Cape Town and Namibia: Table Mountain, the Winelands, Sossusvlei and Etosha

1. Day 1: Arrive in Cape Town

   Cape Town International Airport to your hotel in central Cape Town

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Cape Town
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Cape Town International Airport (CPT), about 20 km east of the city, and a driver meets you in arrivals. Our hotel is central, in the City Bowl or close to the V&A Waterfront, so the harbour, the Company's Garden and plenty of restaurants are a walk away in the evenings; we name it when we confirm your dates. If Table Mountain's flat top is clear on the drive in, look while you can: the cloud locals call the tablecloth can cover it in minutes. Try to land by mid-afternoon; the V&A Waterfront's working harbour, with Table Mountain behind it, is the easy first walk. At about 5 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the days ahead: why the Cape Town days are ordered around the wind, how the flight to Namibia works, what to pack for a cold desert dawn and how the long Namibian drives are paced. Then we walk together to a welcome dinner of Cape food and South African wine at a local restaurant.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Cape Town International Airport (CPT)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   

2. Day 2: Table Mountain and the Bo-Kaap

   Up Table Mountain by cableway, then the Bo-Kaap

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Cape Town
   Day 2 details

   We start early to ride the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway on the first cars of the morning, before the queues and while the summit is most often clear; first-car times change with the season. The floor of the car turns as it climbs, so everyone gets the view. On top, easy paths loop round the plateau more than 1,000 m above the city, looking across Table Bay to Robben Island, along the Twelve Apostles and down onto Lion's Head. If wind closes the cableway, which happens often, we swap today with day 3. Back down, a local guide walks us through the Bo-Kaap, the hillside quarter of brightly painted houses, cobbled lanes and mosques shaped by the Cape Malay community, many of them descended from people brought to the Cape, often enslaved, from the 17th century. Lunch is a sit-down Cape Malay meal in the neighbourhood. The afternoon and evening are free: the V&A Waterfront, the Zeitz MOCAA gallery or, booked ahead, the Robben Island ferry.

   Included

   • Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, return ticket
   • Walk on the summit plateau with your guide
   • Bo-Kaap walk with a local guide
   • Sit-down Cape Malay lunch in the Bo-Kaap

   Optional experiences

   • Robben Island ferry and museum tour (book well ahead; price shown at booking)

   Easier option: Stay near the upper cableway station, where the viewpoints are a few steps from the café.

   More active option: Walk up Platteklip Gorge instead of riding up, about two to three hours of steep stone steps, and ride down with the group.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Easy paths on the summit and about two hours on foot in the Bo-Kaap, some of it on steep cobbled lanes.

   

3. Day 3: Penguins, Cape Point and Chapman's Peak

   Cape Town down the False Bay side to Boulders Beach and Cape Point, back by Chapman's Peak Drive and Hout Bay

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Cape Town
   Day 3 details

   We run the Cape Peninsula in the order that avoids the crowds. We leave at about 7:45 am down the False Bay side, past the beach huts at Muizenberg, the fishing harbour at Kalk Bay and the naval town of Simon's Town, to reach Boulders Beach close to opening, when the boardwalks above the granite coves are quiet and the African penguins are busy on the sand. They are endangered, so we watch only from the boardwalks. Next is the Cape of Good Hope section of Table Mountain National Park: walk or ride the Flying Dutchman funicular up to the old lighthouse at Cape Point for the long view down the cliffs, then stop at the Cape of Good Hope sign on the rocky shore. Watch for ostriches, bontebok and baboons, which are wild and must never be fed. Lunch is a sit-down meal by the sea. In the afternoon we drive back up the Atlantic side on Chapman's Peak Drive, when the sun is on the cliffs, and through Hout Bay to the city by about 5 pm.

   Included

   • Boulders Beach penguin colony, with the park fee
   • Cape Point, with the Flying Dutchman funicular
   • The Cape of Good Hope, with the Table Mountain National Park fee
   • Sit-down lunch on the peninsula
   • Chapman's Peak Drive, with the toll

   Easier option: Ride the funicular both ways at Cape Point and watch the penguins from the first boardwalk.

