Wildlife Tours to Namibia NAMIBIA
| Tour Ref. | Days | Dates | Party Size |
Cost |
Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAM1/12 | 17 | Thursday 18th October to Saturday 3rd November 2012 | 6 plus leader | £4135 (£675)* | TBA |
*Single room supplement.
Tour Destinations :
- Namib-Naukluft National Park
- Swakopmund
- Skeleton Coast
- Damaraland
- Waterburg Plateau
- Etosha National Park
Tour Summary
Namibia
Enormous sand dunes glowing apricot in the early morning light, the silvery white landscape of the Etosha pan with its wealth of mammals and birds, strange plants uniquely adapted to a harsh desert environment and a great diversity of tribes and cultures are all to be found in the country we know as Namibia. Truly a fascinating land!
Your visit will be at the end of the dry season when maximum numbers of game should have collected at the water holes, the principal source of life-giving water. Many of the plant and bird species you will see are endemic to southern Africa.
Although Namibia (with the exception of Etosha National Park) cannot boast the prolific bird and mammal life of East Africa it is a truly wilderness landscape created in dramatic proportions.
Itinerary
Day 1 : Depart form London on your overnight flight to Windhoek.
Day 2 : You will arrive in the early afternoon and transfer to your hotel. The rest of the day is free to rest after your journey and to look around the town. Windhoek is situated 1650m above sea level in the country’s central highlands. The town has a fascinating blend of German, Dutch and English cultures along with several indigenous African cultures.
Day 3 : Depart after breakfast with a picnic lunch and travelling south west through desert savanna, open plains and rolling hills to the Namib Desert, our base for the next two nights. Our journey will be punctuated with stops at scenic sites and for any wildlife encountered such as Chacma baboons, Springbok and Oryx. Your lodge is located on the edge of the Namib Desert, 34km from Sesriem and in a dramatic desert setting with distant views of the sand dunes.
Day 4 : Today we visit the Namib Naukluft Park, beginning with an early morning drive to arrive in time for sunrise. The Sossusvlei dunes rise up to 300m and rank among the biggest in the world and there are also vast clay pans where the Tsauchab River stalled in its attempt to reach the sea. The photographers are sure to be enthralled by the sight of the dunes in the early morning light when the shadows magnify the sharp edges of the dunes and the red Namib sands shine brightly in the sun. Fitter members of the party may wish to attempt the ascent of Big Daddy, one of the biggest dunes in the world and we will also call at Dune 45 on our way back to the lodge.
Plants and birds are the main life forms in this desert zone and they support a variety of mammals, reptiles and insects which have adapted to the harsh conditions but understandably never wander far from the river course and its pans.
Day 5 : Our journey today will take us north and then west, changing from Mountains and dunes to rolling grass covered hills with scattered acacia trees before we reach our destination in Swakopmund. We will drive via Solitaire and on to the Kuiseb Canyon and as we cross the vast gravel plains on the Namib we will be looking out for Springbok and Ostrich.
Swakopmund is a quaint resort town with an obvious German heritage located at the mouth of the Swakop River on the Skeleton Coast and during our stay here we will have time to absorb something of the culture of the town.
Day 6 : After breakfast we will depart for a drive to Walvis Bay lagoon, a RAMSAR wetlands site which is home to thousands of flamingos, pelicans and numerous wading birds. Returning to Swakopmund for lunch, there will be time in the afternoon for an optional boat trip before we spend out second night in the town.
Day 7 : We will drive south this morning along the Skeleton Coast via Henties Bay to Cape Cross where we pause for lunch and to view the largest cape fur seal breeding colony in the world with over 100,000 generally present. Our destination today is Damaraland where enormous granite outcrops and dolerite dykes have been carved by ice, wind and rain over the centuries and we will be spending the next two nights at Twyfelfontein Lodge.
Day 8 : Today is set aside for a visit to the Twyfelfontein rock engravings and paintings, the Petrified Forest and the Organ Pipes, along with wildlife watching at every opportunity. The delicate ecosystem here supports some amazing flora and fauna – among the desert adapted animals we will hope to see Elephant, Rhino, Springbok and Oryx.
Day 9 : A half day drive will take us to the Palmwag Concession for a two night stay. During our stay here there will be further opportunities to search for Oryx, Giraffe, Springbok, Bat-eared Fox, Elephant, Brown and Spotted Hyaena, Kudu, Black Rhino and Mountain Zebra all of which have adapted to the semi-desert conditions. Birdwatching is excellent with a number of Namibia’s endemics present.
Day 10 : A further full day in Palmwag with a morning game drive and an afternoon walk.
Day 11 : After breakfast we depart from Palmwag on a scenic drive which will take us to Etosha National Park which is one of the wildlife highlights of any visit to Namibia. Our four night stay in the park is divided between two lodges to maximise the variety of wildlife viewing. The park covers some 22000 sq.km – approximately the size of Wales - and is home to large numbers of Lion, Rhino, Giraffe, Zebra and Elephant along with significant numbers of over a hundred other mammal species. It is also host to 340 bird species.
A vast salt pan lies at the centre of the park and is surrounded by grass and thorn savannah, Mopani bushland in the west and dry forest in the north-east. Although the pan is generally dry, the southern part of the park is caracherised by a number of water holes scattered throughout the area. These become the focus of activity for countless mammals and we will have a series of game drives to visit waterholes on all our four days here. Whilst at the Okaukuejo Bungalows you will be able to take advantage of the excellent wildlife viewing offered by the lodge’s own waterhole which acts as a very effective magnet for mammals.
Days 12 to 14 : Morning and afternoon game drives in the Etosha National Park, with a transfer between lodges taking place on Day 13.
Day 15 : After our final breakfast in Etosha, we depart heading south via Otjikoto Lake, Tsumeb and Otijwarongo to the Waterburg Plateau Park area where we stop overnight as we make our way back to Windhoek. The park is home to many bird species and we will no doubt still be adding new birds to our list as we conclude our tour.
Day 16 : We complete the journey back to Windhoek today calling off en route at the wood carvers and curio market at Okahandja and transferring to the airport to begin our return journey home.
Day 17 : Arrive back into London.
Please contact us if you need any more infomation