Wild Damaraland and Etosha

Duration: 14 nights

Tour group: 3 photographers

Accommodation: fully accommodated

Vehicle: 7 seater 4×4 safari vehicle with pop up roof

Cost: £2995 per person excluding flights

Accommodation & camping option: £1975 per person excluding flights

Tour in brief: Private escorted tour, Kavita Lion Lodge, Damaraland, Kunene and Etosha

Photographic highlights: lions / landscapes / wild desert elephants and black rhino / Etosha at its driest with prolific wildlife

Itinerary

Days 1

You leave the UK for your overnight flight to Windhoek arriving early next morning. Here you will be met by Kathryn and driven north on the main tar road to our overnight accommodation. Bambatsi is one of the oldest guest farms in Namibia and our hosts Inge and Gerald will make us very welcome with an al fresco dinner on the terrace overlooking their floodlit waterhole.

o/n Bambatsi Guestfarm, dinner,bed and breakfast

Days 2, 3 and 4

After a hearty breakfast we leave the tar road and hit the gravel and head north over the Grootberg Pass to the heart of Damaraland. The Palmwag area has some of the most stunning scenery in Namibia and is home to desert adapted elephant and black rhino, a wealth of plains game and all of Namibia’s large carnivores. Here we will engage the 4×4 and spend our days out in the concession tracking down the local wildlife.

o/n Palmwag Lodge, dinner, bed and breakfast

Day 5

We retrace our steps today back over the pass to the wonderful Kavita Lion Lodge which is the home of AfriLeo. The lodge owners Tammy and Ute have dedicated their lives to the conservation of Namibia’s desert lions and work closely with the local people to help reduce human/carnivore conflict and save these magnificent carnivores.

o/n Kavita Lion Lodge, full board

Day 6

We leave the outside world today and drive the short distance to the Galton Gate for the start of our 9 nights in Etosha. Our first night will be spent at the newly opened Dolomite Camp in the far west of the park. This area was previously only open to scientists but can now be accessed by the public who are staying at the camp. The Lodge sits high on a rocky outcrop overlooking a waterhole and is home to troops of Chacma Baboons which are absent from the rest of the park.

o/n Dolomite Camp, Etosha B&B

Days 7 and 8

Heading further into the park this morning we drive through the western sector until we reach the park’s headquarters at Okaukuejo. This area is known for its open plains and wide vistas where vast herds of herbivores trek endlessly to the camp’s floodlit waterhole followed by the ever present carnivores looking for their next meal

o/n Okaukuejo Camp, bush chalet B&B

Days 9, 10 and 11

This morning we travel further into the centre of the park and the wooded sector surrounding Halali Camp. This diverse area has both Mopani woodland and dry savanna that rolls down to the very edge of the giant salt pan. The floodlit waterhole is a real highlight of this camp with black rhino and huge herds of elephants often seen along with porcupines, honey badgers and even the ever elusive leopard.

o/n Halali Camp, Etosha, bush chalet B&B

Days 12, 13 and 14

We head east once more today towards Namutoni Camp and the wildlife rich woodland around Fischer’s Pan. This area is home to the majority of the park’s giraffe and is the only place in Africa to see the world’s smallest antelope, the diminutive Damara Dik-Dik.

o/n Namutoni Camp, Etosha, double room B&B

Day 15

After a last morning safari ( or a well deserved lie in ) we hit the tar road once more and head south to the capital in time to explore the local craft markets before heading back to the airport to catch your overnight flight back to the UK

o/n 36,000 feet