NPD5W: Etosha + Twyfelfontein + Erongo

Day 1

You will be met at Windhoek Airport by your Namibia safari host, who will introduce you to 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 before enjoying observing the work of this wonderful wildlife rehabilitation centre.

Day 2

After an early morning game drive in the Africat wilderness reserve, today we continue northwards for 3-hours to one of Africa’s largest and greatest game parks - the Etosha National Park.

Etosha owes its unique landscape to a vast shallow depression – 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 a hundred different species of mammals, including cheetah, leopard, lion, elephant, rhino, giraffe, zebra and wildebeest.

Check into your game lodge near the entrance to the park and enjoy a late afternoon open-top game drive into Etosha National Park.

Day 3

Today is devoted to game viewing in Etosha National Park with your guide in his vehicle. As you will have the services of your private driver/guide throughout your safari, you will have the flexibility of discussing preferred routings and travelling times with him each day. However we recommend setting off early each morning as the camp gates open (05h30 to 06h00 depending on the season), to take advantage of the best game viewing conditions of the day.

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.

Etosha is also a bird watchers paradise, with hundreds of recorded bird species and many migrants during the summer months. In the evening, enjoy the balmy weather and pristine stars of the Southern Sky and Milky Way, as you have never seen them before – including the spectacular Southern Cross.

Note: Children <6 are not allowed on open top game drives. However they may enjoy unlimited game drives in your host’s vehicle

Day 4

After a final game drive in Etosha Game Reserve, today we journey southwest for 5-hours into timeless Damaraland - home of the Brandberg Mountains, the highest in Namibia and the Spitzkoppe.

We take time to stop and explore the semi-desert flora and fauna of this fascinating region. We also view some fascinating rock formations, as we travel through the vast uninhabited open spaces of Damaraland.

Twyfelfontein, meaning ‘doubtful spring’, has been declared a World Heritage site to preserve the 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!

We also visit other 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 5

Today we travel 3-hours to your lodge in the foothills of the Erongo Mountains.

Check in, settle in and enjoy the breathtaking views in a dramatic setting of granite boulders. Relax and unwind by the swimming pool or on the sundowner deck or enjoy walking to one of the Bushmen rock art sites or in the mountains.

Day 6

Return transfer 3-hours to Windhoek Airport for your flight home..