Highlights
- Enjoy a unique, memorable excursion to Swakopmund with the Desert Express train
- Visit Twyfelfontein – the only World Heritage site in Namibia, regarded as one of the richest collections of rock art in Africa
- Have a rare opportunity to enjoy a full-day Cultural Experience at Ju/’hoansi Village
- The tour is not complete without a visit to Etosha National Park, a home to the largest African elephants and herds of antelopes
Day-by-Day Programme
Places to visit: Windhoek, Swakopmund, Damaraland, Etosha and Tsumeb. The Grand Namibian is a luxury tour that takes you through the hotshots of Namibia’s wild and bewildering countryside in style.
Namibia is a vast desert country beamed with bleak, uneven and feral magnificence. Its most stunning imagery is that of haunting technicolor landscapes of swirling orange dunes, shimmering mirages and treacherous dust devils. Every stop and overnight stay is exceptionally remarkable! Encounter nature and culture up-close; experience the city, desert dunes, historic sites and rock paintings, the Bushmen and the tribespeople of Himba, and see the amazing hordes of wildlife.
Day 1: Windhoek
Arrive at Windhoek International Airport. You’ll be met by your guide/ driver.
Depending on your time of arrival, a short city tour of Windhoek as you head out of the city for an overnight.
Dinner and overnight at Villa Verdi Boutique Hotel.
Day 2: Windhoek – Keetmanshoop
Pick up from your hotel midmorning to be dropped at Windhoek station for Desert Express experience.
The train will depart in the afternoon, a brief stop at Orapoka Lodge for a game drive, and back to the train to enjoy sundowners and dinner.
Overnight at a quiet secure siding.
Day 3: Keetmanshoop
Morning breakfast on the train, followed by a dune excursion. Arrive Swakopmund station where your own personal driver/guide will be waiting for you. Drive to Walvis Bay – home to thousands of water birds as well as some of the highest sand dunes in the world as we proceed to the salt factory. Here, look out for mountains of salt. Later, proceed to Swakopmun,d which is a holiday mecca of Namibia.
Overnight at the Zanzibar Lodge.
Day 4: Swakopmund – Twyfelfontein
Today you travel along the coastal road to the Cape Cross Seal Reserve to see the biggest seal colony in the world. Also, visit the place where Diaz erected his cross. The tour turns back to Henties Bay and travels inland past the Brandberg Mountains into the timeless.Damaraland on our way to Twyfelfontein. Here, you get to visit the rock formations called the Organ Pipes and the Burned Mountain. At Twyfelfontein, we take a guided tour to see more than 2,400 historic rock engravings and paintings. This massive open-air art gallery is of great interest to rock art connoisseurs the world over and is a world heritage site.
Overnight at Twyfelfontein Lodge on a dinner, bed, and breakfast basis
Day 5: Twyfelfontein – Etosha National Park
Depart Damaraland enruote to Khorixas, a brief stop at the Petrified Forest for a guided tour of an event millions of years ago that deposited giant tree trunks which subsequently turned to stone. Proceed to the magnificent Vingerklip or Finger or Stone, one of the most dramatic rock formations in Namibia.
Dinner and overnight at Taleni Etosha Village near the Etosha National Park.
Day 6: Etosha National Park
Full day game drive in the Okaukuejo region. Visit the rare Phantom Trees in that region.
Dinner and overnight at the Taleni Village.
Day 7: Etosha – Namutoni
Depart for Namutoni on the western side of the Park. Full day game drive and stay at Fort Namutoni, with a floodlit waterhole where wildlife can be viewed throughout the day and night.
Overnight at Namutoni on Bed and breakfast.
Day 8: Namutoni – Tsumke Country Lodge
Depart Etosha for Tsumeb making a stop at Otjikoto Lake ’Namibia’s largest permanent lake believed to be bottomless, stop at Otjikoto Lake. German troops dumped their wagons with cannons and ammunition into the lake during the 1914 war and some were recovered. Your next stop is the Hoba meteorite near Grootfontein. Part of this meteorite of more than 60 tons, is still covered by soil.
Dinner and overnight at Tsumke Country Lodge.
Day 9: Tsumke
Opportunity to enjoy a full day Cultural Experience at Ju/’hoansi Village
After breakfast, depart from Tsumkwe Country Lodge in an open 4×4 vehicle accompanied by our experienced guide to a nearby Ju/’hoansi village. You will do hiking on foot while gathering “veld food” with the Ju/’hoansi Bushmen. Search for “water root” (Raphionacme velutina), one of the Bushmen`s main sources of moisture and nutrition, while water is not readably available. Observe the Bushmen’s way of life: the men make grass traps to catch ground foraging birds such as Guineafowl and Korhaan, how the men construct a bush fire by only using baobab sticks called “fire-sticks” and the fast rubbing of hands. You can even try it yourself to see if you can create a glowing amber to start a proper fire. When in season, the Bushmen will dig for the poison grub (Diamphidia locusta) used for making poison arrows to hunt bigger game such as Oryx and even larger animals such as Giraffe.
After enjoying socializing with the Bushmen, you shall leave to explore the Nyae Nyae pans and vicinity with the possibility of spotting Wattle Crane, Flamingo, Pelican, Ostrich, and many other bird species. The plains also offer game sightings such as Blue Wildebeest, Springbok, and Oryx. Lunch will be a picnic under a big shady acacia tree before driving back to the village for the last part of the activity – Traditional healing dance and a display of various other dances and games performed by the women and children of the village.
Dinner and overnight at Tsumke Country Lodge.
Day 10: Tsumke – Windhoek
Breakfast at your lodge and drive back to Windhoek.
Dinner and overnight at Villa Verdi Boutique Hotel.
Day 11: Windhoek – Home
Transfer to the Windhoek International Airport for your flight home.
~ End of Tour ~
Request Price
Includes
- Accommodation in excellent hotels and lodges
- Meals and excursions as stated in the itinerary
- Well-maintained safari vehicle and fuel
- Transfers, Meet & greet at the airport
- Park entrance fees
- Services of an experienced driver guide and his accommodation
Excludes
- All expenditures of a personal nature
- All drinks: alcoholic, bottled water, and other beverages
- Porters
- Gratuities
- Visas
- Airline tickets
- Travel insurance cover/medical cover