Namibia Travel Guide

A great variety of habitats, and wildlife (both birding and game viewing) which far exceeded my expectations.

Wonder of the Earth

As a Japanese we visited Namib Dessert to watch the sun rise on New Years Day. Scenery was beautiful with changing colours of the dunes as sun rises. We move to Swakopmund that is on the coastal area that we could see completely different beauty of the earth. Arrangement of travel agent was superb and our guide was experienced kind and helpful. I believe that Japanese people will love Namibia (actually my wife said she wants to come again), but it's a pity that it is so far from Japan!

Amazing 10-Day Self Drive Tour of Namibia

We started planning this trip rather last minute, only four weeks from our departure. After being a bit overwhelmed by all the choices, we opted to have Wayfairer Travel handle all the arrangements and bookings. We gave them a budget and they took it from there. We couldn't have been happier with the results. Every detail was taken care of and even though this was a self-drive tour, we were well taken care of along the way.

The accommodations were very high end and very comfortable, especially the Doro Nawas Lodge in Damaraland and the Ongava Lodge near Etosha. The food and service was top notch with all the meals being tasty and well presented. We were in Namibia in January which is their summer and the wet season. Not the best time we were told to see wildlife in places like Etosha, because the animals are spread out throughout the park and don't need to rely on the waterholes for their water. Despite that being the case, we saw elephants in Damaraland, lions in Ongava, Rhinos in Waterberg Plateau and most of the more common animals as well. No cheetahs or leopards, but we will have to save that for next time.

The highlights have to be the dunes in and around Sossusvlei (we spent an evening watching the sunset from Dune 40 all to ourselves). Everyone else goes to Dune 45 so it is full of footprints, but Dune 40 was untouched. Watching the sunrise from Deadvlei. Finding about 20 of the rare desert-adapted elephants in Damaraland along with a 3 week old calf, and watching about 10 lions in Ongava lounging around and playing with their cubs. Overall an amazing trip.

Wonderful 2 weeks in Namibia

We had a fantastic time in Namibia. The tour organized by Wild Wind Safaris was nicely organized and fully met our expecations. All of the lodges we stayed at were good and the food nice. The different landscapes were stunning and the wildlife is beautiful. The price you pay for seeing all this is that you are spending a lot of time in the car on the road but this you know in advance as the country is big and there a many gravel roads where you cannot drive very fast. We had a really excellent guide who shared a lot of information with us and gave us many insights about the country, the people and the different tribes.

Unique desert and coastal scenery.

The desert scenery throughout Namibia was quite spectacular, although at times it looked just like we were in the Australian outback. The weather was quite pleasant, with the exception of sesriem where it got to 48 degrees Celsius during the day but otherwise we barely saw any clouds the whole 10 days we spent there. The standard of accommodation and food exceeded our expectations in most cases, especially at the luxury desert inn at Sesriem. Having the ability to drive ourselves at our own pace was good as we were able to stop at various interesting sites along the way.

Wonderful wilderness

We loved Namibia, it was so remote in places we felt like we had the country to ourselves on the road and it has not been spoilt yet by tourism. The wildlife in Etosha was great, we had some lovely sightings. The campsites could be improved (some staff were a bit rude and toilet paper kept running out!) but the sites were lovely. The weather was lovely and warm with some rain overnight. Sussouvlei was amazing, Ive never seen a landscape like it and we loved the long drives through the remote mountain passes. We already miss this beautiful country.

Just a beautiful place to travel to and you can find anything from desert to bush safari.

Namibia is a country with amazing wildlife and so much more. I was surprised at the abundance of wild animals we saw in Etosha, but also saw other wildlife along our journey travelling across the country. The country has so much to offer in addition to its wildlife, including some of the highest sand dunes in the world, traditional tribes and hiking opportunites.

Awesome destination with beautiful Wildlife.

We were 4 days camping in Etosha with a private guide. The guide was good and the wildlife was beautiful. We were lucky to see lots of animals very close (e.g. 50+ elephants at a waterhole and a leopard next to the car) and always felt safe. I would always recommend a guided tour as the guides know at what time to be certain places to see the animals you want to get.
The camping part of the tour was not that good (which was organized by an organization for us).We were staying just outside the park in a camp which was quite good. Unfortunately our sleeping bags were to thin so that we were freezing at night. Additionally the food was really ‘basic’ (packet soup, backed beans, packet salat etc.) so that we ended up buying a bigger lunches by ourself at the camp when stoping there for a break at noon. We only got a ‘normal’ car (not a 4x4) to drive around the park. A 4x4 is not absolutely necessary, but I would recommend it because is a lot for comfortable (with luggage and camping gear we needed to squeeze in) and there are some places we had to skip as you need a 4x4 to get there.
To sum it up I would give 5 stars to the wildlife and the park itself. The overall impression for us was only diminished by the not properly organized camping experience.

spectacular scenery, but not a soft option safari

We saw a wide variety of wildlife, including rare black rhino and desert adapted elephant and giraffe. The scenery was beautiful, in a rugged, harsh way. The dunes at Sossusvlei are a highlight.
Travelling for hours on dirt roads can be tiring. The vehicle was substandard, as the air conditioning didn't work. This is such a vast country that it might be worth considering a fly-in safari to cut down time on the road. Some lodges and hotels were good, but the camping options were not "glamping". These are not like tented camps in other parts of Africa, such as Botswana - a bit more rustic.