Desert and Safari Self Drive

Your tailor-made safari holiday to Namibia

This self-drive is a 'northern circuit' itinerary with a particular focus on Namibia's wildlife.

Following a restful night in Windhoek you will take the approximately 3.5 hour drive to Swakopmund, a coastal holiday town in the Namib desert. With the feel of a small German village (once a German colony) Swakopmund offers gorgeous beaches, palm-lined streets, cafes, museums, and seaside promenades. The area is famous for its adrenalin-fuelled activities such as sandboarding, hot air ballooning, quad biking, parachuting, deep sea fishing and many more.

You will now head into one of Namibia's most scenic areas, Damaraland. This rugged untamed area offers contrasting landscapes of prehistoric watercourses, wide open plains, deep gorges and distant mountain ranges. It is here that you can get your first taste of the wildlife to come, with desert adapted elephant, giraffe, ostrich and critically endangered black rhino all present. Damaraland is a region steeped in history from the Petrified Forest which is millions of years old to the UNESO world heritage centre of Twyfeltontein, a rocky outcrop of thousands of Bushmen paintings.

Now for arguably the highlight of the trip, 4 days in Etosha National Park. The main characteristic of Etosha is a salt pan, so large it can be seen from space. The park's large waterholes attract abundant wildlife giving you almost guaranteed game sightings of wildlife such as elephant, buffalo, giraffe, white rhino, black rhino, lion and many antelope species. Your days will be spent on morning and afternoon game drives with the rest of the day to relax by the pool or enjoy a delicious lunch under a shady tree. This itinerary splits your time in Etosha between the south and east of the park, both quite contrasting areas in terms of landscape, allowing you to maximise your experience of this incredible park.

Enroute back to Windhoek, end your trip with a night's stay in the central highlands region. This area runs down the spine of the country separating the Kalahari from the dunes of the Namib. The wide valleys and rolling hills are filled with cattle and game farms. The night will be a relaxing one before your journey home.