Namibia and Botswana: Dunes, Etosha, the Okavango and Chobe

1. Day 1: Arrive in Windhoek

   Hosea Kutako International Airport to your hotel in Windhoek

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Dinner
   • Stay in Windhoek
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Hosea Kutako International Airport (WDH), about 45 km east of Windhoek, where a driver meets you in the arrivals hall. The road into the capital crosses open thornveld and climbs gently to the city, which sits at about 1,650 m in a bowl of hills, so evenings are cool even in the dry season. The afternoon is yours to rest after the long flight or walk out from the hotel to Independence Avenue, the Christuskirche and the craft stalls near the centre. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the sixteen days ahead: the long road days and why they fall where they do, the border into Botswana, the soft bags you will need for the light aircraft, and what to wear on cold dawn drives. Then we sit down together for a welcome dinner at a local restaurant, with Namibian game and grills on the menu.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Hosea Kutako International Airport (WDH)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   Activity: Plan to land by about 3 pm to make the evening briefing; the exact latest arrival is confirmed with your final itinerary.

   

2. Day 2: 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 2 details

   One of the long days, about 330 km and five hours of driving, most of it on gravel, because there is no shorter way from the capital to the dunes. We leave after breakfast and drive south on tar to Rehoboth, then turn west onto gravel and drop off the edge of the central plateau, where the farmland gives way to wide plains, mountain ridges and the first red sand. We stop for coffee and to stretch, and lunch is a proper sit-down meal on the way, not a box in the van. Watch for oryx, springbok and ostrich close to the road. We reach the lodge near Sesriem in the middle of the afternoon, with time for the pool before a late walk into Sesriem Canyon, a narrow gorge about 30 m deep cut by the Tsauchab River, at its coolest and best lit around 5 pm. Dinner is at the lodge.

   Included

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

   Easier option: Skip the canyon walk and stay at the lodge for the pool and the sunset.

   Free time: Free time at the lodge before the canyon walk

   Activity: About 1 km on sand and loose rock in the canyon, with a short scramble down at the entrance.

3. Day 3: 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 3 details

   We are at the Sesriem gate when it opens, around sunrise, and drive into the Namib Sand Sea, listed by UNESCO in 2013, while the light is low and the dunes glow orange and red. Dune 45, over 170 m high, is about 45 km in and the first stop: climb the ridge for 30 to 60 minutes, or watch the shadows shorten from the bottom with a coffee. We drive on to the end of the tar road, about 60 km from the gate, where a 4x4 shuttle, included, takes us over the last sandy stretch to Sossusvlei at about 65 km, and from there it is about 1 km on foot across the sand to Deadvlei, a white clay pan where camel thorn trees, dead for centuries, stand black against the dunes. We are walking out again before the midday heat. Back at the lodge, lunch, a swim and the hottest hours free. Dinner is at the lodge, and with no town nearby the stars are bright after dark.

   Included

   • Namib-Naukluft Park entry and fees
   • Dune 45 in the early light
   • 4x4 shuttle to Sossusvlei
   • Guided walk to Deadvlei
   • Lunch and dinner at the lodge

   Easier option: Stay at the foot of Dune 45, and take the shuttle to Sossusvlei only, which is a short walk from the drop-off, instead of crossing the sand to Deadvlei.

   More active option: Climb Big Daddy, the tall dune above Deadvlei, and run down its face to the pan; allow about two hours.

   Free time: Afternoon free at the lodge

   Activity: Early start, before 6 am in the cooler months. About 1 km each way on soft sand to Deadvlei, and a 30 to 60 minute climb on Dune 45 if you choose it.