   More active option: Walk the cliff path from Cape Point to the Cape of Good Hope, about an hour, and meet the vehicle at the bottom.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: About three and a half hours of driving in several short legs. Short walks on boardwalks and paved paths, with steps up to the Cape Point lighthouse if you do not take the funicular.

   

4. Day 4: Franschhoek and Stellenbosch

   Cape Town to Franschhoek, then over the Helshoogte Pass to Stellenbosch

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Stellenbosch
   Day 4 details

   We leave Cape Town after breakfast for the Cape Winelands, about an hour and a quarter east to Franschhoek, a valley of vineyards closed in by mountains on three sides, settled by French Huguenot refugees from 1688. We taste at a wine estate in the morning, with time in the cellar and among the vines, then sit down to a long lunch in the valley; non-drinkers get grape juice or a food pairing where the estate offers one. In the middle of the afternoon we cross the Helshoogte Pass, about 30 km, to Stellenbosch, a town founded in 1679 with oak-lined streets and whitewashed Cape Dutch gables. Your guide walks you down Dorp Street to the Braak, the old town square, and a second tasting at an estate just outside town closes the afternoon. Tonight is our only night here, and dinner is free in the old town, which is easy to walk. Pack tonight with the flight in mind: tomorrow we fly to Namibia.

   Included

   • Wine tasting at an estate in the Franschhoek valley
   • Long sit-down lunch in Franschhoek
   • Guided walk through old Stellenbosch: Dorp Street and the Braak
   • Second wine tasting near Stellenbosch

   Easier option: Skip the second tasting and spend the late afternoon at the hotel or in a café in town.

   Free time: Evening free in Stellenbosch

   Activity: About two hours of driving in two legs, and an hour or so on foot in Stellenbosch.

5. Day 5: Fly to Windhoek

   Stellenbosch to Cape Town International Airport, fly to Hosea Kutako International Airport, then Windhoek

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Windhoek
   Day 5 details

   An unhurried breakfast, then about 45 minutes to Cape Town International Airport for the flight north to Windhoek, about two hours in the air. This flight replaces the long road the overland trips take through the Cederberg, across the Orange River and through the south of Namibia, about 1,500 km on the most direct road and three or four days in a vehicle. Your guide flies with you and handles check-in. We land at Hosea Kutako International Airport (WDH), where we clear Namibian immigration, then meet our Namibian driver and vehicle for the 45 km into Windhoek, across thornbush hills. The city sits at about 1,650 m, so the evening air is cool. After checking in we take a short walk in the centre: the Christuskirche, a Lutheran church finished in 1910, the Tintenpalast, now the parliament building, and the old railway station, where an early narrow-gauge steam locomotive stands on display. Dinner tonight is together at a restaurant in town, with game dishes and lighter choices.

   Included

   • Transfer to Cape Town International Airport
   • Flight from Cape Town to Windhoek, economy
   • Transfer from Hosea Kutako International Airport to Windhoek
   • Short walk in central Windhoek with your guide
   • Dinner in Windhoek

   Easier option: Rest at the hotel instead of the walk and meet the group for dinner.

   Free time: Late afternoon free

   Activity: Flight times are set by the airline and confirmed at booking; the walk fits round them.

   

6. Day 6: Down the escarpment to Sesriem

   Windhoek south to Rehoboth, then west on gravel to Sesriem

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Sesriem
   Day 6 details

   Today is one of the long drives, about 330 km and five hours at the wheel, because no shorter road links the capital to the dunes. We leave at about 8 am and break the day into three parts. The first 90 km run south on the paved B1 to Rehoboth. From there it is gravel, west across farmland and down the edge of the escarpment, where the plateau falls away and the Namib opens below in bands of gravel plain, mountain and, in the end, red sand. We stop for coffee and photographs on the way and for a sit-down lunch at a farm stop, then reach our lodge near Sesriem by about 3 pm, with time to rest out of the heat. At about 5 pm, as the light softens, we walk into Sesriem Canyon, a narrow gorge cut by the Tsauchab River; its name comes from the six leather thongs settlers once tied together to haul water up from the pools. Dinner is at the lodge, under a very dark sky.

