Namibia: Sossusvlei, Swakopmund, Damaraland and Etosha

1. Day 1: Arrive in Windhoek

   Hosea Kutako International Airport to your hotel in Windhoek

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Windhoek
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Hosea Kutako International Airport (WDH), about 45 km east of Windhoek, and a driver meets you in arrivals for the drive into the city across thornbush hills. Windhoek sits at about 1,650 m, so evenings are cool even in the dry season. Plan to land by about 3 pm to make the evening briefing; the exact latest arrival is confirmed with your final itinerary. If you arrive early, the centre is easy on foot: the Christuskirche, a Lutheran church finished in 1910, stands on a rise beside the Tintenpalast, the old colonial administration building that now houses parliament, with its gardens below. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group to walk through the days ahead: the long gravel drives, what to wear for a cold desert dawn, and how we pace the dune morning. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner at a restaurant in town, with Namibian game dishes on the menu alongside lighter choices.

   Included

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

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   

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

   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; the name comes from the six leather thongs (riems) settlers once tied together to haul water up from its 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.

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 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 from a lodge outside the gate 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. The 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. We reach the end of the tar road early and 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: the pool, a nap or a sundowner. Dinner is at the lodge.

   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 Deadvlei car park, or on the flat Sossusvlei pan by the shuttle stop, instead of walking the kilometre of sand 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.

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

   The second long road day, about 350 km and five and a half 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 rusting cars half buried 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 about 4 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.

   

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 slower day by the sea. Swakopmund was founded as a harbour for the German colony in 1892, and its old centre is still a grid of gabled and turreted buildings a few blocks from the beach. Mornings are often grey and cool, as the cold Benguela Current brings fog over the coast, so we use them for the Living Desert tour. A local guide drives a small group into the dunes between Swakopmund and Walvis Bay and shows how life survives on fog: the Palmato gecko with its webbed feet, the sidewinder adder buried to its eyes, the Namaqua chameleon and the beetles that drink mist from their backs. We are back by about lunchtime, and the afternoon is free. Walk the seafront past the lighthouse and the jetty, visit the Swakopmund Museum by the Mole, or book one of the optional extras at a price shown when you book: sandboarding, quad biking or a scenic flight over the dunes and the Skeleton Coast. Dinner is your choice; seafood is the local strength.

   Included

   • Living Desert tour in the dunes with a local guide

   Optional experiences

   • Sandboarding in the dunes
   • Quad biking in the dunes
   • Scenic flight over the Namib and the Skeleton Coast
   • Sandwich Harbour 4x4 tour, in place of the Living Desert tour

   Easier option: Skip the Living Desert tour and spend a slow morning in town and on the seafront.

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

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: The Living Desert tour is about four to five hours, with short walks on dune sand. The animals are small and wild, so what we find varies.

   

6. Day 6: North along the coast to Damaraland

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

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

   The third long road day and one of the two longest: about 350 km and six 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 the gravel towards Uis as the fog lifts and the land warms. 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 on the plain below it, which breaks the drive in two. The afternoon road, slow gravel for about two hours, runs north and west into Damaraland proper: red and purple ridges, flat-topped hills, ana and mopane trees along the dry riverbeds, and the odd herd of springbok. We reach our lodge in the Twyfelfontein area by about 4 pm, with time to rest before dinner. 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

   Easier option: Stay in the vehicle at the photo stops; the only walking today is from the vehicle to lunch.

   Free time: Late afternoon 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.

   

7. Day 7: Twyfelfontein and the desert elephants

   Twyfelfontein, the Organ Pipes and Burnt Mountain, then the Aba-Huab and Huab 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 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 the red sandstone by hunter-gatherers over thousands of years: giraffe, rhino, elephant, lion, animal tracks and geometric marks. A local site guide, required here, leads us on a walk of about an hour over rocky paths. Close by we stop at the Organ Pipes, a gully of angular dolerite columns, and Burnt Mountain, a dark ridge of shale baked by molten rock, then at the Damara Living Museum, where Damara people show traditional crafts, games and the way their ancestors lived. Lunch is back at the lodge, and the hottest hours are free. In the late afternoon we go out in open 4x4s with a local guide along the dry Aba-Huab and Huab riverbeds to look for desert-adapted elephants, which walk long distances between water and feed on the trees in the riverbeds. We cannot promise a sighting, as the herds roam widely.

   Included

   • Twyfelfontein rock engravings with a local site guide
   • The Organ Pipes and Burnt Mountain
   • The Damara Living Museum
   • Late-afternoon desert-elephant drive in open 4x4s with a local guide

   Easier option: Rest at the lodge in the morning and join the group for the elephant drive.

   More active option: Walk both of Twyfelfontein's guided routes, about two hours in all, instead of one.

   Free time: Midday free at the lodge

   Activity: About an hour on uneven rock at Twyfelfontein; wear closed shoes. The elephant drive is three to four hours on rough tracks.

