Namibia family safaris
| country: | Namibia |
| departures: | 2008: 22 Aug, 19 Dec |
| price: | From £1713 - £2156 (14 days) per adult and £1569 - £1828 per child including flights from the UK. This trip can also be booked without flights. Child price depends on age and departure date. |
the amazing things you'll be doing
It has always been difficult to find a safari suited to families with young children that was reasonably priced and didn’t require a private guide. This itinerary has been designed to offer just that. The Tamboti Safari combines the best of Namibia’s wildlife in the north with the stunning desert scenery in the south.
The whole family can experience Etosha National Park, one of Africa’s top game parks, the world’s largest dunes, local communities (both traditional and modern), and a tremendous variety of contrasting environments - all on an easy assisted camping safari.
It is an assisted camping safari. By camping for much of the time, assisted camping safaris offer the best of Namibia at a very reasonable cost. In a country where it's usually much warmer and drier than in the UK, camping is a great way to maximise your time outdoors.
Each trip is led by a professional guide, who also acts as your driver and helps around camp. The other vital person on these trips is the camp assistant. It's his/her job to do most of the camp shores. Whilst you will help to put up and take down your tent (it's very easy!), you need not worry about cooking or washing up. This leaves you and your guide more time to relax and chat about the country and your experiences.
The whole family can experience Etosha National Park, one of Africa’s top game parks, the world’s largest dunes, local communities (both traditional and modern), and a tremendous variety of contrasting environments - all on an easy assisted camping safari.
It is an assisted camping safari. By camping for much of the time, assisted camping safaris offer the best of Namibia at a very reasonable cost. In a country where it's usually much warmer and drier than in the UK, camping is a great way to maximise your time outdoors.
Each trip is led by a professional guide, who also acts as your driver and helps around camp. The other vital person on these trips is the camp assistant. It's his/her job to do most of the camp shores. Whilst you will help to put up and take down your tent (it's very easy!), you need not worry about cooking or washing up. This leaves you and your guide more time to relax and chat about the country and your experiences.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Flight to Namibia: Scheduled flight to Windhoek with Air Namibia.(D) |
| Day 2: | Windhoek: On arrival in Windhoek, you are met and transferred to a comfortable guesthouse. During the afternoon you are taken on a trip to Katutura, one of Windhoek’s large, vibrant townships. During the apartheid years this was the original workers’ township and now makes up the city’s largest suburb. Each visit is different, but you usually have a chance to visit the market and sample some of the local food and drink. Dinner this evening is at your own expense as there are plenty of good restaurants to choose from. Alternatively you can dine at the guesthouse. You will find the staff there friendly and helpful, and our Namibian team is easily contactable and happy to answer any queries you might have. (B) |
| Day 3: | AfriCat Foundation: After breakfast, you are collected between 08.30 and 09.00 for the short drive north to the town of Okahandja: home to the country’s largest and best craft markets, so local artisans come here from all over Namibia to sell their wares. Your drive continues to a private campsite at Okonjima, where you spend the afternoon learning about the work of the AfriCat Foundation in conserving Namibia’s big cats, especially cheetah. You usually have the chance to get very close to some of these magnificent predators. Windhoek to Okonjima: approx 3½ hours (300km). (BLD) |
| Day 4: | Etosha National Park: Rise early for a hearty breakfast, before driving north through the town of Outjo where you stop for morning tea and sticky buns while your guide stocks up with fresh supplies. From here it’s a short drive to your camp on the south western side of Etosha National Park. During the afternoon there is time to head out into the park on your first game drive; you’ll seek out interesting wildlife partly by driving around and partly by stopping to watch the action at some of the more prolific waterholes. Okonjima to south west Etosha: approx 4 hours (300km). (BLD) |
| Day 5: | Etosha National Park: You are up early to enjoy a full day of game viewing. A vast swathe of Etosha National park consists of the enormous Etosha Pan, a shallow depression of silvery-white salts which fills with water only in exceptionally wet years. Normally, it’s bone dry, but around it are numerous perennial springs that can attract great concentrations of wildlife. Spotting the big game is easy; but travelling with a knowledgeable guide enables you also to understand and appreciate the smaller species, and learn about some of Etosha’s many birds. Game drives. (BLD) |
| Day 6: | Hobatere Reserve: After breaking camp you travel through the restricted western part of Etosha National Park. This area has been set aside for wildlife research and to allow animals to breed without the constant intrusion of vehicles, but with special permission you are allowed to transit through it. Once you leave the park behind it’s just a short distance to the private Hobatere Reserve, which covers 320km2 between Etosha and the wilderness areas of Damaraland. This is a relatively lush and very well established reserve with excellent densities of game. Your campsite at Hobatere is rustic but excellent with good views across the surrounding terrain. It is in an unfenced wilderness area, which must be taken into account if you’re travelling with younger children. Mostly game drives. (BLD) |
| Day 7: | Palmwag: Leaving Hobatere behind you travel via the small, functional town of Kamanjab to a Himba community that welcomes the chance to interact with visitors. Like east Africa’s Maasai, the Himba have a proud culture that they have successfully retained in the face of the modern world. Many adhere to their traditional dress and customs, living in ways that have changed little over the centuries. Each aspect of their lives has a meaning, from how they set up their kraal to honour their ancestors, to the way they wear their hair. Oase village is the only traditionally functioning Himba community outside the far north Kaokoland region of Namibia. These tribes-people have migrated here, lifestyle and customs intact, and are following their traditional way of life in their village located on a farm. You spend the morning with them at the village, where a local guide introduces you to their alternative lifestyle and helps you to learn about Himba life and culture. From here you continue further west into northern Damaraland, traversing the small Grootberg mountain range to Palmwag. Located on the banks of a dry river bed, your campsite is set in an oasis shaded by huge Makalani palm trees close to a rare desert spring. The spring often attracts a variety of animal species, occasionally including the desert-adapted elephant. Hobatere to Palmwag: approx 4½ hours (300km). (BLD) |
