Including travel time: what do you recommend for one week in Namibia?

Are you only going to Namibia or someplace else as well? I ask because when I went, I did the all the wildlife viewing I wanted to do in Botswana, and then enjoyed Namibia solely for its incredible topography, deserts & dunes. In other words, no Etosha or Caprivi.

So the answer to your question depends a lot on what you would enjoy. I personally would recommend Sossusvlei, the Fish River Canyon, seaside dunes and star-gazing. That + travel would take about a week, I'd say.

However, if you want to add the wildlife component, then Etosha + Sossusvlei + travel would just about take care of that entire week.

Looking at Zambia or Zimbabwe for most of the wildlife viewing. I need to read more about Etosha to determine whether we could miss it.

Hi Cheweyhead,

Namibia is a vast country, to drive from Windhoek to Etosha takes about 6 hours. If this is your first time on safari Etosha can be a really great option as the game viewing is excellent. To get a good overview of Namibia you do need about 10 days. If you are just wanting to see the landscapes then I would agree Sangeeta - Sossusvlei and Fish River Canyon.

Although my personal preference is the Kaokoveld and Damaraland areas.

You can read more about Etosha here:
http://www.mysafari.com/blog/doing-i...safari-37-view

I have twice been to the wonderful Wolwedans which is within the NamibRand Nature reserve and offers opportunity to enjoy this incredible living dessert in peace and solitude. I love it there and want to return again in next year or three.

From there is about an hour or two drive to Sossusvlei to see the giant dunes and the dead vleis (where dunes have cut off the river and the trees that grew there have died and petrified).

We also loved Damaraland where we were able to enjoy a different landscape, some wildlife, mostly the desert adapted elephants.

I have not visited South for Fish River Canyon nor Etosha nor the Skeleton Coast camps which are accessed by flight only and look just magical. If cost were no object, I'd do Serra Cafema next trip.

Thank you again for your posts. The four of us are deciding whether to revisit the Gorillas in Rwanda and add Southern Tanzania, or do a a Two week: Namiba and Zambia.

Nambia and Zambia/Zimbabwe for September. Flying out of Los Angeles. Is there a "best" flight route?

Namibia is awesome, and 1 week would be scratching the surface. I could miss Etosha and be very happy, to be honest. Sossusvlei is the place I wouldn't miss in Namibia, and then I would spend time in the Namib Rand (Wolwedans), Skeleton Coast, Serra Cafema or Damaraland.

On our second trip, we wanted so much to visit Skeleton Coast and Serra Cafema but as we were travelling for 9 weeks in total, we just couldn't do it...

But next time, we WILL!

We renewed our wedding vows for our 10th wedding anniversary, at Wolwedans. Maybe for our 20th (in 2014) we'll go back again...

Hello again,
Booked our outbound from LA to LHR to JNB onto Windhoek for first two weeks +/- June 2012. A little less than one week in Namibia, two nights Victoria Falls and one week in Zambia.
Never been to Africa in June.

What is your intinerary for Namibia and are you self-driving? We are going to Zimbabwe next August and I was originally thinking of adding some time in Cape Town, but may look at Namibia instead.

We are working on the Namibia itinerary now. Sossusvlei & North Skeleton Coast for sure. Probably a lot of flying. Deciding on one of the Cheetah Conservation locations.

raelond - check out the Namibia portion of our blog - you could do it backwards from the way we did......

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

Thanks Liz. As a fellow Canadian I enjoyed the references in your blog, especially the part about seal hunting!

About June - days are short. This year was colder than usual - we had a few below freezing nights in S Africa. Buy hot water bottles (and a kettle if needed) for better sleeping. Take a rain poncho for Vic Falls - it should be flowing well.

Sounds like a lovely trip. Zambia and Namibia are on my short list.

Thanks for the information. Looking forward to a magnificent Victoria Falls.

We visited Namibia in late May/early June in 2008 as part of our honeymoon. We flew into Windhoek and self-drove to Sossusvlei. Yes, the nights were long, but I loved the weather and the stars! (You'll be thankful for the cooler temps when climbing the dunes in Sossusvlei.) We stayed at Sossusvlei Mountain Lodge, which is now Sossusvlei Desert Lodge. Loved it. We spent 11 days in SA and 5 in Namibia, and I wish we had spent another several days there (though that would have meant extending the trip.) I would have loved to have added either the Skeleton Coast or Walvis Bay to the itinerary. Next time!

I *highly* recommend driving in Namibia. I was so amazed by the landscape from Windhoek to Sossusvlei (via Spreetshoogte Pass) and the fact that we only passed three cars/truck in the first five hours of driving (until we got to Solitaire).