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 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Okaukuejo (Etosha)
   Day 8 details

   The fourth long day, about 350 km and five hours on the road, ending inside Etosha with a slow first game drive. We leave at about 8 am for the Petrified Forest, a national monument where tree trunks around 280 million years old lie turned to stone in the gravel, some of them many metres long, with welwitschia plants growing among them; a local guide walks us round in about 45 minutes. At Khorixas the road turns to tar and runs east through cattle country to Outjo, where we stop for a sit-down lunch. From Outjo it is about an hour north to Andersson Gate, the southern entrance of Etosha National Park. The last 17 km to Okaukuejo we take slowly, with a detour to a waterhole, stopping wherever animals are near the road. Okaukuejo is our base for two nights. We aim to stay in the rest camp, whose waterhole is floodlit after dark; if we are there, on a good evening elephant, black rhino and lion come down to drink while you watch from the wall. Dinner is at our camp or lodge.

   Included

   • The Petrified Forest with a local guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Outjo
   • Etosha National Park entry and an afternoon game drive to Okaukuejo

   Activity: About five hours on the road in three legs; the last 17 km, from Andersson Gate to Okaukuejo, is a slow first game drive.

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'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 our camp or lodge for lunch and a rest through the heat, when the animals rest too. In the late afternoon we go out again, in the same open vehicle, for the best light of the day, and are back inside the camp gate by sunset under park rules. If we are in the Okaukuejo rest camp, as we aim to be, its floodlit waterhole is a short walk after dinner.

   Included

   • Morning game drive in an open safari vehicle with an Etosha guide
   • Late-afternoon game drive
   • Lunch and dinner at our camp or lodge

   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.

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

    We cross the park from west to east, about 160 km of game-viewing roads that take most of the day at safari speed in our own vehicle. We leave after an early breakfast and stop at whichever waterholes look busy, then take the side road that runs out onto the pan itself at the Etosha Lookout, where there is nothing but white salt in every direction. Lunch is at Halali, the camp in the middle of the park, set among mopane woodland and low dolomite hills, with its own waterhole for the hot hours. In the afternoon we continue east, where the bush thickens and Damara dik-dik, the smallest antelope in the park, hide in the thickets around Namutoni. We reach Namutoni by late afternoon and stop at the old white German fort, rebuilt after fighting here in 1904, which now stands within the Namutoni rest camp. Our night is in that camp or at a lodge just outside the eastern gate, confirmed with your dates. Before sunset we drive out to a nearby waterhole such as Klein Namutoni or Chudop for the last light, then dinner.

    Included

    • Game drive across Etosha from Okaukuejo to Namutoni
    • The Etosha Lookout on the pan
    • Lunch at Halali
    • Sunset waterhole drive near Namutoni

    Activity: About four hours of slow game driving in all, with a long lunch break at Halali.

11. Day 11: Back to Windhoek

    Namutoni to Von Lindequist Gate, Tsumeb, Otjiwarongo and Okahandja, then Windhoek

    • Drive about 6 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Windhoek
    Day 11 details

    The longest drive of the trip by distance, about 530 km and six hours, all of it on paved road. There is no shorter way from Etosha to the capital, where the international flights leave, and we break it into three legs of about two hours. We leave Namutoni by about 7:30 am, with a last slow look at the waterholes on the way to Von Lindequist Gate. The first stop is a coffee break in Tsumeb, an old copper-mining town of jacaranda-lined streets. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Otjiwarongo, and in the afternoon we stop in Okahandja at the woodcarvers' market, where carvers work and sell at the roadside. The country between is cattle farms and thornveld, and your guide uses the long road for the story of modern Namibia, from the colonial wars to independence in 1990. We reach Windhoek by about 4:30 pm, with time to rest and pack before a farewell dinner together in town.

    Included

    • Drive from Etosha to Windhoek with your guide
    • Coffee stop in Tsumeb
    • Sit-down lunch in Otjiwarongo
    • The Okahandja woodcarvers' market
    • Farewell dinner in Windhoek

    Free time: Late afternoon free in Windhoek

    Activity: The longest day on the road: about six hours of driving on paved roads, in three legs of about two hours.

12. Day 12: Windhoek and home

    Windhoek to Hosea Kutako International Airport

    • Drive about 45 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 12 details

    A free morning in Windhoek. If your flight leaves after about 2 pm, your guide walks with anyone who wants to go through the small centre: the Christuskirche, the Tintenpalast and its gardens, and the Independence Memorial Museum, whose top-floor terrace looks over the city to the Auas Mountains. Craft stalls along Post Street Mall sell Namibian baskets and carvings if you need a last gift. Then a driver takes you the 45 km to Hosea Kutako International Airport (WDH), about 45 minutes away, timed to your flight; allow two hours at the airport for an international departure. Your guide checks your flight details before saying goodbye. If you would like more time in Namibia, we can book extra nights in Windhoek, and we can quote an extension to Cape Town, with the flight from Windhoek confirmed at booking.

    Included

    • Morning walk in central Windhoek with your guide (flights after about 2 pm)
    • Drop-off at Hosea Kutako International Airport (WDH)

    Free time: Morning free

    Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 2 pm to join the morning walk; any flight after about 11 am works for the transfer.

Wildlife and weather: May to October is the 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. September and October are hot by midday inland; the coast stays cool and often foggy all year.

• Windhoek1 night
• Sesriem2 nights
• Swakopmund2 nights
• Twyfelfontein2 nights
• Okaukuejo (Etosha)2 nights
• Namutoni (Etosha)1 night
• Windhoek1 night