13-Day Highlights of Namibia Small Group Tour

Arrive at Windhoek International Airport no later than midday, where a driver collects you and transfers you to your guesthouse. After checking in, take some time to freshen up before meeting your guide for a short city tour through Windhoek, taking in sights such as the Christuskirche and the Tintenpalast, the country’s House of Parliament. In the evening, head out for dinner at a popular local restaurant (own expense) before returning to your guesthouse for the night.

Distance: Airport transfer and city tour of Windhoek

Activity: Windhoek city tour

Accommodation: Guesthouse in Windhoek

Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner not included

After a quick safari briefing, and once your luggage is safely stowed, leave Windhoek and travel south via Rehoboth toward Mariental. Today’s destination is a game ranch set among the imposing red sand dunes of the southern Kalahari. Enjoy the peace of the desert, relax, and take in the endless views across the dunes. The following morning, you have the option of a Bushmen walk with the San, the original inhabitants of Namibia, to learn more about the area’s flora, fauna and traditional way of life (optional, not included in the tour price).

Distance: Road transfer from Windhoek to the southern Kalahari

Activity: Travel day, optional Bushmen walk the next morning

Accommodation: Lodge in the southern Kalahari

Meals: Breakfast & dinner, lunch not included

After a leisurely breakfast, head toward Sesriem via Mariental and Maltahohe. Sesriem is the gateway for the shifting sand dunes of the Namib Desert at Sossusvlei. In the afternoon, relax at your lodge or explore the property on foot, with the option of booking a scenic drive. Dinner is a three-course affair.

Distance: Road transfer to Sesriem, gateway to Sossusvlei

Activity: Free afternoon, optional scenic drive

Accommodation: Lodge near Sesriem

Meals: Breakfast & dinner, lunch not included

At sunrise, the gates of Namib-Naukluft National Park open and you make your way into the Sossusvlei area. If you’re an early riser and fit enough, you can climb one of the dunes for an impressive view across the landscape. Drive by 4x4 vehicle to Sossusvlei itself, a dry clay pan that only fills with water in particularly wet years, before continuing to Sesriem Canyon, carved by the Tsauchab River over millions of years. Relax at your lodge in the afternoon, taking in endless views across the Namib Desert, or explore the property’s walking trails (optional).

Distance: Sunrise dune drive, then Sesriem Canyon visit

Activity: Sossusvlei dune exploration and Sesriem Canyon

Accommodation: Desert lodge near Sossusvlei

Meals: Breakfast & dinner, lunch not included

Today’s journey takes you to Swakopmund, still home to many descendants of the colonists and officials of the German colonial era. Beautiful old colonial buildings and cafes serving German hospitality, including the town’s famous cakes, line the centre. In the evening, try one of the many restaurants Swakopmund has to offer (own expense); the seafood is not to be missed. You stay two nights here, just a five-minute walk from the Atlantic Ocean.

Distance: Road transfer to Swakopmund

Activity: Free time to explore the town

Accommodation: Guesthouse in Swakopmund

Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner not included

The morning is free; take a stroll through town, or book a quad bike tour, a catamaran trip, or a desert safari following the footsteps of the "Little Five" (all optional). In the afternoon, meet your guide and drive to the seal colony at Cape Cross. After a visit to the colony, drive back to Swakopmund, where dinner at one of the town’s restaurants is at your own expense.

Distance: Free morning, afternoon excursion to Cape Cross

Activity: Cape Cross seal colony visit

Accommodation: Guesthouse in Swakopmund (second night)

Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner not included

Leave the Atlantic seaboard today and travel inland, visiting the 700-million-year-old Spitzkoppe, whose granite dome-like peaks rise 1,730 metres and are visible from a distance. From here, continue to the Erongo Mountains, where a guided sundowner drive takes in the scenery while your guide shares more about Namibia’s fauna and ecosystems. Enjoy a delicious dinner and spend the night at a guest farm in the mountains.

Distance: Road transfer via Spitzkoppe to the Erongo Mountains

Activity: Spitzkoppe stop, guided sundowner drive

Accommodation: Guest farm in the Erongo Mountains

Meals: Breakfast & dinner, lunch not included

An early start is needed for a long day ahead. Travel past the Brandberg, Namibia’s highest mountain at 2,580 metres, to the Petrified Forest, where you stop to explore 260-million-year-old fossilised tree trunks. Continue to the famous rock engravings and paintings of Twyfelfontein, before reaching a lodge set atop a plateau with spectacular views over the Klip River Valley.

Distance: Road transfer via the Petrified Forest and Twyfelfontein

Activity: Petrified Forest and Twyfelfontein rock art visits

Accommodation: Lodge on a plateau in Damaraland

Meals: Breakfast & dinner, lunch not included

After an early breakfast, leave the lodge with a guide and tracker in search of rare desert-adapted elephant, known to be slightly smaller than their counterparts in Etosha. During the drive, take in the unique landscape of Damaraland and learn more about local communities and their way of life. With a bit of luck, you may spot desert-adapted elephant and even black rhino. Return to the lodge in the afternoon for dinner and a second night.

Distance: Full-day elephant tracking drive

Activity: Desert-adapted elephant tracking

Accommodation: Lodge on a plateau in Damaraland (second night)

Meals: Breakfast & dinner, lunch not included

Today’s journey takes you to Etosha National Park, founded in 1907 and one of the most famous national parks in Southern Africa. Spend much of your time game viewing around the waterholes, where elephant, rhino, giraffe and various antelope species come to drink. With a bit of luck, you may even spot lion or leopard. To experience nocturnal wildlife, join an optional night game drive with a park ranger, or simply wait by your camp’s floodlit waterhole.

Distance: Road transfer to Etosha, afternoon game viewing

Activity: Waterhole game viewing, optional night game drive

Accommodation: Chalet in Etosha National Park

Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner not included

After sunrise and a hearty breakfast, set out for more game viewing. Drive along the vast salt pan, which covers almost a quarter of the entire park and is Etosha’s most distinctive and dramatic feature, spotting herds of impala, wildebeest, oryx and zebra as they cross the open landscape. In the evening, exit the park and transfer to a luxury tented camp just outside its boundary, where you stay overnight in a permanent tent with an en-suite bathroom.

Distance: Salt pan game drive, then transfer out of the park

Activity: Full day of game viewing

Accommodation: Luxury tented camp near Etosha National Park

Meals: Breakfast & dinner, lunch not included

After a leisurely breakfast, leave camp and drive to Otjiwarongo. Along the way, pass the deep Lake Otjikoto, where German soldiers sank their weapons during the First World War, and the Hoba meteorite near Grootfontein, the largest known intact meteorite in the world. In the afternoon, arrive at a private nature reserve in the Waterberg region, where you can take a walk along one of the well-marked trails, join an optional rhino drive, or simply enjoy the breathtaking view over the savannah below.

Distance: Road transfer via Lake Otjikoto and the Hoba meteorite

Activity: Free time to explore the Waterberg reserve

Accommodation: Lodge in the Waterberg region

Meals: All meals included, drinks not included

Today’s journey takes you back to Windhoek, the starting point of your tour, arriving in the early afternoon. Along the way, stop in Okahandja to browse hand-carved souvenirs, baskets and jewellery at the town’s large craft market. You are dropped off at the airport or at a lodge of your choice in Windhoek.

Distance: Road transfer back to Windhoek, with an Okahandja craft market stop

Activity: Departure

Accommodation: N/A, end of trip

Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner not included