travelingtiger

I'm hoping to add on 5 nights in Namibia before a 2-week safari in Botswana (had originally been planning on Cape Town, but sounds too much like SF where we currently live). The plan is to be in Namibia the first week in August.

Since we'll be hitting the wildlife pretty hard over the next 2 weeks, I thought we'd spend most of our time south of Windhoek in the desert. I like hiking and generally seeing things I can't find elsewhere. Tentatively, I was thinking:

3 nights desert areas
1 night Swakopmund (quad biking or sand boarding)
1 night (?)

We would like to keep the budget low and would even be amenable to camping if we could rent equipment in Windhoek. However, we would be also be cool with a swanky place for a night or two.

Any suggestions on must-see sights, lodging, etc would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

santharamhari

Hello!!!

Sorry, i have no Namibia expertize....but, being a fan of Botswana safaris am very curious about your Botswana itinerary....pl share if you dont mind. Thanks

Hari

Kavey

My favourite place is Wolwedans which has the most wonderful location in the NamibRand Nature Reserve, about 60 miles south of Sossusvlei. We stayed in the Lodge both times but took a visit to the Dune Camp which looks great (and which we're considering for our next trip, where budget is more of an issue).

PredatorBiologist

travelingtiger: it is a great area to self-drive. You may want to consider renting a landrover type vehicle that is equipped with tents that open up on top of your vehicle for easy camping. I do not know the specifics on the camping sites but believe there are some excellent ones in the Namib desert areas, you could probably camp near the Sossusvlei dune area and go deeper into the Namib-Rand reserve for more desert dwelling animals. I'm sure there would be good information available on the camping from good providers of vehicles. Should be cheaper than most of the lodging and provide a great, adventurous feeling camping trip.

poldi

Hi traveltiger,

I spent 6 month in Namibia, but its now 5 years ago. But at that time ít was a great experience to do a walk in the Naukluft area. There are some trail, some for really experienced ones and some other for people with good condition It was really overwhelming!And itīs "near" the desert.
To rent a car with roof tent is really great, itīs very easy and quick to built up and itīs really a little bit romantic...Cheaper is to rent a car and camping stuff, but I think it will need more time to get everything because you have to pick up the car and afterwards you have to pick up the camping stuff. But perhaps you get everything at one point? Your trip sounds really great, have a lot of fun!

travelingtiger

Thanks, that sounds like fun. Does anybody have recommendations on car rental places with roof tents? Is food generally easy to find - grocery stores and/or restaurants?

Hari - for Botswana, we're going to Victoria Falls, Duma Tau, Chitabe, Kwetsani, and San Camp. I didn't plan that part of the trip, but the person who did got a ton of help from Fodors forums...

santharamhari

Nice itinerary....all very nice areas to visit in Bots

Thembi

Howdy travelingtiger - We have not been to Namibia but have done extensive planning for our 2008 trip- which is being arranged as we speak! We will be in Namibia on a self-drive for about 3 weeks

A number of your questions can be answered here
http://www.namibian.org/
The "Cardboardbox Travel Shop" is an extensive namibian resourse with great reviews, individual pages for accomodations, car rental etc etc. We spent literally hours in this site learning so much and plotted our whole itinerary with its advice and information.

your Botswana itinerary sounds great! Happy travels

andybiggs

if I had 5 nights in Namibia, I would spend 2 nights at a Wolwedans property and another 2 or 3 nights at Kulala or Little Kulala at Sossusvlei. You will get a great introduction to what Namibia has to offer!

tabascov

What is the difference between what you would see/ do at Wolwedans compared to at Kuala or other Sossuvlei camp?

