MYP

Hello all,

I am planning my honeymoon for November 2011 and am trying to figure out a good itinerary. Originally we were going to go to Australia, but with the AUD worth more than the USD, we decided to rethink that option!

We would like to travel to Namibia and Mozambique over a 2 week period. We will be using miles to fly into Windhoek (from Chicago) and out of Cape Town. We would like to see the sand dunes in Namibia, do a safari in either Etosha and stay in a nice resort and do some scuba diving in Mozambique. We are active (hiking, scuba diving, etc), enjoy food and wine (but don't know all that much about the latter), taking photos and enjoy learning about other cultures.

I've attached a preliminary itinerary below. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated! We don't mind driving a bit, but don't want to rush a ton. Also accommodation recs would be great. We would want a mid-range place in Namibia (maybe like USD $300 / night for both of us) and would splurge in Mozamibique (up to $1000/night for both of us). We are looking at the Rani resorts for our time in Mozamibique and would only stay in one spot for those 5 days.

Thursday November 11: Leave Chicago, evening
Friday November 12: All day London, leave for SA at night
Saturday November 13: Arrive in JNB in morning, arrive in Namibia in afternoon. Evening in Windhoek
Sunday November 14: Drive to dunes. See stuff along the way
Monday November 15: Dunes
Tuesday November 16: Dunes / other stuff in area
Wednesday November 17: Drive up to seal area, skeleton coast? Or just drive up to Etosha
Thursday November 18: Drive up to Etosha
Friday November 19: Safari (Etosha)
Saturday November 20: Safari (Etosha)
Sunday November 21: Safari (Etosha), drive to Windhoek and fly to JNB that night
Monday November 22: Fly to Mozambique from JNB. Arrive in afternoon at resort
Tuesday November 23: Diving, resort
Wednesday November 24: Diving, resort
Thursday November 25: Diving, resort
Friday November 26: Diving, resort
Saturday November 27: Other non-diving activity, resort
November 27: Leave morning of Sunday 11/27 for Cape Town.
Monday November 28: Arrive in London (~7am), fly to US


Thanks in advance for your help!

Elizabeth_S

We had a great time in Namibia earlier this year - will post more tomorrow when I have more time - but would suggest you consider adding a night or two in Swakopmund (before Cape Cross/Seals) and give some thought to where you will stay on the way to Etosha.....will outline our itinerary in detail tomorrow.....in the meantime here's a link to our (unfinished) blog. We had a great time in Namibia!

http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/africa/g-namibia/

MYP

Hi Elizabeth, I actually read your blog from another post and sent it to my fiance. I think that was what convinced him to get excited about our honeymoon in Africa rather than trying to do Aus / Fiji on a much cheaper level.

Do you remember the range of nightly costs you incurred at the Sossus Dune Lodge?
Thanks!

Elizabeth_S

Hi MYP - I could dig around and find the cost for that Lodge, but I highly recommend you contact the travel planner we used who is based in Swakopmund - Gemma Dry owns Discover Namibia Safaris and I worked with her to plan our trip. Ordinarily I do the bookings online, but I found that Gemma had a great sense of the destination and offered great value.....

Her contact info is

http://www.discover-namibia-safaris.com/

email

[email protected]

But if you prefer - happy to find the cost of the Lodge - email me at

eseibertca AT yahoo DOT ca

Namibia is a wonderful destination.....we'd go back in a minute!

PRLCH

Hi MYP
Did you go to Namibia and Mozambique? How did that work out? Would love to hear as we too are thinking about combining Namibia and Mozambique in October / November this year.

We are from Australia and can get good fares to JHB at that time of the year. We will have about 3 weeks and would love to hear how that combination worked out for you.

PRLCH

So glad I stumbled on your link, Elizabeth. We are not long back from Jordan and Egypt and we used your Jordan trip report for planning - it was wonderful!!We had an amazing trip thanks to your (and other posters) insights. I look forward to reading your Namibia experiences!

braaiseason

I don't see the point in flying all the way down to Cape Town to leave for a flight to London !

I think you will find Gemma Dry is no longer based in Swakopmund but in Hermanus, Cape Town.