This 15 day self-drive tour will take you to the main highlights of the country and also show you other beautiful and interesting attractions.
Your trip will start from Windhoek and will head north to the Waterberg Plateau Park.
Waterberg Plateau is your first destination for this tour. Waterberg Resort offers you some great hiking trails. Game drives to the top of the plateau can also be booked. Waterberg is home to our Buffalo and a variety of wildlife. Waterberg has strong permanent springs at the foot of the mountain as well as surface water. This is the reason for the lush green flora.
Etosha National Park offers an extraordinary wealth of animal and plant life. The Etosha Pan is usually dry, except for periods of heavy rainfall and when northern flood-water flow into i when this happens large flocks of flamingos use the pan for breeding. The park’s waterholes are a magnet for attracting game and stunning wildlife action. Self-driving allows for flexible and timely game-viewing.
Damaraland offers you a great sighting possibility. You will be able to see the White Lady at Brandberg, the Petrified Forest and the San rock engravings at Twyfelfontein. The very fortunate people will be able to het to spot the desert-adapted elephants as well.
Swakopmund offers you a change of scenery. Here you will be able to take it relaxed, and enjoy the German architectural buildings and great restaurants. For the more thrill seekers, there is also plenty to do. From dune-boarding to skydiving and Quad biking. You can also do camel riding, catamaran cruising. The Welwitchia drive is also a great drive. You will just need to get a permit at the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.
From Swakopmund to the Namib Desert its gravel road again. Here you will be able to enjoy the spectacular scenery and climbing of the dunes, Deadvlei and the Sesriem Canyon.
From Sossusvlei you head further south along the Namib Naukluft Park towards the southern coastal town of Luderitz. Its colonial style buildings, stormy bay and diving seals and penguins are slowly but surely attracting the more inquisitive and intrepid type of tourist. Birds, beaches and bays, not to mention the extraordinary ghost town of Kolmanskop, now get their fair share of attention.
From Luderitz you travel to the amazing Fish River Canyon. The lookout at Hobas is the most spectacular view.
The last stop before your drive back to Windhoek is at a lodge in the Kalahari Desert. Here you will enjoy the last red dunes and the savanna fields. On your way to the Kalahari, you will pass Giant’s Playground and the Quiver Tree Forest. Worth a visit.
All our itinerary’s is customisable to suit your self-drive safaris. Days could be added of deleted. Accommodation is 100% your choice. You can browse the area and suggest where you would like to stay instead. We strive to make your stay as memorable as possible.
Windhoek – Waterberg - Etosha – Damaraland – West Coast – Naukluft – Spergebiet – Southern Namibia – Southern Kalahari - Windhoek
Day | Accommodation | Destination | Basis | Duration |
Day 0 | Arebbusch Travel Lodge | Windhoek | BB | 1 Night |
Day 1 | Waterberg Resort | Central Namibia | DBB | 1 Night |
Day 2 | Namutoni Resort | Etosha | DBB | 1 Night |
Day 3 | Halali Resort | Etosha | DBB | 1 Night |
Day 4 | Okaukuejo Resort | Etosha | DBB | 1 Night |
Day 5 | Brandberg White Lady Lodge | Damaraland | BB | 1 Night |
Day 6 & 7 | Alte Brucke Resort | West Coast | BB | 2 Nights |
Day 8 & 9 | Sossus Dune Lodge | Naukluft Park | DBB | 2 Nights |
Day 10 & 11 | Nest Hotel | Spergebiet | BB | 2 Nights |
Day 12 | Canyon Roadhouse | Southern Namibia | BB | 1 Night |
Day 13 | Kalahari Anib Lodge | Southern Kalahari | BB | 1 Night |
Day 14 | Windhoek |
The following is included:
See the individual lodges for detailed inclusions.
The following is excluded:
See the individual lodges for detailed exclusions.
