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Africat + Etosha + Damaraland + Namib Desert
NCN15W

15 NIGHTS
FROM $1,805
International flights and car hire quoted separately
If you want a comprehensive luxury self drive holiday of Namibia, request the 4* or 5* version of this wonderful itinerary, which covers all the highlights staying at top quality lodges - as well as remote Damaraland, home of the desert elephant & rhino. Also track leopard & cheetah at Africat & visit the incomparable Namib Desert with its spectacular scenery.
HIGHLIGHTS
Holidays Namibia Safari Holidays Self Drive Namibia Safari Vacation Holiday Namib Etosha Damaraland Car Hire
• Windhoek • Africat Foundation • Cheetah • Leopard
• Etosha National Park • Damaraland • Erongo Mountains • Swakopmund
• Dolphins & Seals • Namib Desert
Day 1
Arrive at Windhoek Airport, collect your hire car and drive to your hotel in Windhoek.
  
Check in and relax under warm blue Namibian skies.
Day 2
Today enjoy the stark beauty of Namibia on your 3-hour drive north to Okonjima.
  
This is the home of the Africat Foundation dedicated to the preservation of Namibia’s large carnivores, but especially leopard and cheetah. Namibia accounts for 25% of the world’s population of the endangered cheetah, which can be radio-tracked on foot in the rehabilitation area where they roam freely and catch their own prey. Leopards are also frequently seen from the viewing hide or can be radio-tracked from the game viewing vehicle.
 
Check in to your lodge, settle in and relax in this wonderful wildlife centre, before enjoying an open top Game Drive in the reserve.
Day 3
Today drive northwards from Africat for 3-hours to one of Africa’s largest and greatest game parks - Etosha National Park.
  
Etosha owes its unique landscape to a vast shallow depression called the Etosha Pan. During the dry season it becomes an expanse of white cracked mud, shimmering with mirages and spiralling dust devils, with its open pans offering magnificent game viewing. Etosha is home to over 100 different species of mammals including cheetah, leopard, lion, elephant, rhino, giraffe, zebra and wildebeest.
  
Check into your game lodge near the eastern entrance to the park and enjoy dining under the stars!
Day 4
Today is devoted to self drive game viewing in the famous Etosha National Park, one of the largest wildlife conservation areas in Africa surrounding an enormous salt pan that is the size of the Netherlands.
  
Explore the vast Etosha Pan, which offer magnificent game viewing opportunities including springbok, oryx, black-faced impala and the small Damara dik-dik. A series of waterholes throughout the park guarantees rewarding game viewing, with Etosha being renowned for its vast arrays of plains game and its “great cats” which are more easily seen on the open pans - including cheetah and leopard.
 
The rest of the morning is free to relax by the swimming pool, before setting out again in the late afternoon for another game drive. With over 100 different species of mammals and reptiles in Etosha National Park, you can hope to see giraffe, hyena, kudu, springbok, warthogs, baboons and many other interesting animals. Etosha is also a bird watchers paradise, with hundreds of recorded bird species and many migrants during the summer months.
 
After a beautiful African sunset, enjoy the balmy evening and pristine stars of the Milky Way as you have never seen them before – as well as the spectacular Southern Cross.
Day 5
Today spend the whole day exploring Etosha National Park, as you enter at the eastern gate and depart from this great game sanctuary at the southern gate.
 
Enjoy spectacular game viewing on the open pans, where game is more easily visible, as well as wonderful viewing at the rest camp waterholes.
Day 6
A full day on the road today, as you drive 5-hours into the vast empty spaces of Damaraland, home to the rare desert elephant and black rhino, as well as many other species that roam free in this great wilderness.
 
Check into your lodge and enjoy a spectacular sunset in this remote and arid region.
Day 7
Today is free to relax at your lodge and enjoy any optional activities available.
 
These include the opportunity to track rare Desert Elephant and Rhino, as well as giraffe, zebra, oryx, springbok, kudu, ostrich, brown and spotted hyena and  jackal.
Day 8
Today leave Palmwag and travel south for 4-hours into timeless Damaraland, home of the Spitzkoppe and Brandberg Mountains - the highest in Namibia. Take time to stop and explore the semi-desert flora and fauna of this region and its fascinating rock formations, as you travel through these vast uninhabited open spaces.
  
