Compare 11-Day Extended Classic Namibia Safari by Nature Travel Namibia

Day 1: Sossusvlei, Namib Desert

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Namib Desert Lodge; Mid-range lodge located just outside Namib-Naukluft NP

Main Destination: Sossusvlei (Namib-Naukluft NP)

Drinks not included

After breakfast and meeting your guide for the safari we will depart for Sossusvlei. We will drive through the Khomas Hochland and down the escarpment via one of the scenic mountain passes into the Namib Desert. This journey will take about 4 hours depending on the number of stops for photographs. Dinner and accommodation will be at one of the best lodges in the area perfectly situated to explore the surrounding desert and its attractions.

The Namib is the oldest desert and boasts the highest sand dunes in the world. This region is one of the most spectacular areas of Namibia and always one of the highlights of any safari. The name Sossusvlei refers to the vlei or pan into which the seasonal Tsauchab River flows in years of exceptional rainfall. The neighboring Dead Vlei with the ancient dead Camel Thorn trees is one of the most photographic sites in good early morning light. The Sesriem canyon is a narrow gorge about 1 km long and is well worth a visit.

Day 2: Sossusvlei, Namib Desert

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Namib Desert Lodge; Mid-range lodge located just outside Namib-Naukluft NP

Main Destination: Sossusvlei (Namib-Naukluft NP)

Drinks not included

After an early breakfast and coffee, we will depart for a morning excursion to Sossusvlei and Dead Vlei. We will stop at the scenic Dune 45 along the way and spend a couple of hours at both Sossusvlei and Dead Vlei. Some of the dunes in the area are a few hundred meters high but the view from the top for those that dare is one you will never forget. After lunch and a well-earned siesta we will join the lodge for a sundowner Nature Drive before returning to the lodge in time for Dinner.

Day 3: Swakopmund

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

Accommodation: Swakopmund Sands Hotel, Swakopmund; Mid-range guest house located in or near Namib-Naukluft NP

Main Destination: Swakopmund

After a relaxing breakfast we will depart for Swakopmund via the Namib Naukluft National Park. We will spend the next 2 nights at a guesthouse and have dinner at some of the top restaurants in Swakopmund. Please note that dinner tonight is not included and for your own account.

Swakopmund is a very popular holiday destination for many Namibians and will probably be the only place that you will visit on the Namibian safari that has a real town feel to it. Wedged between the Namib Desert and the cold Atlantic Ocean, Swakopmund which is known for its very relaxed atmosphere, has something for everybody. There are plenty of great restaurants and bars, good shopping opportunities and fascinating architecture. For the adventurous there’s quad biking, sand-boarding, skydiving, beach angling and scenic flights over the coastline and Sossusvlei to name a few. The nearby Walvis Bay, Namibia’s major harbour town is well known for the lagoon and its prolific bird life.

Drinks not included

Day 4: Swakopmund

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

Accommodation: Swakopmund Sands Hotel, Swakopmund; Mid-range guest house located in or near Namib-Naukluft NP

Main Destination: Swakopmund

After breakfast we will depart for a living desert adventure where we will encounter and learn more about the fascinating wildlife of the Namib Desert. We will look for gecko's, scorpions, side-winder snakes, lizards and beetles as well as the incredible plant life that survives in this harsh environment.

Once we are back in Swakopmund we enjoy lunch and then have the afternoon available to explore the town or perhaps finish the day with a quad-biking and dune-boarding adventure. Other optional activities that could be arranged include scenic flights over the coast and dunes.

Drinks not included

Day 5: Twyfelfontein, Damaraland

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Twyfelfontein Country Lodge; Mid-range lodge located inside Damaraland

Main Destination: Twyfelfontein (Damaraland)

Today we will embark on a Pelican Point Kayak adventure and join the seals and dolphins for a paddle at the tip of the remote Pelican Point peninsula. Afterword’s we continue our safari northwards along the Skeleton Coast. After visiting a shipwreck will turn inland towards Damaraland. We will drive past the Brandberg, Namibia’s highest mountain with the highest peak at 2573 meters. We will be at our lodge in time for a sun-downer drink while we enjoy the view over this beautiful landscape.