Waterberg is situated north of Windhoek. Your drive will be 305 kilometers, roughly 3 hours to reach Waterberg. Once you pass through the town of Okahandja the landscape becomes flat, and the road is straight - pretty much the only notable geographical feature along this section of the road are the Omatako Mountains.
Once arriving at the lodge, we recommend Waterberg Resort, as it is part of the Waterberg National Park. If you prefer other accommodation please see our map CENTRAL NAMIBIA, to choose different accommodation and we will book accordingly.
Here you will be able to do a guided safari up the Plato searching for Buffalo – Roan- Sable and other species. The view from the top is breath taking. There are beautiful hiking trails to enjoy in the vast green area as well. Sunsets makes the contras of the huge red mountain spectacular.
Waterberg Resort will be our choice to stay, but if you prefer other accommodation please see our map CENTRAL NAMIBIA, and we can book accordingly
Leaving Waterberg, you will have 380 kilometers to travel to Namutoni, entering the Park at the Von Lindquist gate, which is the eastern gate into Etosha. The drive will take you around 4 hours.
There is a variety of lodges to choose from our map ETOSHA NATIONAL PARK, to stay outside the park. Inside we would suggest a night’s stay at Namutoni Resort, a night at Halali Resort and the last evening at Okaukuejo. Due to the size of the park, the habitat differs from the eastern side to the western side.
Benefit of staying inside the park is: The waterholes in the evenings, and you get to drive around with the first light in the morning till sunset.
Driving form Halali Resort to Okaukuejo resort. Exploring the nature and animal life. Seeing as much waterholes as you can.
Etosha Park
It is worth waking early and heading out on your game drive as soon as the gates open at sunrise. Animals are most active in the cool of the day (early morning and late afternoon) and in order to maximize your chances of good viewings it is worth imitating their behavior. The roads in Etosha are unsealed gravel roads but are in reasonable condition - and the general tourist behavior is to drive between various waterholes searching for animals. As the day gets hotter head for shade, and lunch, at one of the parks three camps, Okaukuejo, Namutoni or Halali. When things start to cool down again head out for another game drive. With two days you should have sightings of most of the park's inhabitants (although be warned the cats are notoriously hard to find - and of course what you see is determined by luck and more importantly your ability to spot wildlife).
You will leave Etosha via the Anderson gate and head south to the town Outjo. From Outjo you will proceed westwards to Khorixas. From Khorixas you proceed westwards till you reach the Petrified Forest. Here you will have to pay a local guide to show you the remains of the million-year-old petrified tree trunks. From here your head to Twyfelfontein. This world heritage site has an extremely high density of bushman rock engravings. Here you will be able to hire a local guide as well to show you more striking engravings.
The lucky ones will be able to see our desert adapted Elephants or Black Rhino on their journey.
Here you will also be able to choose accommodation from our map DAMARALAND. We recommend White Lady Lodge.
On your drive towards Uis, we would recommend a stop at the Brandberg Mountain. Brandberg Mountain is the highest point in Namibia. Here you will be able to see the “White Lady” rock painting.
From Brandberg you will be driving towards the coast, roughly 130 kilometers, where you will reach Henties Bay. From Henties you can turn north to visit Cape Cross which is 60 kilometers away. Here you will see the Cape Fur Seal colony.
Once you had enough of them, you can turn back past Henties towards Swakopmund. The drive back is about 130 kilometers.
On arrival to Swakopmund we recommend you to go and do your check in at your accommodation for your two nights, before you head out for a cold drink and a bite.
Alte Brucke would be a great choice of accommodation. You can also see more places on our map WEST COAST.
Fun filled day. Swakopmund offers you a host of adventure activities:
Activities could be booked beforehand, or one could book it on arrival in Swakopmund.
Swakopmund offers you great food and fantastic Beer!
As you leave Swakopmund towards Walvis Bay, you can explore the lagoon where you will able to view the pink flamingos.
Your drive will be around 350 kilometers for the day, which will take around 4-5 hours. You will drive through the Kuiseb & Gaub pass to reach Sossusvlei. The contras is spectacular.
