Namibian Explorer

2nd Night: Mariental – Kalahari Anib Lodge

Making you way towards the south your next stop offers you a first taste of the adventures that await you on your journey. The Kalahari Anib Lodge is surrounded by the sands of the Kalahari, which is famous for the intense colours of its sand.

Explore the Kalahari on a morning or sunset drive and enjoy the beauty of this special place and its magical colours. The best time to experience it is when the sun dips in the late afternoon and lights up the sand as if glowing from an inner fire.

3rd and 4th Night: Fish River Canyon – Fish River Lodge

Today you’ll experience a highlight of South Namibia: The Fish River Canyon, the world’s second largest canyon, which measures 160km in length, up to 27km in width and reaches a depth of 550m. Nothing quite prepares you for the size and vastness of the canyon, a surreal experience that offers endless photo opportunities. The Fish River Lodge is the only lodge directly bordering the rim of the canyon and thus you will have a truly magical experience.

Enjoy the view from your private deck – during warm nights it is even possible to sleep outside right under the stars. You can enjoy the canyon by vehicle, bike or on foot – special hiking packages are offered exclusively to guests of the lodge. If you want something more relaxing, spa treatments are available or experience the magical light during a sundowner drive.

5th and 6th Night: Luderitz – Luderitz Nest Hotel

Leaving the imposing landscape of the canyon behind you, you’ll continue your journey towards the coastal town Luderitz. You’ll be surprised to find the wild horses of the Namib, which are roaming the region on your way to Luderitz. The town is characterized by many colourful buildings, which have been built during the time of German colonialization.

You can spend the afternoon wandering the streets, visiting Felsen Kirche, a church that dominates the town from high-up on Diamond Hill, from where you have a nice view over the bay and the town. Diaz Cross, is also worth a visit, as it is the place where Bartholomew Dias first reached Namibia. The next day you should go to Kolmanskop, an abandoned German mining town just outside the town of Luderitz. A whole town trapped in time and swallowed up by the desert makes for the most unbelievable photos. Founded in the 1900s the town was once a prosperous diamond mining community that lasted 40 years, now dilapidated and slowly being reclaimed by the sand. An eerie place with plenty of photo opportunities.

Luderitz Nest Hotel offers a unique on the rocks and sea location, with far reaching uninterrupted views. The hotel’s private beach with walk-on jetty allows the guest to get close-up to the sea.

7th and 8th Night: Namib Rand – Wolwedans Dunes Lodge

The next part of your route will be truly magical and you’ll experience many different landscapes. The further you’ll drive the sandier and redder your surroundings will become. Your destination is the NamibRand Nature Reserve – an area that offers a visual utopia you probably have never seen before. The diversity in the park offers contrasting colours and shapes that leave you inspired. The reserve is rich with history, flora and fauna and unusual phenomenons like the fields of mysterious fairy circles.

Wolwedans Dunes Lodge offers a breath-taking location capturing the beauty of the desert in an unforgettable way. To top it all off: The ecolodge is built to minimize the environmental impact whilst using sustainable technologies. Spend your time exploring true wilderness and join a variety of activities: soar the desert skies in a hot air balloon, learn about small and large desert dwellers on a scenic drive, or explore the desert on foot on a walking safari.

9th and 10th Night: Sossusvlei – Sossus Dune Lodge

It is hard to surpass the experiences of the last days, but the next stop can definitely compete with it. Making your way further through the desert towards the world’s highest sand dunes in Sossusvlei, which is a memorable sight not to be missed when visiting Namibia. The national park boasts towering waves of deep red sand as far as the eye can see and captures nature in its absolute purest and simplest form.

Fascinating desert animals and plants have adapted to the harsh conditions and now thrive in this arid environment. Experience the beauty first hand by climbing the dunes, although quite a challenging and sandy hike, the view from the top is unforgettable and really puts the size and vastness of the desert in perspective. Deadvlei is another magnificent site to see in the area and is a photographer’s paradise. The contrasting colours of the white clay pan filled with dark, dead trees, surrounded by the deep red dunes and under the crisp blue skies is an unusual and spectacular sight.

Sossus Dune Lodge is the only lodge inside Namib Naukluft National Park, so you will be granted early and late access to Sossusvlei and Sesriem Canyon, which will make the experience even more special.

11th and 12th Night: Swakopmund – Desert Breeze Lodge

Passing through the desert along the Naukluft Mountains and beautiful landscapes you’ll reach Swakopmund, a small city on the Atlantic Ocean. Enjoy the breeze! Swakopmund is a city full of contrast: The colonial German architecture seems surreal in its surroundings and the hot desert winds collide with the breeze of the ocean.

