Namibia Guided Group Tour

DAY 1: ARRIVE WINDHOEK

Welcome to Namibia! Namibia is a spectacular country… truly a land of contrasts and wide-open spaces, a sensory awakening. Allow yourself to be moved!

Upon arrival at the airport, you will be met by your guide outside the baggage claim area in the arrival’s hall. Be on the lookout for the group nameboard.

From here you will be transferred by coach to your hotel in Windhoek where you will overnight.
Guests can check in from 14h00.

Enjoy lunch at your leisure. (For your own account.)

19h00 – Meet up with fellow tour members and your tour leader. We kick off the tour with a delicious dinner at the lodge.

O/N Arebbusch Travel lodge or similar (Windhoek) including dinner and breakfast.

DAY 2: WINDHOEK – ETOSHA

Enjoy breakfast at your hotel and check-out. (Breakfast is served between 07h00 and 09h00.)

09h00 – Depart for Etosha National Park, this is an estimated 4-5 hours’ drive.

Etosha means the “great white area” and refers to the huge salt pans. The landscape is unique and subsequently home to a wide variety of animals, for example lion, elephant, leopard, giraffe, cheetah, hyena, springbok, two kinds of zebra, eland and many more species of wildlife are found here.

Guests can check in from 14h00.

Depart late afternoon on a guided game drive into the Etosha National Park with your lodge’s game rangers in their open-air game vehicles.

Upon return to the lodge, freshen up and enjoy a sumptuous dinner.

O/N at Etosha Safari Lodge or similar (Bordering Etosha National Park) including breakfast and dinner.

DAY 3: ETOSHA

Enjoy breakfast at your lodge.
Depart on an early-morning guided game drive into the Etosha National Park with your lodge’s game rangers in their open-air game vehicles.

Midday will be at leisure to relax and enjoy your lodge. Lunch is at leisure and for your own account.

This afternoon the group will enjoy a guided bush walk accompanied by a knowledgeable lodge game ranger before dinner.
Enjoy dinner at the lodge.

O/N at Etosha Safari Lodge or similar (Bordering Etosha National Park) including breakfast and dinner.

DAY 4: ETOSHA – KHORIXAS

Enjoy breakfast at your hotel and check-out. (Breakfast is served between 07h00 and 09h00.)

09h00 – Depart for Damaraland, this is an estimated 2-3hours drive.
The breath-taking mountainous region of Damaraland is home to an assortment of desert-adapted wildlife such as elephant, rhino, zebra, and lion, which eke out an existence in this near-barren landscape. A not-to-be-missed attraction is the picturesque Brandberg, Namibia’s highest mountain, which is home to thousands of ancient rock paintings – most notably the White Lady. The rocky outcrops of Twyfelfontein feature exceptional Bushmen engravings, which are some of the best-preserved etchings on the continent and the Petrified Forest dates back millions of years offering a haunting landscape of gigantic, fossilised trees.

Guests can check in from 14h00. Lunch is at leisure and for your own account.

Enjoy dinner at your lodge.

O/N: Gondwana Damara Mopani Lodge or similar (Khorixas area) including breakfast and dinner.

DAY 5: KHORIXAS

Enjoy breakfast at your hotel.

Today we will spend the day visiting all the sites in and around Twyfelfontein.

Lunch is at leisure for your own account.

Petrified Forest: On the way from Khorixas, stop to see the Petrified Forest about 50km northeast of Twyfelfontein. No, it’s not a standing forest, but a collection of fossilised trees lying flat. You can try to do the walk of about 800m on your own, but in my opinion it’s worth paying a professional guide to enrich your experience. On some of the trees you can see bark preserved in stone. Your guide will also point out various plants of interest, such as that Damaraland special, the welwitschia. You’ll learn that white-barked commiphora is used by the Damara for woodcrafts, brown-barked commiphora by the Himba for perfume, and that euphorbia (milk bush) has a poisonous latex that Bushmen used on their arrow tips to paralyse an animal. Once the animal collapsed, the hunters would go closer and kill it with their spears, then cook the meat twice to get rid of the effect of the poison.