We also suggest visits to geological features in the area such as the Organ Pipes and the Petrified Forest, where millions of years ago giant tree trunks were deposited and subsequently turned to stone. In the late afternoon check in to your lodge near Twyfelfontein.
Day 9
At leisure to explore Twyfelfontein, meaning "Doubtful Spring" and declared a World Heritage site to preserve the many ancient rock paintings and engravings left by the early San Bushmen.
 
The slopes of the area are strewn with boulders dotted with thousands of their rock art and paintings – making it a virtual open-air museum.
 
Afternoon at leisure around the swimming pool, or join an optional game drive along the river beds in search of rare Desert Elephants.
Day 10
This morning drive 5-hours across the barren Skeleton Coast, renowned for its many shipwrecks and inhospitable coastline to the charming seaside town of Swakopmund, with its old lighthouse and easy access to the sand dunes and activities of the Namib Desert.  
  
On the Skeleton Coast there is a small lichen reserve, where a relatively large variety of these interesting and slow growing organisms are protected. You can also stop to see the thriving population of seals at Cape Cross Seal Reserve and the many gannets and other sea birds in this area.
   
Swakopmund is situated on the Atlantic Coast where the cold Benguela Current sweeps up from Antarctica, releasing no moisture into the prevailingly onshore winds – hence the very low rainfall and desert conditions. Fog is common along the coast in the early mornings and late afternoons and this is what gives life to the desert-adapted flora and fauna of the region. The cold current is also highly oxygenated, causing it to teem with marine life. Check into your hotel and relax on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.
Day 11
At leisure to relax at the beach resort of Swakopmund.
 
As this is Namibia’s playground, a wide variety of activities are on offer, including a Marine Cruise to see seals, dolphins and whales in season, a Namib Desert tour, and quad biking or paragliding in the sand dunes.  Alternatively simply relax at a quaint coffee shop or walk along the sandy beaches.
Day 12
Today leave Swakopmund and drive 4-hours to Sossusvlei through the starkly beautiful Gaub and Kuiseb Canyons of the Namib Desert.
  
Visit Moon Valley, an unusual landscape formed by the valleys of the Swakop River and view ancient Welwitschia Mirabilis plants found on its vast gravel plains. The terrain becomes more arid as you travel towards Sossusvlei, whose great mountains of sand are a monument to the extreme forces of nature.
  
Check in to your desert lodge near Sossusvlei in the great Namib Desert and enjoy the vast landscapes and dramatically beautiful desert scenery.
Day 13
Today we recommend an optional tour to Sossusvlei. An early start is imperative as this is the coolest part of the day and the best for photography, as you travel by 4x4 vehicle into this famous clay pan surrounded by some of the highest sand dunes in the world – an endless sea of reddish sand stretching all the way to the distant horizon.
 
Its monumental star shaped sand dunes, some up to 1,000 ft (325m) when measured from the base, were formed by strong multi-directional winds. The warm tints of sand ranging from apricot to orange, red and maroon, contrast vividly with the stark white surface of the clay pans at their base.  This provides photographers with a spectacular display of images to capture.  
  
Climbing one of these dunes affords the energetic traveller an unforgettable experience of endless vistas across a sea of dunes. Time will also be taken to explore the impressive conglomerate gorges of the Sesriem Canyon, with its rock pools fed by the Tsauchab River. The erosion of many centuries has resulted in a narrow gorge, which in the rainy season sometimes fills the rock pools. The name Sesriem is derived from the six “rieme” (leather thongs) that early pioneers used to draw water from these pools.
Day 14
Today drive 1-hour from Sossusvlei further into the fascinating landscapes of the spectacular Namib Desert.
 
Check into your desert lodge and marvel at the pristine desert scenery, before dining under the stars.
Day 15
At leisure to relax and enjoy the stark beauty of the Namib Desert.
 
Explore one of the many walking trails or enjoy the optional activities offered by your lodge, such as horse riding or a 4x4 drive through the sand dunes. Alternatively simply relax and enjoy the spectacular desert landscape, with amazing star gazing in the evening.
Day 16
Drive 5-hours to Windhoek Airport for your flight home.
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