Upon landing at Windhoek’s International Hosea Kutako Airport, you will be welcomed by your private driver/guide who will transfer you to the OMAANDA Lodge for your first night in Namibia.
This afternoon, time permitting you will be treated to a private sundowner excursion.
After an early breakfast you will be treated to a private guided excursion behind the scenes of a wildlife sanctuary, and share the passion of rescuers.
Lead by Marlice van Vuuren, this 5-hour excursion aims to show you the backstage of the Zannier Reserve by N/a’an ku sê. This Behind The Scenes excursion includes a tour of the Shiloh Wildlife Sanctuary, where you will discover the incredible work of passionate vets who are rescuing and taking care of endangered animals. A visit of the Research Center will get you the privilege of walking with cheetahs and with baboons. Your discovery of the actions undertaken by N/a’an ku sê will continue with the visit of the Clever Cubs School. The tour also features a visit to the anti-poaching unit, where you will get to meet special forces trained to protect the reserve and its natural resources.
Return to OMAANDA in time for lunch before being transferred back to Hosea Kutako International Airport to arrive time for ongoing private charter flight to Kwessi Dunes.
The flight will take you over the central highlands of Namibia before descending the great escarpment into the Namib Desert to land at the Kwessi Dunes local airstrip.
Upon arrival you will be met by your guide who will transfer you to Kwessi Dunes lodge where, time permitting the afternoon can be spent enjoying a scenic drive in the striking NamibRand Nature Reserve in your own private vehicle.
Why You’ll Love Kwessi Dunes:
- The diverse landscape of rich, red dunes, elusive fairy circles, unravelling plains and craggy mountains has to be seen to be believed.
- Kwessi Dunes is a brand-new camp and our first in the area; it’s is as special to us as it is to you and the rooms are cool and quirky (and air conditioned!).
- This private experience on a private reserve and the small number of lodges in the area co-ordinate with each other to ensure you won’t bump into another soul.
- Kwessi itself is located in 15,000 hectares of exclusive desert terrain, but you’ll have access to all 200,000 hectares of the NamibRand Reserve.
- Break away from traditional game drives and try horse riding, star gazing, quad biking, a nature walk or a hot air balloon flight.
- The star gazing opportunities are out of this world. The NamibRand is Africa’s first designated International Dark Sky Reserve meaning it’s one of the least light-polluted areas in the world – and it shows.
Today you have the use of a private vehicle and guide at your disposal:
- Morning and afternoon scenic drives in the striking NamibRand Nature Reserve
- Nature walks
- Skybeds experience and star gazing
- Quad biking
- Day trip to the dunes of Sossusvlei (at an extra cost)
- Hot air ballooning (at an extra cost)
- Horse riding (at an extra cost)
- Scenic helicopter flights (at an extra cost)
- Spa treatments (at an extra cost)
Today you will be transferred back to the airstrip for your private charter flight to Shipwreck Lodge for a two night stay.
This flight includes flying over the Namib Sea Sand, two shipwrecks, seal colonies along the Atlantic Ocean, abandoned diamond camps and Walvis Bay lagoon and salt works.
Low level flying and visibility of attractions will be weather permitting, and subject to protected land rules such as the bird sanctuary at Sandwich Harbour.
A highlight is the flight over the Eduard Bohlen, a German cargo ship that ran aground in 1909 while it was on its way to Table Bay from Swakopmund. Years after the ship ran aground the desert began to encroach on the ocean and the ship that was once stranded in the ocean slowly became stranded in the desert. The wreck currently sits about 500 metres from the ocean, ensuring that it’s the best preserved shipwreck along Namibia’s Skeleton Coast.
You refuel in Swakopmund and afterwards, you continue north along the coastline ever deeper into the remoteness of the Skeleton Coast to land at Möwe Bay airstrip, the park’s administrative headquarters. Once at Möwe Bay you will be met by your guide who will transfer you to the lodge, a 2 hour scenic drive.
On arrival at Shipwreck Lodge you will have time to settle in and freshen up. This afternoon you will be treated to a private afternoon activity into the local area.
Why You’ll Love Shipwreck Lodge:
- This is a chance to explore a raw, rugged and impossibly remote slice of African wilderness.
- Stay in some of the most unique and dramatic accommodation on the continent- not many can say they’ve slept in a shipwreck after all!
- Spend a day exploring the dry riverbeds, starting with a sunrise breakfast overlooking the incredible landscape and ending with a climb to the top of the great roaring dunes.
- Learn about the history behind the dramatic shipwrecks that line the mist-enshrouded coastline.
- Look for tok-tokkie beetles and the unusual plants and lichens that survive in the cold fog that rolls off the ocean.
Today you have the use of a private vehicle and guide at your disposal:
- Day excursions to the Mowe Bay seal colony, with stops at the Suiderkus and Karimona shipwrecks, Westies Diamond Mine and the remains of the Ventura Bomber.
- Sundowner drives to the roaring dunes.
- Quad biking (mornings only; aged 16 and over) and sand boarding across the dunes. We recommend pre-booking the quad biking activity in advance.
- 4×4 drives along the Hoarusib River, including the Clay Castles and the chance to spot some of the unique, desert-adapted wildlife.
- Beach lunch (weather permitting).
After breakfast you will be transferred to the local airstrip where you meet your pilot and board your private charter flight up to Serra Cafema situated on the banks of the Kunene River, Namibia’s northern most borders.