Twyfelfontein engravings: Twyfelfontein, where your entrance fee pays for a professional guide to take you around this UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are about 43 000 engravings in Namibia. The ones here are between 2000 and 6000 years old, from the Late Stone Age. They’re named after a spring discovered by farmer David Levin in 1946. He was looking for water but wasn’t sure if he would find it – hence the name (twyfel is Afrikaans for doubtful or uncertain). You can still see the ruins of his farmhouse. The Damara name is /ui-//aes, which means water among rocks. In the cool air of early morning, we kept to the path through mopane bushes before stopping at a ‘blackboard’ of engravings on a large rock, representing animals like rhino, zebra and giraffe, animal tracks and waterholes. ‘These engravings were used to teach young hunters, so as a means of communication and education, whereas Bushman paintings were part of storytelling,’ she explained.

Organ Pipes: These dolerite pillars along a riverbed formed during a volcanic event 120 million years ago when the continent of Gondwana was breaking apart. Liquid lava intruded into slate, and as it cooled and contracted, the rock split vertically, forming straight, narrow pieces of rock that look just like organ pipes – hence the name. Over time, erosion has exposed them for us to admire. The site is particularly impressive in the middle of the day when early morning or late afternoon shadows don’t spoil the effect.

Burnt Mountain: About a kilometre past the Organ Pipes is Burnt Mountain, which embodies some impressive stats: a 1000-degree volcanic reaction, a 12km-long volcanic ridge, an 80-million-year-old stream of lava turning rocks into intriguing black and purple colours. Despite these big numbers and the fact that Burnt Mountain has been a national monument since 1956, it looks a bit like a tailing pile left over from mining activity. Nonetheless, it’s worth seeing because it’s so close to Twyfelfontein and you don’t even have to get out of your car unless you want to.

Return to lodge to enjoy dinner.
O/N: Gondwana Damara Mopani Lodge or similar (Khorixas area) including breakfast and dinner.

DAY 6: KHORIXAS – SWAKOPMUND

Enjoy breakfast at your hotel and check-out. (Breakfast is served between 07h00 and 09h00.)

09h00 – Depart for Swakopmund, this is an estimated 4-5hours drive.

Guests can check in from 14h00.

Lunch is at leisure for your own account. Spend the rest of the afternoon at leisure.

Swakopmund is a coastal resort and characterized by German colonial architecture. The city was founded in 1892 by German colonists as the main harbour for German Southwest Africa. The city’s colonial landmarks include the Swakopmund Lighthouse and the Mole, an old sea wall. Next to the lighthouse, the Swakopmund Museum documents Namibian history. Inland, the elegant Swakopmund Railway Station, now a hotel, also dates to the colonial era.

This evening dinner is at leisure for your own account, not included in the rate, there are numerous great restaurants in Swakopmund that you can explore. Recommended: The Tug or the Brewer and Butcher at the Strand hotel, or the Brauhaus. Some within easy walking distance of the hotel.

O/N: Swakopmund Hotel and Entertainment Centre or similar (Swakopmund) including breakfast.

DAY 8: SWAKOPMUND / SOSSUSVLEI

Enjoy breakfast at your hotel and check-out. (Breakfast is served between 07h00 and 09h00.)

09h00 – Depart for Sossusvlei, this is an estimated 4-5hours drive. Our destination, the Namib Desert Lodge is located an estimated 60 km from the gate to the Namib Rand Park and Sossusvlei, (about 1 hour’s drive).

Guests can check in from 14h00. Lunch is at leisure for your own account. Spend the rest of the afternoon at leisure.

There are several wonderful attractions to be enjoyed around Sossusvlei in the largest conservation area in Namibia, the Namib-Nauklüft National Park, which covers almost 50,000 km2. The top attraction of the park and the second most popular attraction in Namibia, Sossusvlei, is renowned for its majestic, warm red, star-shaped dunes contrasting against the stark white floors of the pans.