Spend your day strolling through this fascinating city where palm trees line the promenade, visit some cosy cafés or spend time in the bustling markets. Swakomund and the surrounding areas offer a variety of interesting activities – on land, at sea or in the air. You can book some marine activities on the Atlantic Ocean like kite surfing, kayaking or join a seal and dolphin boat cruise. Explore the desert on special tours to learn more about the fascinating variety of desert adapted animals.If you are seeking adrenaline you can also go quad-biking, try sand boarding or take a scenic flight to have the ideal view of this unique place, where the desert meets the ocean.

Swakopmund offers a variety of excellent sea-food restaurant. You could have dinner at “The tug” or Jetty 1905, which are both located at the shore, so you can watch the sun set over the ocean and enjoy some delicious food.

13th Night: Erongo – Erongo Wilderness Lodge

Today you’ll leave the coast behind you and drive towards the Erongo Mountains and you’ll see that the scenery will once again change drastically. The Erongo Mountains are a circular massif, which is an eroded relic of a volcano that was active 150 million years ago. The area is characterized by many huge granite boulders that are scattered around the landscape and a variety of pre-historic rock paintings and engravings.

Erongo Wilderness Lodge lays surrounded by a breath-taking mountain backdrop and is an ideal location to explore the area. Spend your day hiking and find some bushman rock-art at Paula’s Cave. As the region also has a high wildlife population you can join a nature drive, on which you’ll also see some game such as oryx, kudu, mountain zebra, eland and giraffe. If you’re very lucky you might even find some leopard, which thrive in this mountainous and rocky environment.

14th and 15th Night: Twyfelfontein – Camp Kipwe

Travelling further into Damaraland, through a region that is known for its endless and untouched landscapes – you might even get a feeling of having arrived on another planet. Experience the meaning of true wilderness in Damaraland with rugged, rocky landscapes, rolling hills, ancient riverbeds and deep gorges. The wildlife can be scarce but even more special and unique, offering a once in a lifetime experience, as you can be sure to have any wildlife-sighting completely to yourself.

Damaraland also boasts the geologically fascinating Twyfelfontein World Heritage Site, which is home to thousands of ancient Bushman rock engravings. Explore Damaraland on an early morning game drive in search of elusive desert dwelling elephants, hike in the ancient surroundings of the Aba Huab River or travel back in time at Twyfelfontein, Namibia’s first World Heritage Site.

16th and 17th Night: Palmwag – Desert Rhino Camp

The Palmwag Concession will be your next stop, where you’ll be able to get up close with the largest free-ranging populations of the critically endangered desert-adapted black rhino. Desert Rhino Camp lays deep in the dramatic landscape of Damaraland in a wide valley surrounded by stacked granite rocks, deeply carved gorges. The camp is run in conjunction with the local community and Save the Rhino Trust and offers unique activities with trackers from the conservation organisation.

Spend your days on safari with highly-knowledgeable guides in search of desert adapted rhino, elephant, gemsbok, giraffe and Hartmann’s mountain zebra. If you’re lucky you might even catch glimpse of predators such as lion, cheetah and brown or spotted hyena. Rhino tracking on foot is a truly unforgettable and exclusive experience and enables up-close encounters with these unique creatures.

18th, 19th and 20th Night: Etosha National Park – Ongava Tented Camp & Onguma Tented Camp

Continuing your route Northbound you’ll reach a highlight of this trip: Etosha National Park – The place to go when wanting to truly experience everything Namibia has to offer in terms of wildlife. Especially during the dry winter month you’ll have fantastic game sightings. Spanning over an area of over 22,270 km2 Etosha is one of the most accessible game reserves in Southern Africa and ideal for self-driving.

You can visit the park’s various watering holes and observe animals in their natural state and get up close with its healthy population of predators such as lion, cheetah and leopard, as well as different herbivore species such as kudu, giraffe, eland, oryx and zebra.  Take your time while driving: You’ll have the best chance of seeing wildlife by doing things slowly, being observant and paying attention to the small things. The park is named after the huge salt pan – it’s most distinctive and dramatic feature, visible even from space. You’ll be accommodated in two private game reserves directly bordering Etosha, which offer game drives in Etosha as well as in the Ongava Reserve. Enjoy an authentic Etosha experience with many private game sightings.

21st Night: Erindi – Old Traders Lodge

Leaving Etosha behind you, you’ll make your way southbound. Before returning to Windhoek, you’ll have one night at Erinidi Private Game Reserve, which offers 70,719 hectares of pristine wilderness and wildlife. Enjoy varied activities such as cultural village tours, educational trips around the reserve, guided bush walks and game drives encountering elephants, giraffes, rhinos, lions, hyenas, zebras, kudu, wildebeest and many other animals. Do not miss the opportunity to take a night drive to catch a glimpse of the nocturnal species. Alternatively, you could spend your afternoon enjoying the view over the lodge’s highly frequented waterhole.

Tomorrow you’ll return to Windhoek – so you might be reminiscing about all the unforgettable memoires made in this beautiful country, before returning to every-day-life.