Day 1 JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
You are welcomed on arrival in Johannesburg, a boom town built on the gold mined from beneath its streets. Transfer to your elegant hotel amid the boutiques and cafes of suburban Rosebank.
Day 2 WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA
Depart by air to Windhoek, Namibia, nestled amid three mountain ranges at 5400 feet. Transfer to your atmospheric hotel within a converted hilltop castle, and enjoy a welcome dinner tonight with sweeping views of the city.
Day 3 SOSSUSVLEI DUNES
A classic image of Namibia awaits you today: the towering, orange-red dunes of Sossusvlei. Soaring to 1000 feet, the spectacular ridges dwarf the visitor and provide a challenging habitat for clattering tok-tokkie beetles, translucent geckos, sidewinders and other subtle, specialized wildlife. Depart early to savor the rich, changing hues and shadows of the crests bathed by morning light. Enjoy a picnic lunch in this phenomenal setting. Then continue to your lodge, an ideal base for exploring the dunes and joining such optional activities as hot-air ballooning or game-viewing drives in search of mountain zebra, klipspringer, hyrax, springbok and black eagles.
Day 5 SWAKOPMUND
Depart with a picnic lunch to the resort of Swakopmund and your landmark hotel. Thursday tour the Bay, with its squawking flocks of flamingos and seabirds, and travel inland to the desert to see dune fields and 1000-year-old welwitschia plants. Between outings, explore Swakopmund’s German landmarks, craft shops and cafes.
Day 7 DAMARALAND
Set out through the infamous Skeleton Coast to the otherworldly terrain of Damaraland, home of rare desert rhinos and elephants and the Himba culture who maintain their nomadic lifestyle untouched by modern times. For two nights, you will be among the very few to explore this area’s rugged scenery, wildlife, and great concentrations of ancient rock engravings, the Twyfelfontein. Your lodge is spectacularly set on the banks of the normally dry Huab River, and offers nature walks, game-drives, swimming in a spring-fed pool, and evening campfires. Though large game sightings are sporadic, your guides bring the desert to life by explaining the lives of ancient plants and insects found nowhere else in the world, and taking you to unusual finds amid what appears to be total desolation.
Day 9 ETOSHA NATIONAL PARK/ ONGAVA PRIVATE RESERVE
Depart to Namibia’s quintessential safari park, Etosha, one of Africa’s most abundant and varied wildlife habitats. Your first experience of Etosha’s splendor is from Ongava Reserve on the park’s southern edge. Your stay here features safaris into Etosha, plus activities not permitted within the park such as bush walks and night drives. Accommodations are in charming chalets built around an African boma, located amid rich concentrations of waterholes and vegetation, with an ongoing procession of elephants, black rhinos, antelopes and birds.
Day 11 ETOSHA NATIONAL PARK
Travel across the heartlands and hinterlands of Etosha on a remarkable drive to your lodge just outside the park’s eastern gate. The tenacity of life is rarely so well illustrated as it is around Etosha’s desolate salt pan and surrounding waterholes, where animals vie for grasses and gather in huge numbers around life-giving waters. Game-view all the way to your atmospheric lodge amid a scenic stand of acacia, mopane, and mushara trees.
Day 12 OKONJIMA PRIVATE RESERVE
Depart southward to one of Africa’s most innovative private nature reserves, Okonjima, dedicated to the conservation of cheetah. Here nature’s swiftest species can be viewed up close and in good numbers, in addition to leopard, baboons, and other species drawn to a small waterhole on site. Accommodations are in a farmhouse amid rolling hills and a unique Bushman trail which your hosts, the Hanssens, happily share with guests. This afternoon enjoy a game-drive and cheetah visit.
Day 14 WINDHOEK
Depart the desert and return to Windhoek, arriving in time for your afternoon flight to Johannesburg. Here your journey draws to a close as you connect with your return flight to the U.S.A. or Canada.
Special children and group rates available.
Tour Price Includes:
Deluxe hotels, lodges & tented camps with private facilities, Arrival & departure transfers, Game viewing via specially outfitted safari vehicles • Mineral water in safari vehicles, Park entrance fees, Local English speaking guides, Baggage Handling, Meals indicated by B, L, D
Tour Price Does Not Include:
International flight to Africa, travel insurance, visa fees, gratuities