its 800 million years old rock formations and thick dry forest cover, Waterberg Plateau sticks out of the surrounding Acacia savannah, and provides safe breeding grounds for dozens of rare antelope and other mammal species, as well as over 200 varieties of birds. It's unique location is perfect for our first opportunity at night photography, so be sure to unpack those tripods.

Day 3: Waterberg Plateau NP/Kalahari Desert

Accommodation: Comfortable country lodge

Perhaps the most important component of wildlife photography, is taking advantage of the morning and evening lights. Not only is this critical for capturing golden hues, but wildlife is most active during these times, so expect an early wake-up for your first safari in the Namibian bush. Waterberg is home to giraffes, rare Roan and Sable Antelopes, but most excitingly, the White Rhino. We'll spend the morning focusing on subjects as they slowly move about the park and along the sides of this steep mountain plateau. Following a quick lunch, we'll get back on the road, and continue in a northerly direction to one of the most remote corners of Namibia -a vast area, home to the gentle, nomadic San Bushman people, to where very few dedicated travelers ever venture. We enjoy lunch at a lodge close to Grootfontein, and then travel along a wide, comfortable gravel road directly east. This road will take us almost all the way to the Botswana border, into the heartland of the endless Kalahari dry bush, where several San Bushmen villages exist in their traditional forms and lifestyles. We plan to reach our lodge just before the sun sets, so that we can enjoy the evening with a drink in our hands under the tall thatched roof of the restaurant area, followed by dinner and an early bed time.

Day 4: Kalahari Desert

Accommodation: Comfortable country lodge

Due to their gentle, nomadic nature, coupled with the discovery of diamonds in their ancestral lands, the indigenous San Bushman people have become one of the most endangered and exploited tribes of Africa. However, thanks to public awareness, and conceited efforts by the Living Culture Foundation of Namibia, we have a special opportunity to support conservation of their traditional culture, while experiencing genuine, authentic interactions with these charismatic peoples. As a living museum, we are welcomed as guests into their "homes," and will spend the morning photographing them as they go about their daily lives. While photography is our focus, we encourage your to put your cameras down and accept their invitation to partake in their daily on goings, like foraging for water sources, to preparing traditional hunting weapons, including snares, bows, and arrows, as well as making traditional jewelry from carved ostrich shells and various seed pods. From their traditional clothing, or lack thereof, their ability to survive in such a harsh environment, while maintaining a unbelievably friendly welcoming nature. An afternoon with the San Bushmen is not soon forgotten, and your photos will serve as souvenir for life. We plan to be back to our lodge for dinner, and depending on sky conditions, we'll have another opportunity for night sky photography.

Day 5: Kalahari Desert /Etosha National Park

Accommodation: Halali Park Lodge

Despite the desert landscape, our lodge is an oasis for a multitude of birds, especially sunbirds, fluttering from flower to flower, gathering nectar to power them through their day. For those of you that would like to practice your bird photography, we encourage you to wake at sunrise, and venture through the grounds to capture these beautiful birds with their elegant sickle bills contrasting against the morning sky. After breakfast, we drive to the Eastern most gates of Etosha National Park. One of the most unique features of the park is its impressive pan that stretches 130km wide and 50 km long. This flat, endless, pan provides an incredible set to capture Africa's most iconic wildlife. In addition to the pan, Etosha offers rich yellowish scrub, and dusty grey/blue skies, which create glowing orange sunsets with iconic silhouettes of the park's inhabitants like giraffe. Few people know, that Etosha is one of the best places in the world for night photography, but visitors can only take advantage of this by staying at the park lodges. For this reason, following dinner, we'll head to our lodge's waterhole to watch a theatrical wildlife performance that calls to mind The Carnival of Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns, as Elephants, Rhinos, Hyenas, and the occasional Leopard enter and exit, as if on cue, throughout the night and just meters away.

Day 6: Etosha National Park

Accommodation: Okaukeujo Park Lodge

Staying inside the park provides two critical advantages: access to the waterholes at night, and game drives that start before sunrise. Driving through the park during this period of times allows us the chance to observe and photograph nocturnal animals, particularly predators, as they move about in search of their next meal. We'll return to the lodge for breakfast, check out, then make our way further west, checking in to our next lodge for lunch and a short siesta, before starting our afternoon drive. Centrally located, our lodge gives us access in both Eastern and Western directions, and its waterhole provides the best opportunity to photograph the endangered black rhino.

Day 7: Etosha National Park

Accommodation: Okaukeujo Park Lodge

Wildlife photography is as much about patience, understanding, and anticipation of movement, as it is about good camera techniques. Today we'll dive deeper into more sophisticated methods of shooting, and for those ready to take the leap, it is a great day to practice shooting on manual following instruction from your guide. We'll spend a full day driving, returning to the lodge for lunch and siesta, followed by an afternoon drive, then dinner, and another opportunity at Okaukeujo's floodlit waterhole after sundown.

