Day 1 - Arrival in the Wild

Namib Desert Scenic Flight

Sand, everywhere. Thousands of square kilometres of ridges. The tallest sand dunes on the planet. The largest expanse of sand dunes anywhere in the world. Yet no two angles are ever the same. Experience this visual euphoria on a Namib Desert scenic flight. Every ridge has its unique shape, each dune its own style. From red to orange to yellow the colours change. And as the shadows move so does your perspective. Flying over the Namib Desert is one of Namibia’s most iconic travel experiences. Half-day tours depart from Sossusvlei or Swakupmond, soar low over the desert then touch down at Sossusvlei. After discovering Sossusvlei and Deadvlei you take a different route back, admiring where the desert meets the Atlantic.

&Beyond Sossusvlei Desert Lodge

Still gleaming after its vast 2019 facelift, &Beyond Sossusvlei Desert Lodge is a modern treasure in one of the world’s oldest deserts. It looks and feels like a lodge from the future, all clean lines and cutting-edge design, with massive floor-to-ceiling windows so you always have a view. Such style is the unique feature, especially in a country where accommodation is typically rustic, rather than lavish. The location is perfect, hidden from everything, enveloped by the dunes. This is perfect accommodation if you like the idea of a desert adventure, but you’re not too sure about all the sand and definitely don’t want to be uncomfortable. This desert lodge will ease you in and it comes with the full variety of activities.

Day 2 - Sossusvlei

Sossusvlei & Deadvlei at Sunrise

Two magical names igniting travel reverie, two ancient clay pans in the heart of Namibia’s desert. Sossusvlei and Deadvlei are the famous destinations attracting travelers to this desert. Approach them at sunrise. First Deadvlei. Walk a ridge above the pan, or walk across the pan, alongside the blackened frames of dead trees. Then Sossusvlei, a clay pan where you may see the only green for hundreds of miles around. The experience isn’t just Sossusvlei and Deadvlei. The experience is everything around you, everything that changes as you spend 24 hours or more in the desert. But this special morning you are here, walking two of Africa’s most mythical names, embracing wild beauty.

Namib Desert Night Sky Safari

A night below the stars, a thousand miles from anywhere. Slumber on a comfortable bed and gaze up at the universe. The nighttime sky is yours and there is no light nor people to ruin it. An astronomer is your guide, showing you the constellations, narrating the stories passed down through generations by the San people. You will learn how to use a telescope, how to distinguish planets, and you will quickly lose track of the shooting stars (you can see dozens every hour out here). And then you slumber in solitude, beneath the universe, engrossed by possibility. Namib Desert nighttime sky experiences are possible at a handful of camps in the area, all of which are far from anywhere.

Day 3 - Fish River Canyon

Fish River Canyon Scenic Flight, Drive & Hike

Truly appreciate Fish River Canyon with three different desert perspectives. It’s you and a guide, deep in the desert, hundreds of miles from anything. First by road, rattling over bumps and going far off road, dust flying around as you maraud across arid savannah. It’s hot and sweaty and oh so brilliant as you watch the red desert unfurl. Rest. Then when the day’s heat begins to fade you go for a walk. Explore the ridges and watch how sunset colours illuminate the world’s second largest canyon. After a night in a beautiful desert camp you see the desert from the air. From up high you follow the ridgeline, tracing 100 kilometres of the great canyon. And when people ask where you have been you don’t want to say Namibia or Fish River Canyon. This place is too special to share too widely.

Day 4 - Damaraland

Namibia Air Charter

Traveling in one of the world's most sparsely inhabited nations comes with a real challenge. Namibia is massive and there’s hardly anything but nature. Destinations are hundreds, thousands of kilometres apart. To get around there's virtually nothing but one highway and a series of staggering natural scars on the landscape. Expect long distances and long hours in a vehicle, even if the actual journey can be a moving experience. The easiest way to travel around this desert country is by light aircraft. And it’s easy to charter a light aircraft so you can make more use of your time on the ground. Every air charter is a scenic flight and it’s probably the only way to fit all your bucketlist destinations into a single trip. With Namibia air charters you can hop from destination to destination, with a new scenic flight every day. Or you can fly between highlights, while flying above the world’s most hypnotic desert.

Damaraland Camp

Damaraland Camp appears to be simple and many are surprised at its relatively hefty price tag. The wooden decor may look a little dated, so know that this was Namibia’s first ever wilderness camp and experience is in the detail.While many other camps have replicated the earthy, khaki and wooden tones, none can quite match Damaraland Camp’s classic safari feel. And the real highlight is wildlife. You don’t come all the way here to sit in the pool. You come for adventure. Game drives are exceptional, especially in encountering big desert-adapted elephants. Guiding is superb and what you lack in Wi-Fi you gain in pure solitude. Remoteness is another allure - expect absolute solitude beneath massive Namibian skies.

