Namibia Holidays

Experience Namibia’s diverse marine life on a catamaran cruise of Walvis Bay. Set on the rugged Skeleton Coast, the bay is a haven for pelagic birds and the marine Big Five: whales, dolphins, mola mola, leatherback turtles and seals. You will leave early in the morning, sailing out to Pelican Point, which has a striking lighthouse and a colony of around 60,000 Cape fur seals – you can hear them barking as you approach.

From there, pass oyster farms, huge ships and oil rigs as you sail through the bay. You may spot bottlenose, dusky and Heaviside's dolphins jumping through the waves. If you’re lucky, maybe an albatross will swoop overhead and or you may catch sight of a turtle or giant mola mola. Also known as a sunfish, adults can weigh up to 1,000 kilograms.

Most whale sightings occur between July and the end of October when various species migrate. During that time, you may see whales daily, from southern rights and grays to pygmys and humpbacks. The skippers focus on the educational aspect of the tour and will teach you all about the different animals. Following international regulations, the animals are not crowded and are observed from a distance.

If the wind comes up, the sails will be hoisted and the engine switched off. Finish the tour enjoying sparkling wine and oysters on seafood platters with fresh bread, desserts and drinks.

Meet the unique creatures of the Namib Desert on this educational tour. The aim is to get people to see the dunes with a different eye and realise they’re not just a pile of sand, they’re home to incredible wildlife. Departing from Swakopmund, you’ll be taken in a 4x4 to the coastal dune belt just outside of town.

During the drive, your guide will be looking for tracks and signs in the dunes. Looking for scorpions, spiders and the group informally called the little five: the palmato gecko, sand-diving lizard, fog-basking tok-tokkie beetle, sidewinder snake and chameleon. These secretive animals are tough to spot without the help of an experienced local guide.

When something is spotted, you’ll get a closer look as your guide tells you all about the special adaptations each creature has to survive in this inhospitable environment. You never know what you’re going to encounter in the desert though. End the trip with some exciting big dune driving in custom-built safari vehicles, it’s like a rollercoaster ride.

Explore the contrasting landscapes of Namibia, beginning with a hunt for some of the most fantastic aquatic wildlife. Enjoy a hot drink on board as you approach a Cape fur seal colony and the lighthouse at Pelican Point. Between July and November, you might be able to spot southern right and humpback whales. Taste fresh oysters served with sparkling wine before visiting Sandwich Harbour Lagoon (weather permitting), or heading to the top of a dune for wonderful desert views.

Soar down the Namib Desert’s dunes on this sandboarding adventure. The tour starts in Swakopmund, where you will be driven eight kilometres into the desert. The landscape is incredible, with dune-top views of the world’s oldest desert on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. It’s brilliant for photos; sometimes, you’ll even spot palmato geckos, beetles and chameleons hiding in the sand.

Expert instructors start with a safety briefing and then teach you the techniques for lie-down and stand-up boarding, which is a bit more technical. Quality snowboards that have been customised to glide perfectly across the sand are used. It’s an exhilarating feeling, rocketing down the dunes - when you’re lying down, you can even reach speeds of 50km an hour!

Afterwards, head down to the beach to watch the waves and have a picnic. You’ll enjoy cold Namibian beers, sandwiches and a lunch platter. As well as an adrenaline rush, the tour also gives you the rare opportunity to get out of your car and immerse yourself in the extraordinary scenery of the Namib Desert.

View Namibia’s Skeleton Coast from the best seats in the house on this scenic flight. Loop from the seaside resort of Swakopmund past mountains, rivers, little towns and a staggering uranium mine before reaching the untouched beauty of the Skeleton Coast. Haunted by the remains of whales and shipwrecks, you’ll sweep over this beautifully harsh landscape where the vast sea ripples against the burnt orange of the desert in this intriguing juxtaposition of nature.

After being collected from your hotel, drive towards the city centre stopping at the distinct looking Germanic Christuskirche. It’s overlooked by the Independence Memorial Museum where you will climb to the top and take in the cityscape. Next, walk to Parliament and its peaceful green gardens before visiting the old Cape-Dutch style railway station dating back to the colonial era. Afterwards head to the colourful Post Street Mall, a popular shopping street also renown for displaying around 30 meteorite chunks discovered in Namibia. There’s time for souvenir shopping at an open-air craft market before travelling towards the township of Katutura.

On the way, drive past the Old Location (now a modern suburb), a black settlement created in 1912 before its community were forcibly relocated to Katutura. Stop at Penduka Women Project, a non-profit project on the shoreline of the Goreangab Reservoir where women hailing from Katutura use their skills as artisans to weave beautiful products such as canvas bags and embroidered towels. End by touring Katutura itself to learn of its politics, meet the people and hear some of the local language.

Damaraland is unlike anywhere else in Namibia, home to table-topped peaks carved with ancient petroglyphs and dry river beds where desert elephants roam. Explore Damaraland’s highlights, starting with its collection of ancient rock art in Twyfelfontein, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As Africa’s most extensive rock art collection, you can see over 2,500 animal shapes and geometric designs carved over thousands of years by Namibia’s native bushmen.