4. Day 4: 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 5.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Swakopmund
   Day 4 details

   A long day on the road, about 350 km and five and a half hours of driving, but it is one of the most varied drives in Namibia and we break it often. First stop is Solitaire, a fuel stop and bakery among old car wrecks and cacti, known for its apple strudel. Then the road climbs over the Gaub and Kuiseb passes through bare, folded rock, and crosses the Tropic of Capricorn, where we stop for the sign. We drop to the coast at Walvis Bay, where a sit-down lunch looks over the lagoon, often pink with flamingos. The last half hour runs north along the Atlantic with dunes on one side and the cold surf on the other. We arrive in Swakopmund in the middle of the afternoon, with time for a walk past the German colonial buildings to the jetty. Dinner tonight is yours to choose in town.

   Included

   • Stops at Solitaire, the Kuiseb Canyon and the Tropic of Capricorn
   • Sit-down lunch in Walvis Bay
   • The Walvis Bay lagoon and its flamingos
   • Short orientation walk in Swakopmund with your guide

   Free time: Evening free in Swakopmund

   Activity: The coast is cool and often foggy, even when the desert is hot; keep a warm layer to hand.

5. Day 5: Swakopmund and the Living Desert

   Swakopmund and the dunes towards Walvis Bay

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Swakopmund
   Day 5 details

   A slow day after four days of desert and road. In the morning, while the coastal fog is still lying on the dunes, a local guide takes us out on the Living Desert tour between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay. It is a tour about small things: the fog that lets beetles, geckos, chameleons, sidewinder adders and the transparent Namib dune gecko survive in sand that gets almost no rain, and the tracks they leave by night. The guide reads them off the dune face as you watch, and you walk short stretches on soft sand between the 4x4 stops. We are back in town before lunch. The afternoon and evening are free: the Swakopmund Museum, the Kristall Galerie, coffee and cake in one of the old German cafés, the jetty at sunset, or a ride on the dunes. Lunch and dinner are yours to choose in town.

   Included

   • Living Desert tour with a local guide

   Optional experiences

   • Sandboarding on the dunes
   • Quad biking
   • Sandwich Harbour 4x4 tour, where the dunes meet the sea

   More active option: Take an optional sandboarding session in the afternoon; the price is shown when you book.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Short walks on soft sand between the vehicle stops.

6. Day 6: North along the coast to Damaraland

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

   • Drive about 6.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Twyfelfontein
   Day 6 details

   Another long day, about 380 km and six and a half hours of driving, much of it on gravel, because Damaraland has no direct road from the coast; it is the price of reaching the rock engravings and the desert elephants. We go north along the Atlantic to Henties Bay, then turn inland across gravel plains where the fog stops and the light sharpens. The Brandberg, Namibia's highest mountain at about 2,570 m, rises alone on the plain to the north. We stop for coffee and a sit-down lunch in the small mining town of Uis, then take the gravel north through dry riverbeds and red and orange ranges, watching for springbok, oryx and the first giraffe. We reach the lodge near Twyfelfontein in the late afternoon, in time to watch the sun go down over the mountains with a drink. Dinner is at the lodge, and the rest of the evening is quiet.

   Included

   • Drive from Swakopmund to Damaraland with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Uis
   • Views of the Brandberg massif
   • Dinner at the lodge

   Free time: Free evening at the lodge

   Activity: Gravel roads for much of the day; the vehicle is comfortable but the last stretch is bumpy.

7. Day 7: Twyfelfontein and the desert elephants

   Twyfelfontein, the Organ Pipes and Burnt Mountain, then the dry riverbeds

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Twyfelfontein
   Day 7 details

   We are at Twyfelfontein when it opens, before the sun is on the rock, and walk one of the guided routes with a local site guide, who is compulsory here. Twyfelfontein, Namibia's first UNESCO World Heritage site, listed in 2007, holds thousands of rock engravings made by hunter-gatherers over several thousand years: giraffe, rhino, lion, a seal far from the sea and human and animal footprints. Close by we stop at the Organ Pipes, a cluster of dolerite columns in a small gorge, and at Burnt Mountain, a ridge of dark shale. After lunch at the lodge the hottest hours are yours. In the late afternoon local guides take us out in open 4x4s along the dry Aba-Huab and Huab riverbeds to look for desert-adapted elephants, which walk long distances between water. Sightings are never promised, but the guides know the herds' recent tracks. Dinner is at the lodge.