   Included

   • Drive from Windhoek to Sesriem with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch on the way
   • Sesriem Canyon walk in the late afternoon

   Easier option: Watch the canyon from the rim instead of walking down onto the riverbed.

   Free time: Time to rest at the lodge before the canyon walk

   Activity: About five hours of driving, mostly on gravel, in three legs. The canyon walk is about an hour on sand and loose stones.

   

7. Day 7: Sossusvlei at dawn and Deadvlei

   Sesriem gate to Dune 45, Sossusvlei and Deadvlei, and back

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Sesriem
   Day 7 details

   We leave the lodge in the dark with coffee and a packed breakfast. The park gate at Sesriem opens around sunrise and Dune 45 is about 45 km inside, so we reach it within the first hour, while the light is still low and the east faces of the dunes glow orange; if our lodge is inside the gate, as we aim for, we can be on the road earlier. These dunes belong to the Namib Sand Sea, listed by UNESCO in 2013. Dune 45 stands over 170 m high: climb its ridge, 30 minutes to an hour on soft sand, or watch from the bottom. Breakfast is at its foot. At the end of the tar road we take the 4x4 shuttle over the last sandy 5 km, then walk about a kilometre across the sand to Deadvlei, a white clay pan of dead camel thorn trees under some of the tallest dunes in the Namib. We are back at the lodge for lunch before the midday heat, and the afternoon is free for the pool, a nap or a sundowner.

   Included

   • Namib-Naukluft Park entry at the Sesriem gate
   • Dune 45 in the early light, with breakfast at the foot of the dune
   • 4x4 shuttle to Sossusvlei
   • Deadvlei with your guide
   • Sossusvlei pan

   Easier option: Stay at the foot of Dune 45 while others climb, then wait in the shade at the shuttle stop on the flat Sossusvlei pan instead of walking to Deadvlei.

   More active option: Climb Big Daddy, the tall dune above Deadvlei, about 1.5 to 2 hours up a long sandy ridge, and run down its face into the pan. Carry two litres of water.

   Free time: Afternoon free at the lodge

   Activity: Up to about 3 km on soft sand, more if you climb. How early we reach the dunes depends on whether the lodge is inside the park gate (confirmed with your dates). Cold at dawn from June to August, hot by late morning from September.

   

8. Day 8: Solitaire, the passes and the coast

   Sesriem to Solitaire, over the Gaub and Kuiseb passes to Walvis Bay, then up the coast to Swakopmund

   • Drive about 6 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Swakopmund
   Day 8 details

   The second long road day, about 380 km and six hours of driving, because the only way to the coast crosses the Namib and the gravel roads are slow. We leave at about 7:30 am and split the day at natural stops. First is Solitaire, a fuel stop, store and bakery an hour up the road, with old cars rusting among the cacti and the apple crumble most drivers stop for. North of it we pass the Tropic of Capricorn sign, then wind down the Gaub and Kuiseb passes, where the Kuiseb River has cut a dry canyon through the rock; two German geologists hid out here for more than two years during the Second World War. Past the canyon the land flattens into gravel plain and then dunes. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Walvis Bay, where flamingos usually feed on the lagoon, and the last 35 km run between the dunes and the Atlantic to Swakopmund, arriving at about 4:30 pm. Dinner tonight is your choice in town.

   Included

   • Coffee stop in Solitaire
   • The Tropic of Capricorn sign and the Kuiseb Canyon viewpoint
   • Sit-down lunch in Walvis Bay
   • The flamingos on the Walvis Bay lagoon

   Free time: Evening free in Swakopmund

   Activity: About five and a half hours of driving, mostly gravel until Walvis Bay, in four legs.

9. Day 9: Sandwich Harbour by 4x4

   Swakopmund to Walvis Bay, then by 4x4 along the lagoon and the coast to Sandwich Harbour, and back

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Swakopmund
   Day 9 details

   Today we go where our own vehicle cannot. After breakfast we drive the 35 km to Walvis Bay and change into 4x4s with a local guide for Sandwich Harbour, a lagoon inside the Namib-Naukluft Park where the dunes run straight down into the Atlantic. The route follows the edge of the Walvis Bay lagoon past the salt pans, where flamingos and pelicans feed, then out along the beach and over the dunes, and whether we drive the beach or go over the top depends on the tide, so the operator sets the start time a few days ahead. From the high dunes you look down on the lagoon on one side and the surf on the other. Lunch is a light meal set out in the dunes. We are back in Swakopmund by early afternoon, and the rest of the day is free. Swakopmund was founded as a German colonial harbour in 1892, and its gabled old centre is a few blocks from the beach. Seafood is the local strength for dinner.

