Encounter Namibia’s beauty on your own – 14 days Gondwana Highlight Tour

Arrival in Namibia, Africa. An African Elegance representative will meet you at Windhoek International Airport and transfer you to Windhoek. You can change money and buy a phone card directly at the airport.

Once you have picked up your rental vehicle, you will have receive detailed information about your trip and, of course, the 24/7 emergency number, where we will always be available for you during your journey. After a brief stop at the supermarket, you’ll head south into the Kalahari Desert.

The red dunes of the Kalahari will become more and more numerous as your drive further south. After a journey of around 3 to 4 hours, you arrive at your first accommodation in Namibia. The lodge is beautifully situated between the red dunes of the Kalahari.

The brilliant blue sky provides a magnificent contrast to the red dunes. Enjoy a fascinating sunset tour on the lodge property and perhaps catch your first glimpse of springbok or oryx antelope.

Day 2

Another day in the Kalahari, the ideal opportunity to continue discovering this unique environment.

Many interesting activities can be booked, including an electric bike tour, a nature outing or a self-guided hike. With professional guides on hand, you’ll already be able to spot the first wild animals.

Morning drives end with a hot coffee in the dunes in the fresh morning air.

Enjoy your stay in the Kalahari.

Today we enter the heart of the oldest desert in the world, the famous Namib. Discover the steep passes that lead from the Namibian highlands to the low plains of the Namib Desert.

You travel to the Sesriem/Sossusvlei region via the spectacular Tsarisberg Pass. On the way, some dreamy landscapes on the edge of the Namib give you an idea of what’s in store over the next few days.

Your accommodation for the next two nights is near Sesriem. Enjoy the picturesque desert landscape. As an option, you can take part in a nature tour to admire this unique environment in the play of light and shade at sunset. End the evening in style with a delicious meal.

Day 2

The National Park gates open at sunrise. Drive early to the park entrance and visit the fascinating dune landscape of Namib Naukluft Park. Inside the park, you can park your vehicle and walk to the immense shifting dunes of Sossusvlei. You can also take advantage of a 4×4 transfer.

Climb one of the dunes, which can be up to 300 metres high, as the sweaty climb is rewarded with a breath taking view of the sea of dunes. Next, we head into the Sesriem Canyon, which sometimes receives water from the Tsauchab River and can be hiked in dry periods. After a varied exploration, you leave the park in the afternoon to return to your accommodation.

You can undertake this day trip into the desert on your own and even get a little deeper into the sand with the 4×4. Alternatively, you can book this excursion with a professional guide to discover the little secrets of the Sossusvlei. We’re happy to book a guided tour as an option for you.

After an early breakfast, we set off northwards. En route, a coffee stop at the Solitaire bakery is a must. Later, you will reach the small town of Swakopmund at the coast.

The town is still inhabited by descendants of former colonists and state officials from the German colonial era. German pastries, German architecture and the German language, which is still often spoken, are all relics of the past. Swakopmund is also the starting point for many adventure activities. We recommend a boat trip near Walvis Bay or a desert safari, during which you can meet the small creatures of the desert.

The area around Swakopmund (and the town of Walvis Bay, 30km to the south) offers a wide range of activities, including boat tours, exciting desert excursions (the desert is alive!), quad bike safaris, kayak tours and much more.

Swakopmund restaurant recommendations

• Ocean Cellar @ Strand Hotel
• The TUG
• Old Steamers at Alte Brücke Resort
• Brauhaus
• Altstadt Restaurant

Unlike in the desert, it’ll be a little cooler at your next destination, because in Swakopmund, arguably Namibia’s most German town, you’ll be able to enjoy the fresh sea breeze on the Atlantic coast.

Please always take a jacket for excursions!

Bookable tours:

 Catamaran Charters

Catamaran Charters offers boat trips in the Walvis Bay lagoon aboard four luxury catamarans. In search of the Big 5 of the seas, guests will enjoy an unforgettable experience.

Historian Dune Tour

The Historian Dune Tour by Fanie du Preez, head of Kuiseb Delta Adventures, is a special feature of all the activities on offer in and around Swakopmund and Walvis Bay.

Kajak Tour “Eco Marine”

Eco Marine Tour organises kayak tours in the Walvis Bay lagoon. Nowhere else can you get so close to flamingos and pelicans, fur seals, Heaviside and Benguela dolphins as in your own kayak.

