The trip runs across Namibia over twelve nights, opening in the high-plateau capital of Windhoek before the red dunes and gravel plains of the NamibRand Nature Reserve, south of Sossusvlei. From there it turns to the Atlantic at Swakopmund, then inland to the rock and silence of Damaraland, and finally to the private Ongava reserve on Etosha’s southern edge.
You travel between regions by light aircraft and road, trading long gravel drives for short hops. Days hold desert drives and walks under a Dark Sky Reserve, time on the coast, rhino tracked on foot in the Palmwag Concession, and both black and white rhino at Ongava. The five stays run from a small city guesthouse to tented and stone camps built for their settings.
Namibia's capital sits on the Khomas Highland plateau at roughly 1,700 metres, and it plays one clear role at the start: a comfortable first night between your international arrival and the light-aircraft flight into the desert. You might walk the historic centre and take in the Christuskirche and the Independence Memorial Museum, or dine on Namibian game. Olive Grove is a small guesthouse on a hill in the leafy Klein Windhoek suburb, with eleven rooms, tiered gardens and an à la carte kitchen you can sit beside.
On the edge of a vegetated dune in the NamibRand Nature Reserve, the days face red dunes, gravel plains and the distant Nubib Mountains. Sunrise drives in desert-adapted vehicles and guided walks follow the reserve's ecology rather than a species checklist, and oryx and springbok move across the plains below, at times joined by zebra and ostrich. This is a recognised Dark Sky Reserve, so the nights are close to unlit and the Milky Way reads as a solid band overhead. Wolwedans Dune Camp is six tented rooms on raised wooden platforms, solar-powered, with canvas that rolls up to the desert air.
The coast brings the Atlantic and a change of pace, with the dunes of the Namib beginning a few streets inland and morning fog that drifts in off the water and burns off by midday. The flat town centre is a five-minute walk, with its German colonial seafront, museum and shops. Strand Hotel stands out on the Mole, the historic breakwater, with water on three sides and waves breaking below the balconies. Three restaurants, a beer garden and a spa line the seafront, and most of its rooms look over the water.
In the Palmwag Concession of Damaraland, the days centre on tracking desert-adapted black rhino on foot. Trackers from the Save the Rhino Trust head out at dawn to locate the animals, and you follow in single file over volcanic gravel, learning to read spoor and wind before approaching at a careful distance. Once there, you help gather identity and body-condition data for one of the longest-running black rhino databases in existence. The camp is six suites of stone, canvas and timber, rebuilt and reopened in July 2024.
On the private Ongava reserve, just south of Etosha's Andersson Gate, this is one of the few places in southern Africa where both black and white rhino can be tracked on foot with armed guides. Day trips run into Etosha for its pans and waterholes, where driving is limited to set roads by day; back on the reserve, off-road driving, night drives and walking safaris are all permitted. A permanent floodlit waterhole below the lodge draws elephant, lion, giraffe and rhino at all hours. Ongava Lodge is fourteen stone-and-thatch chalets stepping down a hilltop, with a photographic hide set close to the water.
Ed Charles, BBC Producer
Fitzroy are true specialists in accessing the wilderness. They know where to go and importantly, when to go there. Highly recommended.
01 of 14
namibia
Thirteen nights linking the Sossusvlei dunes, the Skeleton Coast, the Kunene River and Etosha's rhino country.
01 of 13
namibia & botswana
Ten nights from northwest Namibia's deserts and the Kunene to Botswana's Linyanti and its elephant corridors.
01 of 14
namibia
Nine nights across Namibia, from the red dunes of Sossusvlei to the Atlantic and the remote Skeleton Coast.
rated five stars by our clients
our approach
Every journey starts with a conversation. We take the time to understand your vision before we start planning.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape something that is considered, personal, and expertly delivered.
Every journey starts with a conversation. We favour a direct, personal approach: understanding your vision before anything else.
Whether by phone or in person, we work with you directly to shape a journey that is both thoughtfully considered and expertly delivered.
Get in touch to start planning yours.