There are a number of attractions around Sossusvlei for visitors to explore, including Sesriem Canyon, Dune 45, Hiddenvlei, Big Daddy and Deadvlei.

This evening, enjoy dinner at the lodge.

O/N: Namib Desert Lodge or similar (Sossusvlei area), including breakfast and dinner.

DAY 7: SWAKOPMUND

Enjoy breakfast at your hotel.

08h00 – Today we will meet our local guides and enjoy a full day excursion including a catamaran cruise and a Sandwich Harbour 4x4 experience.

Our full-day adventure provides the ultimate combination of viewing marine life on a leisure sailing cruise on the Atlantic Ocean and exploring fauna and flora with a ride in the breathtaking Sandwich Harbour area of the Namib Nauklüft Park.

You set sail between 08h45 and 09h00 (check-in 08h30) from the Jetty at the Walvis Bay Waterfront for a marine educational sailing excursion in the bay area in search of the Marine Big 5: Whales, Dolphins, Mola, Leatherback turtle and seals. While enjoying hot coffee and tea, your initial route takes you past oyster farms as you approach Pelican Point with its landmark lighthouse and 60,000 resident Cape Fur Seals.

In season (July to November), larger mammals such as the Southern Right Whale and Humpback Whales are often spotted, while other whale species, such as the Gray whale and the Pygmy Right whale have made appearances. Bottlenose, Heaviside and Dusky dolphins are regularly seen, as are Sunfish and Leatherback Turtles. Accompanying your catamaran throughout are a variety of seabirds, such as the Kelp Gull, Hartlaub’s Gull, Pelicans, Skua and Cape Cormorant

Your journey from Pelican Point takes you past some of the more interesting ships and oil rigs in the bay as you enjoy a light lunch snack, fresh oysters with sparkling wine, savoury snacks and desserts together with light drinks, cooldrinks and water. You return to the Waterfront at about 12h30, where your Sandwich Harbour 4x4 guide will meet you for your afternoon Sandwich Harbour excursion.

Departing from the Walvis Waterfront, you stop at the Walvis Bay Lagoon to see masses of flamingos and other coastal birds that reside in and around the lagoon at different times of the year. From here, the drive initially takes you to the Kuiseb river delta, a dry riverbed where the odd springbok, oryx or jackal may be spotted.

Depending on the tides and the swell, you will try to reach the Sandwich Harbour Lagoon along the beach, one of Southern Africa’s richest and unique wetlands and also one of Namibia’s five Ramsar sites. Alternatively, you will take an exciting dune ride to a lookout dune to get an aerial view of the Sandwich Harbour Lagoon.

There is lots of time to stop along the way for photography. You stop along the way to enjoy oysters, sparkling wine, drinks and cooldrinks. Depending on the weather conditions, this may be done on top of a high dune overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, on the beach, or amongst the dunes. The route homeward will take you past the area’s typical fauna and flora, including the endemic !Nara plant. Animals which have developed ways to adapt to the desert include the black-backed jackal, fog-basking beetle, dancing spider (‘white lady of the Namib’), golden mole, shovel-snouted lizard, palmato gecko, springbok, oryx, brown hyena and ostrich.

Return to Walvis Bay late afternoon after your excursion around 16h30 to 17h00.
Dinner is at leisure and for your own account.

O/N: Swakopmund Hotel and Entertainment Centre or similar (Swakopmund) including breakfast and a light lunch.

DAY 9: SOSSUSVLEI

Today we will depart early (with a packed breakfast box) and make our way to the Sossusvlei Lodge Activity Centre, where we will join our Sossusvlei and Deadvlei guided excursion.

This guided excursion is ideal to explore Sossusvlei and the majestic dunes! Regular stops at the must-see landmarks along the way and a guided walk to Deadvlei are just some of the highlights.

Lunch is at leisure and can be enjoyed at the Sossusvlei Lodge restaurant (for your own account).

Later this afternoon you depart on a guided Sesriem Canyon excursion from the Sossusvlei Lodge activity centre. Explore the remarkable depths and incredible history of Sesriem Canyon with your experienced guides.