   Included

   • Twyfelfontein rock engravings at opening with a site guide
   • The Organ Pipes and Burnt Mountain
   • Late-afternoon desert-elephant drive in open 4x4s with local guides
   • Lunch and dinner at the lodge

   Easier option: Take the shorter of the two Twyfelfontein routes, which is gentler underfoot.

   Free time: Midday free at the lodge

   Activity: About 1 to 2 hours on rocky paths with some uneven steps at Twyfelfontein.

8. Day 8: The Petrified Forest 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 8 details

   A long day, about 380 km and five and a half hours of driving, from the mountains of Damaraland to the edge of the Etosha Pan, and we break it in three places. First, the Petrified Forest, where a local guide shows us tree trunks turned to stone about 280 million years ago, some lying whole, and the strange welwitschia plants growing among them. Then east on the gravel past Khorixas, where road signs warn of elephants, to Outjo for a sit-down lunch. From there it is tar to Andersson Gate, the southern entrance to Etosha National Park, and the last 17 km to Okaukuejo we drive slowly as our first game drive, watching for springbok, zebra and giraffe on the open plain. We stay at a rest camp or lodge inside or beside the park; if we stay in the park, the camp waterhole is a place to sit after dinner and watch what comes to drink.

   Included

   • The Petrified Forest with a local guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Outjo
   • Etosha National Park entry and fees
   • Afternoon game drive from Andersson Gate to Okaukuejo
   • Dinner at camp

   Free time: Evening free at camp

   Activity: Park rules require you to be inside the camp gate by sunset.

   

9. Day 9: 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 9 details

   Etosha is built around the Etosha Pan, a dry salt pan of nearly 4,800 square km that turns white in the dry season, and game comes to the springs and waterholes along its edge. We leave the camp gate when it opens at sunrise, in an open safari vehicle with a local Etosha guide, because the first hours are the coolest and the most active. Lions, elephants, black rhino, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and the black-faced impala found here and in a few places nearby are all possible; your guide and the driver will stop for as long as the scene holds. We are back at camp for lunch and a free midday, when the animals rest too. In the late afternoon we go out again to a different set of waterholes and return before the gate closes at sunset. After dinner, the camp waterhole, if we stay in the park.

   Included

   • Morning game drive from gate opening in an open vehicle with an Etosha guide
   • Late-afternoon game drive to the western and central waterholes
   • All meals at camp

   Easier option: Skip the afternoon drive and stay at the camp's waterhole, which can be as good as the drive.

   Free time: Midday free at camp

   Activity: Mornings are cold in an open vehicle from June to August; bring a warm jacket, hat and gloves.

   

10. Day 10: Across the park to Namutoni

    Okaukuejo to Halali and the Etosha Lookout, then Namutoni

    • Drive about 4 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Namutoni (Etosha)
    Day 10 details

    Today the drive is the game drive. We cross Etosha from west to east, about 160 km inside the park, stopping at waterholes along the southern edge of the pan wherever there is something to watch. Mid-morning we walk out onto the pan itself at the Etosha Lookout, where the white flat runs to the horizon and the heat shimmers on it. Lunch is at Halali in the middle of the park, with a short walk to its waterhole under the rocky hill. The afternoon takes us on through mopane woodland and past the waterholes of the east, often busy with elephant, zebra and kudu, to Namutoni, where the old white German fort, built as a police post, now stands at the eastern edge of the park. We stay at a rest camp or lodge inside or beside the park at its eastern end; dinner is included either way.

