Escorted North Namibia Tour - Classic Kaleidoscope Tour

You will be met at Windhoek Airport and transferred 1-hour to your hotel.

Check into your hotel in this capital city and relax under warm blue Namibian skies.

This morning you will be collected from your Windhoek hotel around 08h00 for your small group tour of Northern Namibia.

Travel 4.5-hours through scenic desert landscapes to the beach resort of Swakopmund, with its old lighthouse and easy access to the sand dunes and activities of the Namib Desert.

Swakopmund is situated on the Atlantic Coast where the cold Benguela Current sweeps up from Antarctica, releasing no moisture into the prevailingly onshore winds – hence the very low rainfall and desert conditions. Fog is common along the coast in the early mornings and late afternoons and this is what gives life to the desert-adapted flora and fauna of the region. The cold current is also highly oxygenated, causing it to teem with marine life. Check into your hotel and relax on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

Most small group tours are dual language with a bilingual guide, but as Namibia was a former German colony there are normally more German-speakers than English-speakers on tour. On escorted group tours please note that for operational reasons it is sometimes necessary to substitute one hotel with another of similar quality. Porterage of one suitcase is included.

At leisure to relax at the beach resort of Swakopmund.

As this is Namibia’s playground, a wide variety of optional activities are on offer - including a Marine Cruise to view dolphins, seals and other sea life. Alternatively you can participate in adventure activities such as sandboarding or take an exciting 4x4 jeep excursion across the desert to Sandwich Harbour.

Heading north, we travel 5.5-hours today from Swakopmund to timeless Damaraland - home of the Brandberg Mountain, the highest in Namibia.

Damaraland is one of the least populated and most geologically diverse areas in Africa. This harsh, rocky environment is home to the rare desert elephant, the endangered black rhino and free-roaming antelope. There are many fascinating rock formations on these vast uninhabited plains, where magnificent semi-desert flowers can grow after good rains.

We visit the World Heritage site at Twyfelfontein, which means "Doubtful Spring". Over 6,000 years ago, San communities engraved and painted over 2,500 pictures here. These ancient Bushman Paintings have been well preserved in this dry environment and the hills are strewn with rock art - making this an open-air museum.

Close by we can explore the Burnt Mountain, Organ Pipes and Petrified Forest. We can also see the desert-adapted Welwitschia Mirabilis plant - the oldest living desert plant on earth - and visit a traditional Damara Village.

Today we travel to our lodge situated near the southern gate of the world famous Etosha National Park.

Etosha owes its unique landscape to a vast shallow depression – the Etosha Pan – with its open pans offering magnificent game viewing. Etosha is home to over a hundred different species of mammals, including cheetah, leopard, lion, elephant, rhino, giraffe, zebra and wildebeest.

Check into your lodge situated near the southern gate. In the afternoon there is the option of a game drive in an open top vehicle with a lodge ranger (pay locally).

Today is devoted to the abundant wildlife of the famous Etosha National Park, one of the largest wildlife conservation in Africa surrounding an enormous salt pan that is the size of the Netherlands.

During drier seasons it becomes an expanse of white cracked mud, shimmering with mirages and spiralling dust devils. Waterholes along the southern edge frequently offer a rewarding game viewing experience, including several rare species such as black and white rhino.

This park is home to four of the Big 5, elephant, lion, leopard and rhino (as the terrain does not support buffalo) and its waterholes support a rich diversity of other mammals and birds, including species such as the black-faced impala, roan, cheetah and Namibia’s smallest antelope, the Damara dik-dik.

We enter the reserve at the southern gate and travel across Etosha National Park all day, exiting in the late afternoon at the eastern gate where we check into our lodge.

Enjoy another game drive in Etosha National Park, as we explore the eastern sector of this great wildlife reserve.

Etosha is home to over 100 different species of mammals and over 350 different birds, so superb game viewing and birding is assured. Your guide will explain some of the complexities of managing such an enormous reserve, as you view wildife in its natural surroundings.

In the afternoon we travel to our lodge, with evening at leisure.

Today we drive 5-hours southwards through central Nambia to Windhoek, travelling via Otjiwarongo and stopping at the local handicraft market at Okahanja.

Afterwards transfer 1-hour to your lodge situated in the direction of the airport.

Here you can visit N/a'an ku se Wildlife Sanctuary that provides a safe home to animals orphaned or injured in the wild, watch the carnivore feeding and have a close-up encounter with a cheetah (pay locally).

Transfer to Windhoek Airport for your flight home.