Day 5 - Damaraland

Rock Art & Rock Formations of Damaraland

Damaraland is always changing. They say that a day here lasts 100 hours. At a glance every angle is the same. All is still, a portrait of Mars stretching out. Stop. Watch. Admire. With every moment the sun brings change. It feels like you’re exploring a different planet. Enormous rock formations extend towards the sky, shards of rock shaped by wind and storms and elephants. Each is unique, each has its own story to tell. In Damaraland you will always be surrounded by surreal rock formations. A local guide will show you some of the hidden places, places particularly good for photography. Along the way you can discover one of the world’s largest collections of indigenous rock art. Stories are painted into so many of the rocks and they help to narrate 100 hours in a Damaraland day.

Mountain Biking in Damaraland

Surreal red rocks stand like sentinels to a forgotten time. Down below an elephant herd patrols the valley. Dust squirts up as you cycle onward.It feels like you’re mountain biking on Mars. This must be what space feels like, seemingly inhospitable, yet bursting with features and signs of life. The trails continue for hundreds of miles. Out here you can create your own adventure. A local guide leads the way and mountain biking can be tailored however you like it, from one hour to one week covering different trails. Wherever you peddle, you can be certain there are no other mountain bikes on the trail, only the odd elephant or giraffe.

Day 6 - Etosha Safari

Etosha Nighttime Game Drive

Etosha is an unbroken wilderness and it’s amazing how much you can see by moonlight. As your eyes adjust you pick out shapes. And as you get closer you make out a white rhino, a giraffe, an oryx herd, a hyena cackle, a dozen elephants. Nighttime is when the predators emerge. With a roving spotlight your guide will search for them. Hopefully you will watch them prowl the plains. Maybe you will see a kill. An Etosha nighttime game drive will provide a perspective that National Geographic can’t show you. It will show the African savannah as it truly is, raw, untouched, dominated by wildlife drama.

Day 7 - Etosha Safari

Etosha National Park Game Drive

Three white rhinos march past. Up ahead a black-maned lion surveys the pan. Upon the horizon you can see elephants. This is a place for giants and you are in the middle of them all.Dominated by the seasonal flooding of the Etosha salt pan, Etosha is Namibia’s premier safari destination. It offers one of the very best safaris anywhere in Africa. It’s difficult to get here, which is part of the fun and keeps you off the beaten path. On a guided game drive expect encounters with the giants. And an immersive understanding of how these animals live in one of the most arid places on earth. Part of the experience is actually driving. Part of it will involve stopping besides water and waiting for wildlife drama.

Lions & Rhinos Etosha Safari

Lions on a dusty savannah, snoozing beneath a stunted tree, watching the world with one eye open. White rhinos on the move, socialising at waterholes and contrasting their grumpy stereotypes. Other places in Africa have these animals. Some even have larger populations of these two animals. But nowhere can reveal their life so intimately, so absolutely. On Etosha’s open plains there is nowhere to hide. And with specialist guides you will be privy to the day to day, hour to hour, movements of lion and rhino life. You can also track one pride or rhino family over multiple days, to truly appreciate their behaviour.

Days 8 & 9 - Private Etosha Safari

Track Rhinos on Foot in Ongava, Etosha Region

Ongava is a peaceful place. You can wallow in silence, nothing but a distant elephant upon the plains below. Yet it is also a place for sudden bursts of adrenaline. Such as when you track rhinos on foot.White rhinos are enormous, truly enormous, of a size that you cannot appreciate until you stand before one, feeling your heart jump out from your chest. And those horns!Black rhinos are smaller and more bashful, less likely to get close. But at 1400kgs they are not small. And you’re approaching them on foot. Led by skilled indigenous trackers you will search for both black and white rhinos on foot. There are only a small handful of places where both species coexist. There’s only one other destination in Africa where you can also track black and white rhinos on foot. You don’t stand directly in front of one. You stay safe, watching action from photography hides, staying silent before the giants. This is Namibia and this is an experience with animals that may disappear from the wild in the coming decades.

Ongava Safari Lodge

A premium lodge located in Namibia’s premium private game reserve, Ongava Safari Lodge is the archetypal high-end lodge. Think stone and thatch, great service, a pool with a view, and a lot of wildlife wandering by. You overlook a watering hole and animal encounters continue 24 hours a day. And it’s wildlife that’s the real highlight here, especially an opportunity to do exclusive safari activities such as white rhino tracking.Ongava Safari Lodge isn’t the only option on the reserve. There’s a more exclusive, smaller lodge that’s ideal for small groups or complete privacy, along with a tented camp that enables you to hear and smell animals through the night.

Day 10 - Departure