   Included

   • Sandwich Harbour 4x4 tour with a local guide, with the park permit
   • The Walvis Bay lagoon and salt pans
   • Light lunch in the dunes

   Optional experiences

   • Sandboarding in the dunes
   • Quad biking in the dunes
   • Scenic flight over the Namib and the Skeleton Coast
   • Living Desert tour in the dunes south of Swakopmund

   Easier option: Swap Sandwich Harbour for the Living Desert tour, a slower drive in the dunes looking for small desert animals, or spend a quiet day in town.

   More active option: Sandboarding in the afternoon (optional, priced at booking).

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: The 4x4 trip is about five hours with short walks on dune sand; the dune crossings are steep and bumpy, so tell us about back trouble. Times depend on the tide.

10. Day 10: North along the coast to Damaraland

    Swakopmund to Henties Bay, inland past the Brandberg to Uis, then north and west on gravel to Twyfelfontein

    • Drive about 6.5 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Twyfelfontein
    Day 10 details

    One of the two longest days, about 400 km and six and a half hours of driving, because Damaraland lies far inland and the only roads cross open desert. We leave at about 7:30 am up the salt road along the coast to Henties Bay, then turn inland on gravel towards Uis as the fog lifts. The Brandberg, Namibia's highest mountain at about 2,570 m, grows on the horizon for an hour, a dark granite dome rising out of the plain. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Uis, an old tin-mining town below it, which breaks the drive in two. The afternoon road runs north and west into Damaraland proper: red and purple ridges, flat-topped hills and the odd herd of springbok. Near the end we stop at Burnt Mountain, a dark ridge of shale baked by molten rock, and the Organ Pipes, a gully of angular dolerite columns, then reach our lodge in the Twyfelfontein area by about 5 pm. Damaraland has almost no artificial light, so the stars are as good as in the Namib.

    Included

    • Drive from Swakopmund to Damaraland with your guide
    • Views of the Brandberg on the road to Uis
    • Sit-down lunch in Uis
    • Burnt Mountain and the Organ Pipes

    Easier option: Stay in the vehicle at the photo stops; the only walking today is to lunch and a short path at the Organ Pipes.

    Free time: Evening free at the lodge

    Activity: About six hours of driving in three legs: salt road to Henties Bay, then gravel to Uis and on to Twyfelfontein, with a coffee stop and a sit-down lunch in Uis.

11. Day 11: Twyfelfontein and into Etosha

    Twyfelfontein to the Petrified Forest, Khorixas and Outjo, then Andersson Gate and Okaukuejo

    • Drive about 5.5 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Okaukuejo (Etosha)
    Day 11 details

    A full day, about 360 km and five and a half hours of driving, because this trip gives Damaraland one night and Etosha lies far to the east; we start early and break it at Twyfelfontein, the Petrified Forest and lunch. We are at Twyfelfontein when it opens, before the heat and the tour vehicles. In 2007 it became Namibia's first UNESCO World Heritage Site, for one of the largest groups of rock engravings in Africa, cut into red sandstone by hunter-gatherers over thousands of years: giraffe, rhino, lion, animal tracks and geometric marks. A local site guide, required here, leads a walk of about an hour. Next is the Petrified Forest, where tree trunks around 280 million years old lie turned to stone, with welwitschia plants among them. At Khorixas the road turns to tar for Outjo and a sit-down lunch, then about an hour north to Andersson Gate. The last 17 km to Okaukuejo we take slowly as a first game drive. Dinner is at our camp; we aim for the rest camp, whose waterhole is floodlit after dark.