We would recommend staying in Sossus Dune lodge. Advantage of staying with them is, you are already in the park so with first light you can head down to the dunes.
There is a wide variety of other lodges to stay. Please see our map NAMIB NAULKUFT PARK
Wake up early and leave your lodge, heading for the Sesriem entrance gate to the Namib Naukluft Park. This gate only opens at sunrise, so there is no point arriving earlier, but driving the 60 kilometers from Sesriem through the dunes towards Sossusvlei while the sun rises is a real pleasure. The first major dune you will encounter goes by the imaginative name of Dune 45 - many people choose to stop and climb this dune but we suggest you continue onwards towards Sossusvlei. Park at the 2x4 car park (unless you have a 4x4 vehicle this is as far as you can drive), Sossusvlei is a further 4km from here but you are already amongst fairly large dunes. The walk along the dry river bed into Sossusvlei is lovely but for the very unfit or terminally lazy there are 4x4 shuttles from the car park to Sossusvlei. Deadvlei, so named because it is a large pan with sculptural dead trees, is close by and definitely worth a visit. When you have had enough sand - head back to your vehicle (there really is no shame in taking the shuttle back - the sand is likely to be hot, and the walk less pleasant than the one in the cool of the morning) On your way back to the lodge stop at the Sesriem Canyon - follow the signs from the Sesriem Campsite.
Today you will be traveling south along the Namib Naukluft Park, with Luderitz as your destination in sight. It is a beautiful scenic drive down south.
You will reach a tar road at Aus. At Aus you can enjoy a light lunch and stetch the legs. From here you will drive westwards through the restricted Sperrgebiet (Diamond Area) Here your scenery will be empty plains with small dunes. At the end of the road, you will find the harbour town of Luderitz where you will be able to spend two nights.
Kolmanskop, the ghost town is definitely worth a visit. There is catamaran trips in the mornings from the harbour which will allow you to see Diaz Point, Cape Fur Seals, occasional penguin and Flamingos.
We would recommend Nest Hotel. If you prefer other accommodation, please see our map SPERRGEBIET and we will book accordingly.
Today you will head back towards Aus and then continue inland until turning south towards the Fish River Canyon. Often compared to America's Grand Canyon the Fish River is smaller but still impressive. The main lookout point is at Hobas. A view with a 1000 words.
We recommend Canyon Roadhouse for the night’s stay. Please see alternative accommodation on our map SOUTHERN NAMIBIA, and we will book accordingly.
From the Fish River you will be driving northward via the town of Keetmanshoop. Not far from Keetmanshoop is the Quiver Tree Forest and the Giants Playground. Here you will find some 300 quiver trees.
From here you will travel to town of Mariental. Passing the town, you will turn right after 10 kilometers towards Stampriet and on the way you’ll find Kalahari Anib Lodge on your left.
Here you will be able to do you last guided sundowner in the magnificent Kalahari, where you will be surrounded by red dunes and savannah fields.
We recommend Kalahari Anib Lodge for the nights stay. Please see alternative accommodation on our map SOUTHERN KALAHARI, and we will book accordingly.
Kalahari Desert - Windhoek
On the last day of the tour you head northwards back to Windhoek. Your route leads you through the town of Rehoboth before you finally arrive back in Windhoek.
Today we drive back to Windhoek. Enjoy your breakfast and the last part of Namibia’s open roads. If you are not flying out today, we could recommend you accommodation, see our map WINDHOEK REGION, and book it for you.
If you are interested in booking this tour with us, please click on the button below which will take you to the enquiry form. Fill out the form and we will get back to you.
We have a wide option of vehicles to rent on our site. We will also be able to advise you on the best possible vehicle for your tour, and to arrange the rental for you.
Windhoek – Waterberg - Etosha – Damaraland – West Coast – Naukluft – Spergebiet – Southern Namibia – Southern Kalahari - Windhoek
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