    Included

    • Game drive across Etosha from Okaukuejo to Namutoni
    • The Etosha Lookout on the pan
    • Lunch at Halali
    • The Namutoni fort
    • Dinner

    Free time: Late afternoon free at camp

11. Day 11: East to the Okavango River

    Namutoni to Tsumeb, Grootfontein and Rundu, then along the B8 to Divundu in the Caprivi Strip

    • Drive about 7 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Divundu (Caprivi Strip)
    Day 11 details

    The longest day of the trip, about 620 km and seven hours of driving, because no scheduled flight links Etosha with the Caprivi Strip and this road is the only way east. We break it every two hours. We leave the eastern gate after an early breakfast and stop for coffee in Grootfontein, near the Hoba meteorite site. The land turns greener and more wooded as we head north to Rundu, where a sit-down lunch looks over the Okavango River, with Angola on the far bank. The last 200 km run east along the B8 through villages of reed fences and roadside stalls to the western end of the Caprivi Strip. We reach a lodge on the banks of the Okavango near Divundu in the late afternoon, with time for a drink on the deck as the sun drops over the river and the hippos call. Dinner is at the lodge.

    Included

    • Drive from Etosha to the Caprivi Strip with your guide
    • Coffee stop in Grootfontein
    • Sit-down lunch in Rundu above the Okavango River
    • Sunset on the Okavango River at the lodge
    • Dinner at the lodge

    Free time: Evening free at the lodge

    Activity: Long but on tar all day; stops every two hours or so. The day after is shorter and ends with two nights in one place.

12. Day 12: Through Bwabwata into Botswana

    Divundu along the B8 through Bwabwata National Park to Katima Mulilo, then the Ngoma border to Kasane

    • Drive about 5.5 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Kasane
    Day 12 details

    A second long road day, about 450 km and five and a half hours of driving plus the border, and the last road day of the trip. The B8 runs straight east through Bwabwata National Park, where elephant and roan sometimes cross the road, so we drive it in the morning and keep the binoculars out. We cross the Kwando River at Kongola, then stop for a sit-down lunch in Katima Mulilo, the main town of the eastern Caprivi, near the Zambezi. From there it is a short run to the Ngoma border post, where we leave Namibia and enter Botswana over the Chobe River, and drive the transit road along the edge of Chobe National Park to Kasane. We reach our lodge near the river in the middle of the afternoon, in time to unpack for two nights, sit by the water and watch the light change. Dinner is at the lodge.

    Included

    • Drive through Bwabwata National Park with your guide
    • Sit-down lunch in Katima Mulilo
    • Border crossing into Botswana at Ngoma, with your guide
    • Dinner at the lodge

    Free time: Late afternoon free at the lodge

    Activity: Border formalities can take up to an hour; keep your passport to hand.

13. Day 13: Chobe by land at dawn and by water

    Kasane to the Chobe riverfront by 4x4, then a boat on the Chobe River

    • Drive about 15 min
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Kasane
    Day 13 details

    We are at the Sedudu gate of Chobe National Park when it opens, in open 4x4s with licensed local guides, and drive the riverfront while the air is cold and the predators are still moving. Chobe is known for its elephants, and in the dry season herds come down to the river through the morning; buffalo, giraffe, sable, the red lechwe and puku of the floodplains, and lion if we are lucky, share the same banks. We are back at the lodge for a late lunch and a long free middle of the day. In the afternoon we go out on the Chobe River by boat, which is the other half of Chobe: elephants swimming across to Sedudu Island, hippos and crocodiles at close range, fish eagles, kingfishers and the low sun on the water. The cruise ends at sunset. Dinner tonight is your choice in Kasane, with your guide on hand for recommendations.

    Included

    • Dawn game drive in Chobe National Park in open 4x4s with licensed guides
    • Late lunch at the lodge
    • Afternoon boat cruise on the Chobe River until sunset
    • Chobe National Park fees

    Easier option: Skip the morning drive and join the group for the afternoon river cruise only.

    Free time: Middle of the day and evening free in Kasane

    Activity: The dawn drive starts around 6 am; it is cold in an open vehicle from June to August.