On arrival at the airstrip you will be met by your guide and transferred through stunning scenery to the Serra Cafema Camp where you spend the next two nights.
The airstrip is about a 2 hour drive to camp, but you travel through picturesque desert scenery, and arrive at the oasis on the Kunene River in the late afternoon.
The following days can be spent on activities of your choice exploring this very special area (quad biking, river cruises, nature drives and visits to the local Himba community).
Today you have the use of a private vehicle and guide at your disposal:
Activities at Serra Cafema are varied and revolve around the exploration of the surrounding Namib Desert sands and the lush oasis along the river. Enlightening nature drives and carefully guided quad bike excursions through the fragile dunes allow guests to experience the true Namib in its unbridled glory. The utmost care is taken to tread lightly on the dunes and preserve the unique and delicate habitats of this fascinating landscape. Boating (seasonal) on the Kunene River provides guests with the opportunity to venture through the lush riverside oasis. Crocodiles and water birds seem out of place in this surreal, lunar-like landscape.
The Himba: The Himba, Tjimba and other Herero people who inhabit Namibia’s remote north-western Kunene Region are loosely referred to as the Kaokovelders. Basically Herero in terms of origin, language and culture, they are semi-nomadic pastoralists who tend to tend from one watering place to another. They seldom leave their home areas and maintain, even in their own, on which other cultures have made little impression. For many centuries they have lived a relatively isolated existence and were not involved to any noteworthy extent in the long struggle for pasturelands between the Nama and the Herero.
The largest group of Kaokovelders is the Himba, semi-nomads who live in scattered settlements throughout the Kunene Region. They are a tall, slender and statuesque people, characterized especially by their proud yet friendly bearing. The women especially are noted for their unusual sculptural beauty, enhanced by intricate hairstyles and traditional adornments. They rub their bodies with red ochre and fat, a treatment that protects their skins against the harsh desert climate. The homes of the Himba of Kaokoland are simple, cone-shaped structures of saplings, bound together with palm leaves and plastered with mud and dung. The men build the structures, while the women mix the clay and do the plastering. A fire burns in the headman’s hut day and night, to keep away insects and provide light and heating. A family may move from one home to another several times a year to seek grazing for their goats and cattle. Men, women and children wear body adornments made from iron and shell beads.
A Himba woman spends as much as three hours a day on her appearance. First she bathes, then she anoints herself with her own individually prepared mixture which not only protects her skin from the harsh desert sun, but also keeps insects away and prevents her hair from falling out. She uses another mixture of butter fat, fresh herbs and black coals to rub on her hair, and ‘steams’ her clothes regularly over the permanent fire. Men, women and children adorn themselves with necklaces, bracelets, anklets and belts made from iron and shell beads. With their unusual and striking designs, these items have gained a commercial value and are being produced on a small scale for the urban market. Sculptural headrests in particular are sought-after items.
After a leisurely breakfast your guide will transfer you back to the airstrip in time for your private charter flight to Anderssons at Ongava located in Etosha South.
On arrival at Ongava airstrip you will be met by a lodge representative who will transfer you to Anderssons at Ongava in time to freshen up and settle in before lunch.
This afternoon you will be treated to an exciting nature drive and sundowner on the Ongava Reserve with your private vehicle and guide. You return to camp after sunset for dinner.
Ongava Game Reserve: The Ongava Game Reserve is effectively a private game reserve, spanning 30,000 hectares along the south-west border of Etosha National Park. The reserve is home to a wide variety of game including lion, leopard, giraffe, rhino, Hartmann’s mountain zebra, gemsbok (oryx), kudu, steenbok and much more. The scenery is attractive with large open plains blending into Mopane tree woodlands and granite outcrops.
For these two days, you have the use of a private vehicle and guide at your disposal:
Activities on offer include night game drives on the Ongava Reserve, half and full day excursions into Etosha National Park, Guided walks (white rhino can be tracked on foot – minimum age 16 years), visit the viewing hide for photography and Night sky talks (stargazing).
Full day excursion into Etosha includes lunch inside the park, heading east to spend more time in the area around Halali and returning to Camp before sunset; or alternatively you can head into the park in the morning and return to Camp for lunch and an early afternoon rest, and the enjoy another fascinating game drive within the private Ongava Reserve later in the afternoon.
Etosha National Park: Large enough to be classified as a saline desert in its own right, the Etosha Pan lies in the Owambo Basin, on the north-western edge of the Namibian Kalahari. Until three million years ago it formed part of huge, shallow lake that was reduces to a complex of salt pans when the major river that fed it, the Kunene, changed course and began to flow to the Atlantic instead. If the lake existed today, it would be the third largest in the world. Etosha is the largest of the pans, 4 760 km in extent, or about half the size of Lebanon. It is nowadays filled with water only when sufficient rain falls to the north in Angola to induce floods to flow southward along the Cuvelai drainage system. Etosha is open throughout the year and is accessible with the tarred roads via the Anderson Gate in the central southern section and the Von Lindequist Gate in the east. Each of Etosha’s three resorts, Okaukuejo in the centre of the park, Namutoni in the east and Halali halfway between the two, has its own distinctive character and atmosphere
This morning after breakfast you will be transferred to the local airstrip by a representative from the lodge and there you will board another private charter aircraft flight direct back to Hosea Kutako International Airport, in time to connect with your international flight home.
Upon your arrival at the airport you will be met by a representative who will assist you with your on-going flight check-in.