| Day 8: | Brandberg: After breakfast you turn southwards through Damaraland, a picturesque area of flat-topped sandstone mountains. Take time to explore the World Heritage Site at Twyfelfontein. Here a seemingly ordinary valley hides an amazing gallery of rock art carved into the flat surfaces of a ruined petrified sand dune. At each of these sites a local guide will lead you; this ensures that the local knowledge is maintained and revenue from tourism is ploughed back into the surrounding communities. From here you continue to your campsite in the shade of Brandberg, which at 2,573m is Namibia’s highest mountain and a National Monument. Palmwag to Brandberg: approx 5 hours (350km). (BLD) |
| Day 9: | Swakopmund: An early start ensures that the day is still cool for your 90-minute, relatively easy walk into the mountain, to see the world-famous ‘White Lady’ rock painting. Attributed to the Bushmen artists, the painting is believed by some to be more than 20,000 years old and is well worth a visit. On your way to the coast, there is time for a short stop in Uis. Once there was a thriving community here, centred on a large tin mine; but the mine closed a few years ago and now it’s a much quieter and almost sleepy place. Semi-precious stones such as amethyst and tourmaline can be found here at bargain prices. Driving along the desolate Skeleton Coast, you pause to visit Cape Cross, where you can walk to within feet of an enormous colony of Cape fur seals, before reaching the pleasant coastal town of Swakopmund and settling into your chalet. There are many interesting shops and craft centres here, and several excellent restaurants to choose from. (Don’t miss the succulent fresh seafood!) Brandberg to Swakopmund: approx 4 hours (250km). (BL) |
| Day 10: | Swakopmund: With Swakopmund as your base, you’ve a wide choice of things to do. This small seaside town is a major centre for activities, from dune-boarding, quad-biking, sky-diving and dolphin cruises to scenic flights over the desert. Your guide will explain these and many other options to you (costs are paid locally and activities undertaken at your own risk), and help you make bookings. Alternatively, spend your time exploring the town with its museums, galleries, curio shops and historic buildings, relax in one of the many cafés, or take a quiet stroll along the beach. Lunch and dinner are at your own expense, although the group and guide often arrange to meet up. (B) |
| Day 11: | Namib-Naukluft Park: Drive south along the dramatic coastal road to the port town of Walvis Bay, where the lagoon is usually full of flamingos, pelicans and other water birds. From here you turn southeast across the gravel plains of the Namib before traversing the steep Kuiseb and Gaub passes. After a short stop at the tiny desert outpost of Solitaire for tea and perhaps some homemade apple crumble, it’s a relatively short drive to your campsite on the edge of the desert. You aim to arrive during the late afternoon, in time to watch the evening colours glow and change on the distant mountains to the east. Swakopmund to Namib Desert Camp: approx 6 hours (300km). (BLD) |
| Day 12: | Namib-Naukluft Park: Rising well before dawn, you drive deep into the desert, home to some of the world’s highest dunes and stunning scenery. The shifting, contrasting patterns of light and shadow on these dunes are always enthralling, and the view from the top (if you have the energy!) is spectacular. After breakfast in the desert you continue through breathtaking scenery to some of the world’s highest dunes at Sossusvlei. Spend the morning exploring these, marvelling at the surroundings and the wildlife. After a relaxing lunch-stop at Sesriem, you drive to nearby Sesriem Gorge, where the force of the ephemeral Tsauchab River has sculpted amazing shapes from the rock. (BLD) |
| Day 13: | Daan Viljoen Nature Reserve: After breakfast you leave the plains of the Namib to traverse the Naukluft Mountains and Khomas Hochland Highlands. After passing through Windhoek you continue to the nearby Daan Viljoen Nature reserve and your bungalow accommodation beside the Augeigas Dam. The bungalows here are not en-suite but the ablution blocks are situated nearby. Daan Viljoen is a small but interesting reserve, home to good populations of Hartmann’s mountain zebra, blue wildebeest, kudu, oryx and springbok as well as klipspringer, giraffe and even eland. It is also a fantastic place to spot some of many bird species that have been recorded here. Arriving around mid-afternoon will give you time to relax or explore some of the surrounding area on foot. Desert Camp to Daan Viljoen: approx 5½ hours (450km). (BLD) |
| Day 14: | Flight to London: As your flight departs in the evening you have the full day to explore further in Daan Viljoen or spend time shopping in Windhoek. Your guide will be on hand if you need transport and to transfer you to the airport in time for your homeward flight. Daan Viljoen to Windhoek Airport: approx 1 hour (65km). (BD) |
| Day 15: | Arrive in London: (B) |
how this holiday makes a difference
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In line with our strong stance on responsible tourism, all guides on this trip are local Namibians, picked for their excellent indigenous knowledge of the area and high degree of training. Their understanding of the country’s flora, fauna and local culture will ensure a true insight into Namibian life. Throughout the trip you will stay at community run campsites and visit community initiatives at various local sights.
 You will also experience a taste of the nomadic Himba people in Damaraland, where a local farmer and village chief have formed a unique partnership which allows visitors to discover this intriguing culture in a sensitive and responsible manner. The trip also supports the world-renowned AfriCat foundation, which conducts vital research into the preservation of Namibia’s big cats. Visitors will see first-hand the fascinating work of this respected organisation, which includes sheltering “problem” animals and rehabilitating them into the wild. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |