You arrive at Windhoek's Hosea Kutako Airport where you will be met by Paul and your guide who will drive you the short distance to Hotel Thule which sits high on a hill overlooking the city. The hotel has a very good restaurant and meals can be taken al fresco on the terrace with the lights of the city twinkling below you
You leave Windhoek after breakfast for the long drive north on the main tar road all the way to Etosha National Park. Your destination is Okaukuejo Camp which is in the southern central area of the park.
The Okaukuejo area is known for its open plains and wide vistas where vast herds of herbivores trek endlessly to the camp’s floodlit waterhole followed by the ever present carnivores looking for their next meal.
At dusk elephants come to drink and dustbathe and throughout the night the pool is visited by black rhino.
The waterhole is world famous and your accommodation is a bungalow overlooking the pool where animals come and go all day and throughout the night.
We have a whole day today to explore the open plains that surround Okaukuejo Camp and the Mopane woodlands east of the camp around Olifantsbad waterhole. There are several key waterholes in the Okaukuejo area and lions are seen regularly on this side of the park.
This morning we travel into the wooded area surrounding Halali Camp checking out the waterholes all along the way.
Not far from camp are three key waterholes; Salvadora, Charitsaub and Sueda all within 3km of each other.
They are well known for huge herds of herbivores that come to drink daily and a well established lion pride that has learned to sit in ambush amongst the reeds and tall grasses .
The floodlit waterhole is a real highlight of this camp with black rhino and huge herds of elephants often seen along with porcupines, honey badgers and even the ever elusive leopard.
We continue our journey today to the eastern side of the park
Our next camp is Namutoni which is situated in the wildlife rich acacia woodland around Fischer’s Pan. Not only is this area home to some of Etosha’s largest lion prides, cheetah sightings here are frequent. This area is also home to the majority of the park’s giraffe and it is one of the best places in Africa to see the world’s smallest antelope, the diminutive Damara Dik-Dik.
There are many key waterholes within a few kilometres of Namutoni Camp so we can spend our game drives looping back to camp for quick comfort breaks before we head off again to other areas.
A slow morning drive to Twee Palms waterhole to the east of camp often rewards with good cheetah sightings as they hunt along the edges of Fischer's Pan.
For our sundowner drives we concentrate on Chudop and Klein Namutoni waterholes just a few kilometres from camp which optimises our time out in the park.
At this time of day both are blessed with exceptional light and Klein Namutoni has a diverse range of species which come to drink including eland which are rarely seen elsewhere in the park.
After a final game drive we leave the peace and quiet of Etosha and head south on the tar road until we reach the gates to Okonjima. The lodge lies a further 24km into the middle of the mountains and it is here we will spend our last 2 nights searching for some of the Africa’s biggest carnivores. On our game drives out in the 54,000 reserve we will have the opportunity to track leopard and brown hyena with the aid of a telemetry and visit the Africat Foundation. With its magnificent rooms, excellent cuisine and genuine conservation story, Okonjima is always a highlight of any trip to Namibia
3 leopard tracking activities per person
Today we can enjoy both an early morning trail in search of the resident leopards and also a sundowner evening trail where we may be luck to see some of the nocturnal creatures that call Okonjima home such as leopard, brown hyena, porcupine, aardvark, aardwolf and pangolin
Today you can either enjoy an optional morning trail or a well-deserved lie in before we leave after breakfast for the 3 hour drive back to Windhoek.
Our lodge for the night is River Crossing which is outside of the city nestled in its own private reserve. Here you can relax over dinner and recall the highlights of your time in Namibia.
Today your guide will return you to the airport in good time for your onward flight home or drive you to Bagatelle Kalahari Game Ranch to continue your Namibian adventure on a our optional extension into the Kalahari Desert.
Here we will go in search of some of Namibia's desert dwellers such as honey badgers, bat-eared foxes, serval, caracal and aardvark along with many of the more usual antelope species in a spectacular setting.
