You arrive in Windhoek today where you will be met by Tom and your guide before being driven into the city to Hotel Thule for your first night in the country.
Hotel Thule sits high on a hill overlooking the city and has a lovely al fresco restaurant where the group can get to know each other over dinner
After an early breakfast we head north on the main tar road until we reach the gates of Okonjima, home of the Africat Foundation.
Here we will have the opportunity to spend time in the 54,000 acre reserve in search of leopards. Okonjima has both collared and uncollared leopards who live wild and free in the park along side numerous prey species.
2 x leopard tracking activities
Following our early morning trail and a hearty breakfast we leave Okonjima and head north on the tar road to eastern Etosha and Namutoni Camp where we will spend the next 3 nights.
The Namutoni side of Etosha is particularly good for all wildlife species but especially for large herds of elephant, big lion prides, giraffe are abundant and it's the best place in the park to see cheetah.
For landscape photography the area surrounding the camp is also very good with close up views of the Etosha pan with its shimmering light and multicoloured bands
A full day safari today when we move across the park to Okaukuejo Camp stopping at key waterholes along the way.
We'll have lunch at Halali Camp which is in a wooded area and nearby we'll have the opportunity to walk out onto the pan itself.
The area around Okaukuejo is mostly open plains with vast herds of herbivores trekking to the camp's own waterhole which is floodlit. We'll be staying in bungalows overlooking the waterhole so an opportunity for us to practice some night time photography as well as wildlife come to drink throughout the night.
We leave Etosha this morning after a final morning drive and head south to the Erongo Mountains.
The area is dominated by huge granite boulders and is pretty remote so the skies should be clear for some astro photography particularly as we will arrive during a new moon phase
We head west today past past Spitzkoppe which is a group of bald granite peaks or inselbergs in the Namib desert of Namibia. The granite is more than 120 million years old and the highest outcrop rises 5,669 ft above sea level. The peaks stand out dramatically from the flat surrounding plains.
Then we continue on to the Skeleton Coast and 2 nights in Swakopmund
There are lots of activities available in Swakopmund but for our group we would recommend a Living Desert tour where the guide drives you out into the dunes in search of the Namib's desert adapted wildlife such as Peringuay's Adder or Sidewinder, Namaqua Chameleon and Palmato Gecko followed by a trip south of nearby Walvis Bay along the beach to Sandwich Harbour. Here the Atlantic crashes straight onto the huge coastal dunes
Today we have a long drive through the Namib Desert passing through 2 canyons and some dramatic scenery before we get to the gates of the park at Sesriem, the gateway to Sossusvlei and Dead Vlei.
We will be staying inside the national park so we will have the opportunity to leave camp before the official park opening hour and drive down to the massive dunes which become increasingly closer to the road and bigger the nearer you get to Sossusvlei
For sunset we'll visit nearby Elim Dune which is a perfect place to watch wildlife trek across the open plains to the safety of the sand dunes. There are mountains in the background which turn red as the sun gets lower and the shadows of the animals get longer nearer sunset.
We leave Sossusvlei behind us today and head over the mountains back towards Windhoek for an overnight stay at Corona Guestfarm on the Gamsberg Pass.
The scenery is changes at every turn all the way up from Sesriem and we'll have another opportunity for some astro photography at Corona as there is very little light pollution at the top of the pass and the Gamsberg mountain ranks among the best locations for astronomers worldwide.
After breakfast we continue our journey on the gravel road back to Windhoek in time to catch the evening flight out of Namibia.