We are considering spending 3 nights between Desert Homestead and Wolwedans, but haven't decided in which place to spend the 2 nights and in which place to spend the 1 night. Budget is somewhat of an issue.

kimburu

tabascov - where you are coming from beforehand and going after is important to helping you resolve that one. You are likely to arrive fairly late day one and leave fairly early day four. Since Sesriem and the dunes takes a good half day you may only have one full day for Wolwedans activites anyway, and if budget is an issue it may then be a waste of the extra money to spend the two nights there. Just a thought.

tuckeg

I've spent a total of 9 months in the Sossusvlei area in the last 4 years including August in 2003, 2004, and 2006. I don't know what kind of campers you are, but if I were doing your trip and wanted to camp, I would bring a light backpacking tent with me and some foam sleeping pads. I'd buy some cheap blankets and pillows in Windhoek (a modern city with department stores and supermarkets). It can be cold at night in early August in the Sossusvlei area, and on occasion may dip briefly below zero. Days will generally be very pleasant. There is no need for roof camping in that area and it will be colder. You can rent a small two-wheel drive car much more cheaply than a vehicle with a roof tent. It will get you everywhere except the last mile or so into Sossusvlei and there you can park and pay for a concession ride in.

At Sossusvlei itself you can camp inside the gates (make reservations) and will get to start in to the vlei an hour before anyone else (except for the Wilderness properties that have their own gate). There is a store there but be sure to stop at Solitaire on the way for grilled sandwiches and apple pie!

If you don't want to camp, Wolvedans is a good choice in the area, but not for the night before you want to visit the vlei as it is much to long a drive and you would have to leave at 4AM or earlier to get to the vlei gate when it opens.

After visiting the vlei, if you want a little more hiking, Toktokkie Trails is great option (as Thembi mentioned the Cardboard Box is a very good resource):

http://namibian.org/travel/safaris/other/toktokkie.htm

you can also do you own hiking in the area, but have a naturalist with you will make a huge difference.

If you decide to self-drive, there is one route via the Spreetshoogte Pass that offers the best view:

http://www.naukluft-experience.com/en/geologie3.htmthat

This site also has good info on the area.

PacoAhedo

"What is the difference between what you would see/ do at Wolwedans compared to at Kuala or other Sossuvlei camp?"

In our Namibia trip we where base 2 nights at Kulala and 2 at Wolwedans Lodge.

Kulala is the best place to visit the Sossusvlei area because they have a private acces.This allow you to get at Dead Vlei with the best light for photography.We also had 2 gamedrives at Kulala reserve and enjoy very much the scenery but didnīt find much game.

To me, the biggest difference is that the Namib Rand Reserve(Wolwedans) is much more rich in wildlife.
During our 2 days at Wolwedans we had lots of Gemsbok, Mountain Zebra, Springbok, 8 Bat-eared Foxes, ostriches ,steenbok , jackals and one aardwolf.
The landscape at Namib Rand is also magnificent,with wonderfull red dunes, maybe less deserted than Kulala.
The morning sunrise from your bed at Wolwedans Lodge is glorious,probably the best of my life.

They are very close so transfer beetwen these 2 camps is very short and easy,worth visiting both of them.

Paco.

Kavey

"The morning sunrise from your bed at Wolwedans Lodge is glorious,probably the best of my life."

Seconded.

andybiggs

"The morning sunrise from your bed at Wolwedans Lodge is glorious,probably the best of my life."

I agree, but I was never in my bed at sunrise. I was out taking photographs nearby!

Kavey

I'm not dedicated enough, Andy!

PacoAhedo

When i told my wife we where going to Namibia she said she needed a few days to relax at the end of the trip.
She knows every time we go on safari we start the day very early,before sunrise and she is not that crazy about photography like me.
She asked me for a nice beach but Namibia is not a great place for beaches so i pick Wolwedans for this.

We did some walking and lazing in the mornings and game drives the afternoons but Wolwedans is really a great place for photography.I took some of my favourite Namibia pictures here.

Paco.

kimburu

Excuse me, but are you still married, Paco?

Have to ask ;-)

PacoAhedo

Kimburu,

ĄI am still married after 17 years and 5 african safaris!
But i have to be a good boy on a daily basis to convince my wife to go back to Africa at list once a year.

She enjoys a lot while on safari,but she is not obsess like me about safaris,wildlife,photography,etc.
Plus,in the last 2 year i had to give up one week at the beach so things are getting more and more complicated.



In November we are going to Botswana. Also i am going to start planing our trip for 2008 in September-October(she doesnīt know about this,yet)

Paco.

tuckeg

You're lucky Paco, I'm facing an Africa or wife decision.