2015 Namibia and South African tour

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2015 Namibia and South African tour

We will spend 14 days in Namibia and South Africa. Stephan, a guide I met 2008 will show us Namibia and we will be going in 4×4 car all the way around. The highlights will be as follws.
The last four days will be a bit more laid back on a lodge in Kruger National Park where we will be doing Safari with a local guide.

Windhoek

We will depart from Windhoek after breakfast and head north towards the Etosha National Park, rated one of Africa’s top National Parks. Our destination today is Okaukuejo Camp located within the 22 000 square km Etosha National Park where we will spend 2 nights camping. Our time in Etosha will be spent exploring the park with your guide. Etosha means ‘Great White Place’ and features an abundance of wildlife and birdlife. In the afternoon we will enjoy our first game drive. We also may visit the floodlit Okaukuejo waterhole at the camp. The waterhole is popular for excellent black rhino sightings.

Etosha National Park

We will explore the Etosha Park with Stephan, our guide. Time will be spent tracking wildlife through the park and visiting a variety of waterholes. We will also visit the 4760 square km Etosha Pan located in the centre of the park, a truly spectacular site. At 4760 square km in size one cannot see the end of this magnificent pan. The famous Etosha National Park is home to four of the Big Five; lion, leopard, elephant and black rhino. We will arrive back at camp in the afternoon and have leisure time.

Grootberg Plateau, Damaraland

Our destination today is Grootberg, Northern Damaraland, where we will spend 2 nights at Namibia’s first 100% community owned lodge perched on the rim of the Etendeka Plateau offering spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and valleys. The lodge offers spectacular views of Damaraland and beyond. We reach our lodge in the afternoon. In the late afternoon you will enjoy a scenic sundowner drive with great chances of encountering desert adapted wildlife.

Palmwag Concession, Northwest Damaraland

After breakfast we depart from the lodge in 4×4 to visit a traditional Himba settlement. Due to the remote location of the settlement a big part of our journey will be off road. You will meet traditional Himba people, one of Africa’s most primitive tribes, and learn interesting facts about this ancient culture. We will also experience spectacular contrasting landscapes as we drive through Damaraland with great chances of encountering desert adapted wildlife.

Swakopmund

This day we have a long drive through spectacular scenery to the coastal resort town of Swakopmund. We will reach Swakopmund in the afternoon and enjoy an afternoon of leisure. Stephan, our guide will give us an orientation of the town. Swakopmund has an excellent variety of restaurants, bars and shops. We will explore the town, visit the beach or try an optional activity like sky diving or quad biking in the dunes.

We will enjoy a tour of the desert canyons outside Swakopmund conducted by a specialist guide. This fascinating tour teaches us in depth about the desert ecology, rock formations, desert adapted fauna & flora and offers excellent photographic opportunities.

Namib Desert, Sossusvlei

We depart Swakopmund after breakfast and head south through the Namib Desert. As we drive through this barren landscape the scenery changes often. It is these contrasting landscapes that Namibia is so famous for. As we pass through the Namib Naukluft National Park we might encounter wildlife; ostrich, oryx, springbok, jackal etc. We will camp at the Sesriem campsite; the entrance to the world’s biggest desert sand dunes at Sossusvlei. In the late afternoon we visit the Sesriem Canyon, an ancient canyon carved out by the Hauchab River. We will be able to walk inside this remarkable canyon.

Namib Desert, Sossusvlei

We rise early in order to be inside the dunes at sunrise. During sunrise we will experience amazing colour formations on the desert dunes, a photographers dream. We drive for 60 km’s passing spectacular sand dunes before we reach Sossusvlei. Stephan will hike with you to Deadvlei. At Sossusvlei / Deadvlei you will experience some of the biggest sand dunes in the world, some up to 330 metres high and have the opportunity to climb to the top. Sossusvlei forms part of the Namib Desert, at 80 million years old this is also the worlds’ oldest desert. We also visit Dune 45, the world’s most photographed sand dune. We overnight at a desert lodge & spa offering spectacular views of the Namib Desert.

Kruger National Park

Stephan will take us back to Windhoek wher we will fly back to Johannesburg. We spand one night in J-burg and fly out to Kruger National Park the next day. We will spend the next days exploring the Kruger National Park with a professional guide. Kruger is home to an impressive number of species: 336 trees, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals. Our knowledgeable guide will tell us interesting facts about the wildlife you will encounter. The diversity of the Kruger landscape ranges from rolling hills with granite outcrops to savannah grasslands. As we will be staying within a private concession we will enjoy a private game viewing experience.We will also be staying in the southern part of the park, especially known for the big cats; lion, leopard and cheetah.

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Getting around