Day 8: Etosha NP/Grootberg

Accommodation: Luxury Eco-lodge

From Okaukeujo, we head towards the western most portion of the park. Along the way, we'll stop at multiple waterholes that are action packed as bachelor herds of Oryx, Springbox, Zebra, and Wildebeest spare on the dusty plains to prepare themselves for competition once mating season begins. At any given waterhole, it's not unusual to see all of these species gathering, along with Lions, Jackal, Ostrich, and many other species coming and going from this precious liquid resource. Be sure to pack extra memory cards, and bring your long lens. By noon, we'll reach Dolomite lodge, which is set atop a massive granite foundation, and is our last stop for lunch before exiting the park. Upon exiting the park, we head to Grootberg, and check-in to our eco-lodge which is perched on a plateau, and overlooks one of the most stunning valleys in Namibia. We've chosen this special place, not just because of the incredible view, and wonderful food, but Grootberg lodge focuses directly on community based eco-conservation, by working directly to protect the culture of the Himba people and the wildlife that surround their lands. Tonight we invite you to enjoy a sundowner as we gaze upon the beautiful valley below us.

Day 9: Grootberg/Damaraland

Accommodation: Luxury safari lodge

Much like the San Bushmen, The Himba people are one of the last nomadic tribes of Africa, and with their unique beauty regiment, they are easily the most beautiful to photograph. Each day, the women spend hours grinding clumps of ochre, collected from the harsh landscape, and combine it with butterfat. This lotion-like substance is then rubbed onto their skin, and elaborately braided hair. The mixture, known as otjize, serves not just as a symbol of beauty, but also a sun and insect repellent. Finding ways to meld with the arid environment, rather than a traditional water bath, Himba women perfume and deodorizes themselves with a herbal scented smoke that gives off a pleasant smell, and gives a photographer the opportunity to focus on tiny details in their beaded calfskin garments. We’ll spend the majority of the morning here before heading southeast into an area full of impressive sandstone formations that make a perfect backdrop to capture the evening lights and beautiful sunset.

Day 10: Damaraland/Skeleton Coast/Swakopmund

Accommodation: Beautiful city hotel

After breakfast, we start the morning with a visit to Twyfelfontein world heritage site, where bushman communities engraved and painted over 2500 pictures some 6000 years ago. Then, less than 15 minutes away, we will pay a visit at the Damara Living Museum. Much like our experience with the San Bushmen, this living museum provides genuine cultural interactions, while serving to protect and empower one of Namibia's native tribes. Its a quick drive back to our lodge for lunch, before heading southwest to cross the desolate ‘gravel plains’ of the Namib Desert before reaching the ‘Skeleton Coast.’ The Skeleton Coast derives its name from the various shipwrecks that dot its coastline. As we head south towards our evening's destination, Swakopmund, we'll stop to photograph the decrepit, rusting, ghost ships being slowly consumed by the ocean and sea air. As a winter resort-like destination for German nationals, Swakopmund is almost a shock to the senses with its quaint downtown, after traveling through Namibia's vast and unpopulated territory. Our goal is to reach here mid-afternoon to allow time to relax and unwind while strolling the city's streets, then we'll gather at a restaurant for good German brew's and traditional food.

Day 11: Namib Desert/Sossusvlei

Accommodation: Lodge

By now, any visitor will have a serious appreciation for Namibia's changing landscape, and how spectacular life thrives despite harsh conditions, and the Namib desert is no exception. Our morning focus will be photographing the fauna and flora that have adapted to survive in this harsh, but beautiful environment. Highlights include: snakes like, Side-winders and Horned Adders, scorpions, Namaqua Chameleons, Reticulated Lizards, legless skink, and Palmato Gecko. From here we drive straight to Sossusvlei hoping to catch the sun disappearing behind the horizon, painting the surrounding sand dunes flaming red. A nice dinner and an early bed time will endure that we have enough energies for the early start tomorrow.

Day 12: Sossusvlei

Accommodation: Lodge

Perhaps there is no other more impressive sight, and must visit for photographer's than Sossusvlei. With it's massively sweeping dunes shifting in the morning lights, we will set out to capture the dramatic contrast of shadows as the sun rises into the sky. The occasional Acacia tree or Oryx, and dune climber, serve as the perfect contrast to capture the scale of this impressive landscape. We will explore throughout the day here, and be sure to visit the famous Dead Vlei, where red dunes provide a breathtaking backdrop to centuries old, dry trees standing in a dry desert pan. For a more dramatic effect, serves as an exciting opportunity to practice black and white photography, as well as learning how to capture a single subject in an incredible landscape. Tonight we've arranged a special dinner in the bush, and will utilize the vast, clear night sky to practice night photography.

Day 13: Sossusvlei/Windhoek

Accommodation: Luxury Hotel

To photograph the Sossusvlei by land is one thing, but to really appreciate how vast and beautiful this landscape is, we've included an unforgettable hot air balloon ride for a different perspective. Well before sunrise, we head into the park where handlers are preparing hot air balloons on which we will ascend into the sky, and noiselessly drift through the park and across ancient riverbeds. From this angle, the morning lights give us the opportunity to play with scale and creativity, as animals, our balloon and the dunes themselves cast shadows at irregular angles. After touching down, we'll enjoy a delicious champagne breakfast, before heading to our vehicles for our return to Windhoek. Our hotel this evening is perched high over the city, and we can enjoy one last sundowner, while capturing the city lights, before gathering for our farewell dinner.

Day 14: Windhoek/Departure

After a relaxing breakfast you will be transferred to Windhoek International Airport for the first leg of your journey back home. This is the official end of our voyage, thank you for joining us and have a safe flight home, or a safe onward journey if you are continuing with us to Botswana.