    

14. Day 14: Fly into the Okavango Delta

    Kasane by light aircraft to a camp in the Okavango Delta

    • Drive about 15 min
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Okavango Delta
    Day 14 details

    A slow morning in Kasane, then a short drive to Kasane Airport and a light-aircraft flight of about one to one and a half hours south and west over the Chobe and the Linyanti and down into the Okavango Delta. The Okavango River rises in Angola and never reaches the sea: it spreads out into the Kalahari as a maze of channels, lagoons and islands, listed by UNESCO in 2014. From the air you see the pattern you will spend two days inside, and often elephants and buffalo moving between the islands. The camp team meets us at the airstrip. After a late lunch and time to settle into a tent with its own bathroom and hot water, we go out by mokoro in the late afternoon: a dugout-style canoe poled by a local guide through reeds and lilies at water level, with frogs, reed birds and, from a safe distance, hippos. Dinner is at camp, around the fire.

    Included

    • Light-aircraft flight from Kasane into the Okavango Delta, with your guide
    • Late-afternoon mokoro trip with a local poler
    • All meals at camp
    • Concession and conservation fees

    Free time: Morning free in Kasane

    Activity: Soft bags only on the flight, usually about 20 kg each including hand luggage; extra bags can travel separately to Maun.

    

15. Day 15: On foot and by water in the Delta

    A full day at the camp in the Okavango Delta

    • By boat
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Okavango Delta
    Day 15 details

    The Delta's day starts early. After coffee at first light, licensed camp guides take us out on foot onto one of the islands for a walk of one to three hours; on foot you read tracks in the sand, learning the trees and birds, and seeing antelope, zebra, warthog or elephant on foot at a respectful distance. Walking is done in concession areas where it is allowed, never alone and always with armed or trained guides. We are back for a late breakfast and a long free middle of the day, when the heat builds and the camp is quiet. In the late afternoon we go out again, by mokoro or by boat depending on water levels, to a lagoon or a hippo pool, and stop on an island for a sundowner as the sky turns red over the reeds. Dinner is at camp, and the night is full of sound.

    Included

    • Guided walk on a Delta island at dawn with licensed guides
    • Late-afternoon mokoro or boat trip to a lagoon, with a sundowner
    • All meals at camp

    Easier option: Skip the walk and spend the morning on the camp deck, or take a shorter walk close to camp if the guides offer it.

    More active option: Ask the camp for the longer walk, up to about three hours, if the group agrees.

    Free time: Middle of the day free at camp

    Activity: Walks are 1 to 3 hours on flat, sandy ground; minimum ages for walking are set by the camp.

16. Day 16: Fly out to Maun and home

    Okavango Delta by light aircraft to Maun Airport

    • By boat
    • Breakfast
    Day 16 details

    One last early outing from camp, a short mokoro trip or a walk depending on water and the camp's routine, while the Delta is cool and the birds are loud. After breakfast we pack the soft bags and take the light aircraft to Maun, a flight of about 20 to 45 minutes, sometimes with a stop at another airstrip, low enough to pick out elephants and the paths they wear between the islands. Maun is the town at the southern edge of the Delta, on the Thamalakane River, and its airport has connections to Johannesburg and other hubs. Your guide flies with you, helps you collect any bags that came separately, and sees you to check-in before saying goodbye after sixteen days. If your flight is later in the day, the guide can point you to a café in town to wait.

    Included

    • Early mokoro trip or walk from camp
    • Light-aircraft flight from the Delta to Maun Airport (MUB), with your guide
    • Help with check-in at Maun Airport

    Easier option: Skip the last outing and have a slow breakfast at camp.

    Activity: Book an onward flight leaving Maun after about 1 pm; we confirm the flight time out of camp with your final itinerary.

Wildlife and weather: May to October is the dry season: clear skies, cold dawns and warm days, with hot middays by September and October. Game gathers at Etosha's waterholes and along the Chobe River as the season dries, and the Delta's flood is usually highest from about June to August.

• Windhoek1 night
• Sesriem2 nights
• Swakopmund2 nights
• Twyfelfontein2 nights
• Okaukuejo (Etosha)2 nights
• Namutoni (Etosha)1 night
• Divundu (Caprivi Strip)1 night
• Kasane2 nights
• Okavango Delta2 nights