    Included

    • Twyfelfontein rock engravings with a local site guide
    • The Petrified Forest with a local guide
    • Sit-down lunch in Outjo
    • Etosha National Park entry and a first game drive to Okaukuejo

    Easier option: Wait in the shade at the Twyfelfontein visitor centre while others walk the engravings.

    More active option: Walk the longer engraving route at Twyfelfontein if the site guide offers it, and look for welwitschia off the main path at the Petrified Forest.

    Free time: Late afternoon free in camp, with the waterhole if we are at Okaukuejo

    Activity: About five and a half hours on the road in four legs, plus an hour on uneven rock at Twyfelfontein; wear closed shoes.

    

12. Day 12: A full day in Etosha

    Okaukuejo and the waterholes of western and central Etosha

    • Drive about 3 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Okaukuejo (Etosha)
    Day 12 details

    Etosha's gates open at sunrise, and we are out with them in an open safari vehicle with an Etosha guide, when lions are still on the move and the air is cold. In the dry months animals gather at the waterholes, so we work a loop of them on the plains near Okaukuejo, such as Nebrownii, Gemsbokvlakte and Olifantsbad, and out to the edge of the pan, a white saltpan of about 4,700 square kilometres that shimmers to the horizon. Springbok, zebra, wildebeest, gemsbok and giraffe are almost always about; elephant, lion and black rhino often are; cheetah and leopard are a matter of luck. We are back at camp for lunch and a rest through the heat, when the animals rest too. In the late afternoon we go out again for the best light of the day and are back inside the camp gate by sunset under park rules. Then a farewell dinner together, and if we are in the Okaukuejo rest camp, the floodlit waterhole is a short walk away.

    Included

    • Morning game drive in an open safari vehicle with an Etosha guide
    • Late-afternoon game drive
    • Farewell dinner

    Easier option: Skip the afternoon drive and rest in the shade or by the pool; if we are in the Okaukuejo rest camp, watch its waterhole instead.

    Free time: Midday free in camp

    Activity: Mostly seated. Dawn is cold in an open vehicle from June to August: bring a warm jacket, hat and gloves.

    

13. Day 13: Etosha to Windhoek and home

    Okaukuejo to Andersson Gate, Outjo, Otjiwarongo and Okahandja, then Windhoek and Hosea Kutako International Airport

    • Drive about 6 h
    • Breakfast and lunch
    Day 13 details

    The last day is a long one, about 485 km and six hours on paved road, because the international flights leave from Windhoek and there is no shorter way from Etosha. We break it into three legs of about two hours. We leave Okaukuejo at gate opening, at about 6:30 to 7 am depending on the month, with a last slow look at the waterholes on the way to Andersson Gate, then coffee in Outjo. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Otjiwarongo, and in the afternoon we stop briefly in Okahandja at the woodcarvers' market, where carvers work and sell at the roadside. Your guide uses the long road for the story of modern Namibia, from the colonial wars to independence in 1990. We reach Hosea Kutako International Airport (WDH) at about 4 pm, so book a flight leaving after about 6 pm; allow two hours at the airport for an international departure. If your flight is tomorrow, we drop you at a hotel in Windhoek instead and can book the extra night.

    Included

    • Drive from Etosha to Windhoek with your guide
    • Coffee stop in Outjo
    • Sit-down lunch in Otjiwarongo
    • The Okahandja woodcarvers' market
    • Drop-off at Hosea Kutako International Airport (WDH) or a Windhoek hotel

    Easier option: Stay in the vehicle at the Okahandja stop; the day is mostly seated.

    Activity: The longest day on the road: about six hours of driving on paved roads, in three legs. Book a flight leaving after about 6 pm, or add a night in Windhoek.

Wildlife and weather: May to October is Namibia's dry season: clear skies, cold desert nights and warm days, with the best game viewing in Etosha late in the season as animals gather at the waterholes. June to August is Cape Town's winter, cool, often wet and windy, when the Table Mountain cableway closes more often; September and October suit both countries best. The Namibian coast stays cool and often foggy all year.

• Cape Town3 nights
• Stellenbosch1 night
• Windhoek1 night
• Sesriem2 nights
• Swakopmund2 nights
• Twyfelfontein1 night
• Okaukuejo (Etosha)2 nights