After an exciting day, return to your lodge for dinner and overnight.

O/N: Namib Desert Lodge or similar (Sossusvlei area) including breakfast and dinner.

DAY 10: SOSSUSVLEI – AUS – LÜDERITZ

Enjoy breakfast at your hotel and check-out. (Breakfast is served between 07h00 and 09h00.)

09h00 – Depart for Lüderitz, this is an estimated 6 hours 30 minutes’ drive.

You will stop at Helmeringhausen enroute for lunch (for your own account).

You will pass through the region around the little village of Aus and the Huib Plateau which was originally inhabited by nomadic hunter-gatherer groups of the Nama. They already gave the town its present name. !Aus means ‘snake fountain’ and it was the last reliable fountain before the start of the 120 km wide waterless Namib. Until the year 1882 the region remained spared from European influence, and only a few missionaries visited the snake fountain.

Guests can check in from 14h00. Spend the rest of the afternoon at leisure.

Lüderitz in southern Namibia is isolated on a wild and windy shore. It is surrounded by the Namib Desert and has only one road in, yet, the harbour town of Lüderitz has a quiet charm under cobalt blue skies. All visitors to this coastal town in Namibia are encouraged to walk around and have a look at the colonial buildings and brightly coloured German Art Deco style architecture, which is so at odds with the extremely rocky Atlantic coastline of southern Namibia.

Enjoy dinner at your hotel tonight.

O/N: Lüderitz Nest Hotel(Lüderitz) including breakfast and dinner.

DAY 12: FISH RIVER CANYON

Enjoy breakfast at your hotel.

Depart for the activity centre at Canyon Lodge and enjoy a morning Canyon drive. You are taken to the two major lookout points along the Fish River Canyon. Your guide will tell you all about the canyon’s fascinating geology. Refreshments, a light snack, and park entrance fees are included, this is a +/- 3-hour excursion.

After a wonderful morning excursion, lunch is at leisure and for your own account.

You will depart back to your Lodge after lunch. Spend the rest of the day at leisure.

This evening enjoy dinner at your lodge.

O/N: Canyon Village Lodge or similar (Fish River) including breakfast and dinner.

DAY 11: LÜDERITZ – FISH RIVER CANYON

Enjoy breakfast at your hotel and check-out. (Breakfast is served between 07h00 and 09h00.)

09h00 - Depart for the Fish River Canyon, this is an estimated 4 hours 30 minutes’ drive.

Guests can check in from 14h00. Lunch is at leisure for your own account. Spend the rest of the afternoon at leisure.

The Fish River Canyon is located in the south of Namibia. It is the largest canyon in Africa, the second largest canyon worldwide after the Grand Canyon in the USA, as well as the second most visited tourist attraction in Namibia. It features a gigantic ravine, in total about 160 kilometres long, up to 27 km wide and in places almost 550 meters deep. The Canyon forms part of the state-run Ais-Ais Richtersveld Transfontier Park.

Enjoy dinner at your lodge tonight.

O/N: Canyon Village Lodge or similar (Fish River) including breakfast and dinner.

DAY 13: FISH RIVER CANYON – WINDHOEK

Enjoy breakfast at your hotel and check-out. (Breakfast is served between 07h00 and 09h00.)

09h00 – Depart for Windhoek, this is an estimated 7-hour drive.

Lunch will be enjoyed enroute. (For your own account.)

Upon arrival at the lodge, the rest of the afternoon is at leisure.

Enjoy a final group dinner together at a local restaurant.

O/N: River Crossing Lodge or similar (Windhoek) including breakfast and dinner.

DAY 14: WINDHOEK – DEPARTURE

Enjoy breakfast at your Lodge.

Sadly, your tour of Namibia has come to an end. Tour members say their goodbyes and check out of the lodge.

The group will be transferred to the airport for check in around 2-3 hours before the first flight departure, drop off to be around 10h30 - 11h00.

We hope you have enjoyed this adventure!

Meals included: Breakfast.

END OF TOUR