QUICK OVERVIEW
| Wednesday, 2/19 | Arrival in Windhoek, Tenbergen Hotel Pension |
| Thursday, 2/20 | Otjiwa Safari Lodge |
| Friday, 2/21 | Namutoni, Etosha National Park |
| Saturday, 2/22 | Okaukuejo, Etosha NP |
| Sunday, 2/23 | Okaukuejo, Etosha NP |
| Monday, 2/24 | Swakopmund |
| Tuesday, 2/25 | Sandwich Bay, Walvis Bay |
| Wednesday, 2/26 | Sesriem, Namib Naukluft National Park |
| Thursday, 2/27 | Sesriem, Namib Naukluft NP |
| Friday, 2/28 | Sesriem, Namib Naukluft NP |
| Saturday, 3/1 | Aus |
| Sunday, 3/2 | Lüderitz |
| Monday, 3/3 | Lüderitz |
| Tuesday, 3/4 | Mesosaurus Fossil Camp |
| Wednesday, 3/5 | Windhoek, Tenbergen Hotel Pension |
| Thursday, 3/6 | Windhoek, Departure |
DETAILED OVERVIEW
Day 1 – Arrival at Windhoek Airport
On our first day of the Namibia Photography Tour we will meet at the airport and take you to our hotel in Windhoek. The first day is to relax, take in your first African impressions in the capital of Namibia, going over our itinerary, questions and concerns. If need is, we might go to a supermarket to buy some details for our trip. The day concludes with dinner at a special Namibian barbecue restaurant.
Drive airport to hotel: 45km, 40min
Day 2 – Otjiwa Safari Lodge
Your first full day in Namibia kicks off with a breakfast at our hotel, after which we will hit the road towards our first destination – Otjiwa Safari Lodge. It will be an easy drive through some typical Namibian Grand Escarpment landscape. At arrival to the lodge you will have time to refresh and rest from the drive. In the late afternoon you will have your first adventure with a safari drive in search of rhinos, antelopes, giraffes.
Drive Windhoek to Otjiwa Safari Lodge: 220km, 2h 15min
Day 3 through 5 – Etosha National Park
We start the morning with a lavish breakfast after which we head to Namutoni, our first lodge at Etosha National Park.
Etosha is in northwestern Namibia and one of the largest national parks in Africa. It was proclaimed a game reserve in 1907 and was elevated to the status of a national park in 1967. It gets its name from the large Etosha pan which is almost entirely within the park. The national park is home to hundreds of species of mammals, birds and reptiles, including several threatened and endangered species such as the black rhinoceros.
We will do a photographic safari here for the next three days. Expect to see baboons, elephants, zebras, giraffes, rhinos, hyenas, jackals, lions, various sorts of antelopes, just to name some of the many animals.
Our first overnight ay Etosha will be at the most east located lodge, Namutoni, while the second and third night will be at the central south located Okaukuejo lodge. The latter has a big water pool which attracts wildlife during the night, early and late hours of the day. Providing great photo ops.
Day 6 – Himba Village & Swakopmund
We leave now Etosha with its abundant wildlife behind and head towards the cooler coast area. On our drive to Swakopmund we will have a stop at the little Himba village to get to know some of these originally Namibian inhabitants.
Our adventure take us now, via Zeila Shipwreck, to Swakopmund. A complete different setting will be met here. Experience now cooler temperatures, see marine wildlife and witness the desert meeting the Atlantic Ocean.
Drive Etosha to Swakopmund: 520km, 6h
Day 7 – Walvis Bay and Sandwich Bay Harbour
The day starts with an early breakfast to then join our tour guides who will take us along the sea salt mining company of Walvis Bay, driving then on the beach and meeting skittish sea wildlife and finally to be impressed by the desert with its huge sand dunes meeting the sea. It will be an adventurous experience driving along treacherous sand with crushing waves on one side and sand dunes on the other. The Skeleton Coast offers here a very unique sea and desert experience.
At the end of the day we will be back in Walvis Bay.
Drive Swakopmund to Walvis Bay: 60km, 40min
Days 8 through 10 – Sossusvlei
We leave the cooling temperatures of Walvis Bay and journey through barren and yet beautiful landscape to Naukluft Namibia National Park which is one of Namibia’s most spectacular landmarks.
Once checked in to our lodge we will press on and drive down the valley to see the last sunlight of the day setting the dunes in colorful flames.
We are almost half through our tour and you are hopefully used to getting out of bed early morning as this particular morning will be our earliest one to get up. We have to drive to the end of the Sossusvlei road, drive a last stretch through deep sand and have a short hike to then enter famous Deadvlei. Here we will find 700 years old dead camel thorn trees reaching out a white flat pan, surrounded by red sand dunes. Photographing sunrise here will be the climax of the tour!
Deadvlei is such a unique and iconic area that it deserves a second visit or if you prefer an optional scenic helicopter flight or hot air balloon ride over Sossusvlei in the early morning. A helicopter ride can also be an option towards the end of the day as the low sunlight provides magnificent contrast in the dunes and creating wonderful textures in the landscape laying underneath.
Drive Walvis Bay to Sesriem: 320 km, 5h
Days 11 – Aus
We will get up early before dawn for a sunrise photo session. Our aim will be to catch the first rays of golden light on the sand dunes of Sossusvlei. Once finished we will continue with our journey to the minuscule town of Aus.
After our checking in to our hotel we will go in search of the feral horses and explore an abandoned train station at late afternoon. The very same train station will be visited again in the night for astrophotography.
Drive Sesriem to Aus: 330 km, 6h 10min
Days 12 and 13 – Lüderitz
The following day we have a short drive to Lüderitz, a port city in southern Namibia, home of the close by diamond mining ghost town of Kolmanskop. This was once where the Namibian diamond boom started in 1908. It became one of the wealthiest towns in the world despite its isolated location, including a tram, ice making factory and a hospital with the first X-Ray machine in the Southern Hemisphere. The town was abandoned in 1956 and left for nature to reclaim it. The interior of the abandoned houses display an array of vivid colors and textures which contrast beautifully with the sand dunes invading the privacy.
We will stay two overnights in Luederitz giving us enough time to photograph Kolmanskop with various light conditions and discover the charm and diversity of the rooms of this once thriving mine town.
Drive Aus to Lüderitz: 110 km, 1h 30min
Day 14 – Quiver Tree Forest
As soon as we finish our photography morning session in Kolmanskop we will get in our 4×4’s and head to Keetmanshoop and from there to the nearby located Quiver Tree Forest. Quiver trees are actually, despite their size not really trees, but huge aloe plants. These trees are scattered among basalt boulders and with the right light the setting provides incredible photogenic impressions. For those who still did not have enough with the day can go out and do astrophotography during the night.
Drive Lüderitz to Mesosaurus Fossil Camp: 380km, 4h
Day 15 – Windhoek
The day starts with astrophotography followed by sunrise over the hills of the Quiver Tree Forest. Enjoy the last moments of being out in the wild Namibian countryside with the warmth of the sun.
A breakfast awaits us at our chalets to then starting a long drive back to our starting point of out tour – Windhoek.
Drive Mesosaurus to Windhoek: 550 km, 5h 40 min
Day 16 – Windhoek
This is the last day of our tour. We will have a slow start of the day with breakfast after which you have the day to pack up, do some souvenir shopping in Windhoek.
Finally our shuttle service is to take us back to the airport and we will say goodbye. You will be going back home with wonderful memories and remarkable images waiting to be downloaded onto your hard drive, skillfully post processed and printed to finally hang on your walls at home.