Our Namibian Adventure

We arrived in Namibia after an overnight 11 hour flight to Johannesburg and then an onward flight to Windhoek. We were met and quickly transferred to our overnight lodge about a 35 minutes drive away. We'd decided to do a self-drive as it is so safe and they drive on the same side as the road as the UK so knew everything would be fine. Our vehicle was delivered to our lodge that night and the hire company went over everything with us. We had 2 spare wheels, a pump and an excellent sat nav. We were excited to set off fairly early the next morning as we knew it was going to be about a 5-6 hour drive. We started on tarmac roads, but it wasn't long before we went onto gravel. We relaxed into the driving swapping the driving between myself and my husband Alan about every hour. The roads changed from gravel to compacted sand and back to gravel, but it was all good fun and actually, quite enjoyable. We arrived at our first 2 night stop Desert Homestead Outpost in Sossusvlei. Our accommodation was in a thatched chalet with a private terrace that overlooked the open landscape. Dinner was served on an outside terrace and it was lovely! Early to bed as next day we were up for the sunrise and our excursion to the Sossusvlei to visit the iconic red sand dunes, one of the most scenic natural wonders of Africa. These have the biggest sand dunes in the world rising to almost 400 metres - 'Big Daddy' - which you can climb to the very top! We had a fabulous morning, first seeing the sunrise and then the climb up the dunes! Afterwards we explored Deadvlei, a white, salt claypan dotted with ancient trees which were hundreds of years old - it was amazing! Our next stop was to the seaside town of Swakopmund another 5-6 hour drive so another early start as it was more of the same road conditions! We found the temperature dropped here and we really needed some warmer clothes but we managed! Swakopmund is a very German town, lots of German named bars and restaurants. We stayed at the Hansa Hotel in the middle of the town where we were very lucky to be upgraded to their suite - it was massive!! Lots of adventure type activities in this town including quad biking, horse riding and fascinating desert tours. Alan did a living desert tour, he was picked up from the hotel and taken in a 4x4 vehicle to the dunes where he had great fun being driven over the dunes. His guide was amazing, he knew exactly where to find the small creatures that live in the sand and Alan had a brilliant time photographing them. Dinner wasn't included here so we went out to a really lovely restaurant on the end of the pier and had the most amazing fish! Next stop was Twyfelfontein for the next 2 nights staying at the Twyfelfontein Country Lodge (again very cold at night and early morning, but the days were wonderfully hot)- the scenery every step of the way changed so much - it could be hilly one minute and then next very very flat and open but so beautiful! Twyfelfontein in the Northwest of Namibia has a lot of important rock art and rock engravings and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This area is also known for the desert-adapted elephant, so in the late afternoon on our 2nd day here we went out on an Ephemeral (Dry) River Drive looking for these wonderful creatures. It was very exciting as this was going to be the first time that we'd be out searching for elephants and finally, sure enough we came across a small herd of about 12 elephants - it was magical and they came very close to our game drive vehicle. We didn't want to leave but it was starting to get dark but had to go as on the way back a stop was planned for the sunset and our sundowner drinks. For our next part of the trip Alan was getting very excited (he loves doing wildlife photography, so the remainder of our trip was all around the wildlife). So driving up to Etosha (another long one) but so worth it - on the way we spotted giraffes fairly near our next lodge which was the Etosha Safari Lodge, individual accommodation was on a hillside with magnificent views. The sunsets were stunning! We had an early morning half day game drive into Etosha where we were in a 9 seater vehicle. The array of different animals was just amazing - an abundance of springbok, giraffe, elephants, zebra....the action around the waterhole was fantastic! Our next 2 nights were still in Etosha but way across to the East, here we drove through the National Park stopping off at the amazing 'Pan' which is a flat calcrete depression covering about 5000 sq kms. I felt we were on a different planet! We saw many animals again during our drive to the next lodge which was the Onguma luxury tented camp! When we arrived the most magical thing was an elephant in the waterhole just playing around and a giraffe slowly meandering down to take a drink, it was mesmerizing! Our 'tent' was amazing, only 7 of them all overlooking the waterhole. They don't take children at this lodge as there are no fences to keep animals out, we had to have a guide to collect us and walk us back to the tent after dark. The food and service here was some of the best we'd had, and what we’d had was already amazing! Alan being into photography; as well as an early morning game drive, we'd booked an afternoon in a hide which was water level so we could get some amazing shots, zebra, wildebeest, warthogs and the giraffes didn't disappoint! Next was just an overnight enroute to Erindi. Just a 1 night stay where we visited Africat a cheetah conservation in Okonjima where we learned about the cheetahs and the work they do there. Well worth a visit. I think we saved the best for last - Erindi Private Game Reserve, staying at Old Traders Lodge. The waterhole here always had something to see, it had hippos and crocodiles and at dinner a family with baby elephants turned up, it was amazing! The game drives were fantastic and we finally saw lions and both the black and the white rhino! Our guide was brilliant! One final night in Windhoek before the journey home, we were so sad to be leaving Namibia. Everything was perfect. The supplier that I used were fantastic, checking in via Whatsapp daily to make sure everything was okay. I will always use them for any Namibian trips for my clients in the future as I can't rate them highly enough! I cannot believe what a fantastic trip this was, so much better than I expected and I'd certainly put it up there with one of the best if not the best holiday we've ever been on!