nanciej

With a stroke of good luck, we find ourselves able to extend our 3 week September South Africa trip to about 8-10 weeks. It is last minute, so we will likely not get what we want, but the flight is paid so we will make the most!
We want to drive in Namiba, but unfortunately we don't drive stick. Is a 4*4 essential, or can you do some nice routes in a car? (this we can get automatic transmission) Any advice welcome.

Also, we plan to go to Botswana as well. if we are to go in late October, are there areas not worth visiting from a game viewing perspective? We have the option of going in November, but have heard the heat and rains could be a problem so were planning on doing Botswana, then Namibia. Does that seem right?

thanks!
nancie

tockoloshe

I can help with the first part of your question ... you don't need a 4x4 to do the majority of roads in Namibia. Although many roads are gravel they are not rough and we drove a sedan car without any problem at all. (On our second visit we got a 4x4 because we drove further north into Damaraland and beyond, but there's plenty to keep you occupied without going that far north).

If you are starting from South Africa you could easily drive up the west coast into Namibia and even maybe back into SA through Botswana? Friends of mine have done that round trip from Cape Town and so it's definitely do-able (especially with 8-10 weeks, lucky you!)

Sorry no experience with Botswana weather in Oct/Nov.

PredatorBiologist

Nancie: Awesome to have some much time!

I drove a route in Namibia with a basic Nissan Sentra, the guys at the park office entering the Skeleton Coast N.P. laughed when they saw it and thought we were crazy but we made it through and up into Damaraland. Driving through sand blown over the road in that stretch was a bit tricky but the rest of the trip was no issues to go from Windhoek to Sossusvlei to Swakpomund, up the Skeleton Coast (fine until getting close to the turn to Damaraland) then from Damaraland to Etosha and back to Windhoek so you can cover a lot of the major areas just fine in a sedan car. Make sure you get a car that has two spare tires and that you know how to change them. We did one change but it's pretty common and little towns can all fix your flat when you pass through to get back to 2 spares. Great place to self-drive.

Typically the second half of October is actually the peak heat for Botswana so November could actually be a little cooler. Bottom line is in October and November for both Botswana and Namibia it can be very hot -- I've been in both during November but it is also a great time to be there. The later in the year the greater the chance of rain so there could be a little but typically early November will be fairly dry (changing weather patterns making t harder to say these things anymore). The bigger issue is once it rains the elephants and buffalo disperse so you don't see big groupings crowding to the remaining water as you do during the dry season. Last November I believe we only had rain at night and did not have any issue with activities. Animals had dispersed but our viewing was still wonderful! Due to the larger price tag of the Botswana lodges I would consider going there early November as prices drop significantly for shoulder season pricing, saving you as much as $250 to $350 pppn vs. the end of October which is still considered high season. If you can go earlier in October and make it before any significant rains you will see the driest time and some of the highest concentrations of animals for the year and in that case if the budget holds it pay high season rates but by the end of October it may well have rained and will be very similar to early November.

nanciej

Thanks so much! Very helpful on the car insights! Do you know how long the drive would be from Cape Town up to Windhoek if we were to do that Tokoloshe? We are panning a couple of nights at SML to see the dunes so that would break the drive up.

We have flexibility to go to Botswana earlier in October but with the extended trip, budget becomes tough too. If we can sneak in at the beginning of shoulder season, that could help! I am sure we won't be disappointed either way.
5 elephants together is the biggest herd we saw in Tanzania, so anything bigger than that will be a treat!

thanks!

tockoloshe

It's about 700km Cape Town to the border then another 800km direct to Windhoek. If I remember well (and maybe someone will put me right) the speed limit is 100km/hr, so you can work out how long you want to keep going.
If you are going in Sept it might still be the wild flower season in Namaqualand (again, maybe someone else can give more accurate information) and that would make the drive up the west coast more interesting, but we found it quite dull without the flowers. However we broke up the journey in Clanwilliam (250km from Cape Town), a nice little town with fantastic rock art nearby, and flower shows during the flower season.
If you have the time, you could do quite a bit of sight-seeing before you get to Windhoek, there's Fish River Canyon just over the border and a possible detour to Luderitz before you get to Sossusvlei and go on to Windhoek (I'll give you my opinion of Windhoek in your other post!)
Hope that's some use.

Patty

There's some excellent information and reports on this site if you want to self drive in Namibia http://www.pangolin.li/?id=18

tockoloshe

That's a good find, Patty, useful for planning our next trip too, thanks.
Nancie, their report on Namaqualand, Fish River Canyon and Luderitz might help with your planning - trip report 'South Africa/Namibia 05' - much better than any guide book I've read.

nanciej

Thanks again–lots of reading to do.

nancie