3 Week Namibia Self-drive

Arrive into Windhoek Hosea Kutako airport where you transfer to spend the first night at River Crossing Lodge on the outskirts of Windhoek.

Pick up your vehicle and equipment in Windhoek and head north to spend the first night at Okonjima – home of the AfriCat Foundation. Staying here enables you to see something fist hand of predator conservation. The AfriCat Foundation rehabilitates cheetahs, wild dogs, hyaenas and leopards giving opportunities to see these beautiful cats in their natural environment. Accommodation is in the Okonjima Plains Camp in a classic room and activities can be booked on arrival.

Your next night is at Tamboti campsite in Onguma Game Reserve on the eastern border of Etosha. In the local Herero language, Onguma means, “the place you don’t want to leave.” The campsites all have private ablution facilities and there is a central area overlooking a waterhole with a restaurant, pool and small store. From Onguma you can also self-drive around the Namutoni and Fisher’s Pan areas of Etosha National Park, with the eastern entrance gate into Etosha only 8km away.

Spend three days exploring Etosha, making your way from east to west. The first night is spent at Halali in the centre of the park. Etosha boasts good numbers wildlife – springbok are especially numerous.

The next night is spent at Okaukuejo in the south of the park. A visit to the Etosha National Park is one of the highlights of travelling Namibia.  Etosha covers an area of more than 22 000 sq kms – its centre being a vast saltpan surrounded by grass and thorn savannah, Mopane bushveld in the west and dry forest in the north-east. The pan is just about always dry. However, in the southern parts there are have water-holes scattered throughout this area and form the basis of life for countless game.

The final night is spent in the extreme west of the park at Dolomite Camp. Here you will find a high diversity of plant and animal species – including the Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra which does not occur in the eastern side of the park. Each unit at Dolomite Camp has landscape views from an elevated position on a Dolomite outcrop.

Continue your journey to the Damaraland region, spending the night at Grootberg Lodge. Damaraland is an unspoiled, rocky area and one of the areas in Namibia where you can find the desert adapted elephants. They wander from waterhole to waterhole and can walk huge distances every day in their search of water.

The next two nights are at Mowani Campsite. Attractions in the area include the Twyfelfontein rock paintings, the Petrified Forest, and the Organ Pipes.

Continue your journey to Swakopmund, Namibia’s famous coastal town. Accommodation here is at Desert Breeze Lodge on the edge of Swakopmund. Swakopmund is a very interesting town, with old German architecture and a distinct character. In the morning you will do a “Living Desert Tour” – a unique guided tour which brings the desert to life.

Travel south to the edge of the Naukluft Mountains. Your next night is spent at Namibs Valley Lodge offering stunning views of the Namib Naukluft scenery. Accommodation is in a luxury bungalow.

Continue south to the Sossusvlei area of the Namib Naukluft Park. Spend one night camping at Sesriem just inside the protected area. Staying close to Sesriem means you will be able to get to the Sossusvlei dunes early when photography is at its best at the famous Deadvlei Pan, Sossusvlei, and Dune 45.

Drive through spectacular scenery to the NamibRand Nature reserve where you spend the next two nights at Namibrand Hideout campsite – one of the most spectacular locations in all of Namibia. Founded to conserve the unique environment and wildlife species of the south-western Namib Desert, the park’s mix of dunes, mountains and rocky outcrops, sandy flats and gravel plains provides habitats for a diversity of mammals and truly spectacular scenery.

Continue your journey south, spending the next night camping at Klein Aus Vista.  Just east of Aus, Klein Aus Vista is nestled in the granite-gneiss hills with magnificent views of the landscape. This is the area where the Namib Desert begins to merge with golden grasses, where wild horses roam.

Continue south to the Fish River Canyon – the second largest canyon in the world. Accommodation is at the exciting Cañon Lodge, built from natural materials, including local rock and thatch roofs.

Leave Namibia and drive south as far as Springbok along the N7 highway, where you spend the night at Naries Manor House on the edge of the Spektakelberg.

Continue your journey south. The journey to Clanwilliam takes you through spectacular scenery – and is aptly called the ‘flower route’. You will spend the night at Yellow Aloe Guesthouse in the town.

Continue south along the N7 highway to Cape Town where you return the vehicle. Your final night is spent at Ocean View House in Camps Bay.