Drinks not included

Day 6: Twyfelfontein, Damaraland

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Twyfelfontein Country Lodge; Mid-range lodge located inside Damaraland

Main Destination: Twyfelfontein (Damaraland)

After breakfast we will embark on a half day tracking adventure to try and find the desert adapted elephants. We will return to the lodge for lunch and spend the afternoon visiting the Twyfelfontein rock engravings (Namibia’s only world heritage site), burnt mountain and organ pipes rock formation and the Petrified Forest.

Drinks not included

Day 7: Etosha National Park

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Etosha Safari Lodge; Mid-range lodge located just outside Etosha NP

Main Destination: Etosha National Park

Best Time to Visit: July to September (Animals come to water)

High Season: July to November (The park gets crowded)

Best Weather: May to August (Less hot during the day)

Today our journey continues to Etosha National Park where will spend the next 4 nights. Etosha is one of Africa’s biggest and best National Parks and one of the main tourist attractions in Namibia. It is 22 912 km 2 in size of which the Etosha Pan, a shallow depression that only holds water after good rainy seasons, is 5000 km 2 in size. Etosha is known for its spectacular game viewing and the waterholes attract huge numbers of game in the dry season when all the open water has dried up. During the rainy season the park is transformed into a green oasis and this is the time you find young of various animal species in huge numbers. 114 Species of mammal are found in the park and it is the best place in the world to see Black Rhino. One of the highlights of the park is the flood-lit waterholes at the 3 main camps where game viewing continues long after the sun has set.

Day 8: Etosha National Park

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Etosha Safari Lodge; Mid-range lodge located just outside Etosha NP

Main Destination: Etosha National Park

 After Breakfast we will do morning and afternoon games drives and relax at the pool or camp waterhole between drives. The area and vegetation is very different to the south-eastern and eastern part of the park and the Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra can be found here.

In this area and with a more undulating landscape, it makes for a very different wildlife experience. White dust and clay which makes up the Etosha Pan turns to a reddish brown soil during this time which may lead you to believe you have entered an entirely new park when you visit.

Drinks not included

Day 9: Etosha National Park

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Mushara Lodge; Luxury lodge located just outside Etosha NP

Main Destination: Etosha National Park

From here we will make our way across the park in a full morning game drive to Mushara Lodge on the eastern boundary where we will spend the next 2 nights. I love this lodge and park of the park with excellent game viewing and am sure you will enjoy this as well.

Day 10: Etosha National Park

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Mushara Lodge; Luxury lodge located just outside Etosha NP

Main Destination: Etosha National Park

We will do morning and afternoon games drives and relax at the pool or camp waterhole between drives. In the vast arid space of Northern Namibia lies one of Southern Africa’s best loved wildlife sanctuaries. The Etosha National Park offers excellent game viewing in one of Africa’s most accessible venues. Zebra and springbok are scattered across the endless horizon, while the many waterholes attract endangered black rhinoceros, lion, elephant and large numbers of antelope. Etosha, meaning ‘place of dry water’, is encloses a huge, flat calcrete depression (or pan) of about 5000km². The ‘Pan’ provides a great, parched, silver-white backdrop of shimmering mirages to anarea of semi-arid savannah grassland and thorn scrub. The pan itself contains water only after very good rains and sometimes for only a few days each year, but is enough to stimulate the growth of a blue-green algae which lures thousands of flamingos.

Day 11: Windhoek

Meals: Breakfast

Main Destination: Windhoek

After an early morning breakfast, we will depart for Windhoek where you will catch your connecting flight.

End of tour (See Getting There for more details)

Additional accommodation can be arranged for an extra cost.

You'll be dropped off at the airport (or hotel).