Living Desert Tour

With didactic refinement, charisma and a great deal of humour, the guides explain the flora and fauna of the desert world around Swakopmund. Starting with a short excursion to the mouth of the Swakop River, we follow a trail through the dunes of Dorob National Park, proclaimed in 2010.

Namib Sightseeing Flights

Exclusive and luxurious air safaris are offered to many of the sights along the Namibian coast. Highlights include the Namib Desert and Sossusvlei, Sandwich Harbour, the Skeleton Coast with its many shipwrecks, Kuisebcanyon, Kreuzkap with its huge seal colony and much more.

Sandwich Harbour 4×4

The magnificent dunes of the Namib meet the harshness of the Atlantic Ocean: the “Sandwich Harbour 4 × 4” 4×4 excursion to Sandwich Harbour, south of Walvis Bay, is unique in terms of scenery, exciting and brilliantly organised.

Swakopmund

Swakopmund is the capital of the Erongo region and has a population of around 34,000. Swakopmund offers a wide range of activities.

Today we say goodbye to the sea and continue into the Damaraland!

Damaraland is part of the Kunene region in north-west Namibia, between the Brandberg and the village of Sesfontein. Damaraland is characterised by a rugged, rocky landscape of rugged and enchanting beauty, and is home to a large number of people from the Damara language group, hence the former name “Damaraland”, which is now only used in tourism as a geographical delimitation and is therefore also used on this website.

Places of interest in Damaraland

• Brandberg
• Damara Living Museum
• Khorixas
• Twyfelfontein
• Petrified Forest
• Vingerklip

Today you head to the wildlife kingdom of Etosha National Park, another highlight of your trip to Namibia. You will be staying outside the national park.

En route, you can do your shopping in the small village of Outjo, at the Spar supermarket. Outjo has a good bakery as well as enough petrol stations. We recommend using the new petrol station at the southern entrance to the park. Etosha trading post.

Petrol and diesel are often in short supply in the national park. This is a good place to fill up, especially for vehicles without dual tanks. The park is one of the world’s great game reserves and is regarded as one of Africa’s most remarkable wildlife parks.

Etosha National Park was founded in 1907 and is one of the most attractive national parks in southern Africa. In the afternoon, you explore the park and, with a bit of luck, regularly come across big game. Along the way, you will stop at the indicated waterholes.

Indication if you wish to stay in the park

The camps in Etosha National Park are owned by the government. Although the accommodation has been renovated for the centenary of Etosha National Park, it is maintained by more or less motivated government employees. Most are clean, but by no means luxurious. More luxurious accommodation and lodges can be found outside the park. We will be happy to make you an offer for accommodation in the park.

After sunrise and an invigorating breakfast, you’re back on the prowl in your 4×4 vehicle. From your accommodation, you can explore the southern part of the national park. In the evening, you leave the park through Andersson’s gate, hoping for many more safari impressions.

Today you drive through the park and visit all the waterholes on your way to Etosha King Nehale Lodge. You leave the park in the late afternoon through the King Nehale Gate and return to your accommodation.

You leave the wildlife of Etosha Park behind and head for the Waterberg. Before reaching Tsumeb, you can make a short stop at Lake Otjikoto, where the Germans sank their guns in 1915. Most of the guns were later salvaged, however, and are on display in the Tsumeb museum.

Waterberg

• one of the biggest tourist attractions in north-central Namibia
• a tabular mountain 50 km long and 16 km wide
• rises up to 200 m above the plain
• fascinating geological formation
• year-round springs on the south-eastern slopes
• one of the richest areas of flora in southern Africa (500 species)
• declared a national park in 1972
• home to rare wildlife species such as Cuban antelope, buffalo, black rhino and white rhino

Waterberg Wilderness Adventure World (booking required) :

• Plateau walk: tour of Table Mountain (no parking charges)
• “Honeymoon Sundowner: exclusive plateau hike just for you
• Rhino Drive: rhino, giraffe and other wildlife at your fingertips
• Rhino Tracking: track rhinos on foot
• Cultural tour: the daily life of the Herero
• Hiking trails with “botanical garden”.
• History Path to sites of Herero history
• Valley with spring, lush flora and over 200 species of birds

Unfortunately, your dream Safari to Namibia comes to an end today.

If you still have time, you can still explore parts of Windhoek today. Enjoy the last few hours at the Craft Café or stroll along Independence Avenue.

Depending on your return flight, you will return your rental vehicle to Windhoek or at the airport. If you return your rental vehicle in Windhoek City, a transfer will take you to the airport for your journey home.