As you drive through Damaraland, your guide will point out its signature landmarks; geological formations carved by wind and sand over centuries. There’s a set of impressive dolerite pillars nick-named the organ pipes, a petrified forest of trees frozen in sediment over 200 million years ago and the Matterhorn-shaped volcanic peak, Spitzkoppe. Namibia’s highest mountain, Brandberg, is gorgeous at sunrise and sunset, when it appears to glow, earning itself the title Fire Mountain.

You may see Namibia’s desert elephants, who live in dry riverbeds such as the Huab, Hoarusib and Uniab. These ephemeral rivers flood during rains and are lined with vegetation like ana trees, a vital food source for elephants. Classed as endangered, only an estimated 150 desert elephants are now left in the wild. If you’re lucky enough to spot the elephants your guide will point out the unique adaptations that allow them to survive in the desert, including larger feet to stop them from sinking into the sand.

If you’re craving a safari, there’s no better place in Namibia than Etosha National Park. The country’s oldest conservation area is home to 114 species of mammals and 350 bird species. What’s really special about Etosha though is its spring-fed waterholes, which draw animals from far and wide, especially during the dry season from June to November.

Etosha is good for a self-drive adventure, guided tour or the individual lodges also offer full and half-day safaris with their guides, who’ll know all the best waterholes and wildlife-watching destinations in the park. Perhaps take a break from behind the wheel or your guided tour vehicle and enjoy a ride in an open-sided 4×4, perfect for photographing animals and Etosha’s vast landscapes. Your guide will help you spot everything from giraffes and elephants to big cats and rhinos, as well as plains game like zebra, oryx and the rare black-faced impala.

There’s more to Etosha than just its diverse wildlife; the baobab-studded plains are covered with over 20 types of vegetation. Then there’s the Etosha salt pan, which is Africa’s largest and visible from space. In fact, the local Ovambo people refer to Etosha as the Great White Place after this geological marvel – traversing the pan is like travelling across the surface of the moon, with clouds of white dust flying up in your wake. While the dry season might be best for waterhole sightings, during the wet season the pans flood, creating mirrored lagoons that attract migratory birds, including flocks of flamingos – it’s quite a picture.

Track endangered rhinos and pangolins with the help of the AfriCat team and anti-poaching units at Okonjima. You’ll move quietly on foot, getting up close to rhinos as they graze or lie in the shade. It’s an incredible feeling being out in the bush near these magnificent animals, immersed in nature. You’ll get to ask our experts about the species and how they’re protected in this 22,000-hectare reserve.

At Okonjima, they are lucky to have a population of ground pangolins, one of the four pangolin species living on the African continent. Pangolins have become a hot topic over the last 15 years as the most highly-trafficked animal in the world. Along with the AfriCat Foundation, they conduct research for conservation purposes and share it with other pangolin projects worldwide.

To track the pangolins, you will need to head out very early in the morning. You might be woken up at 2 am with a to-go cup of coffee, then you’ll venture into the bush with researchers and the anti-poaching unit. If you’re fortunate enough to locate a pangolin, you will observe them from a respectful distance in silence so as not to disturb the animals, which are classed as a vulnerable species. It’s an amazing experience to walk through the bush at night with a headlamp on, searching for these scaly prehistoric animals. \

The Sossusvlei region of Namibia is the perfect place to do balloon safaris. Take a 10-minute drive to the launch pad, where you can enjoy the spectacle of the balloon inflating and taking shape – a very magical event just before sunrise. After a briefing with your pilots, take to the air.

It’s an hour in the sky travelling wherever the wind takes you over oceans of sand and dramatic mountains. You will typically cover an average of 10 kilometres although some days as much as 30 kilometres depending on the strength of the wind. Meanwhile the crew sets up a beautiful champagne breakfast for when you land, including homemade breads, cheeses, smoked fish, salami pancakes, cereals and yogurts.

Scenic flights are the best way to appreciate the immense size and beauty of Sossusvlei and the Namib Desert. Take off in a private plane or helicopter to soar over this UNESCO-listed landscape; you’ll get a birds-eye view of the desert below, an ocean of rippling sand that stretches as far as the eye can see. The colours are incredible, especially in the morning and late afternoon when the sun paints the sand different shades, from pale yellow and warm honey to vibrant turmeric and blood orange. It’s a feast for photographers.

The route will usually take you over ancient Sesriem Canyon, which looks like a deep, snaking gash in the desert’s surface, then west to the dune corridor and Sossusvlei. This former dry riverbed is home to Namib’s most impressive dunes and you’ll get to circle some of the tallest, including Big Daddy, Elim and Dune 45. You’ll also notice Deadvlei, a clay pan where dozens of dead camelthorn trees sit stranded, preserved by the arid atmosphere. The landscape is otherworldly – it feels like you’re in a spaceship passing over an alien planet.

Your pilot will provide commentary, pointing out the landmarks below. Look out for famous fairy circles and herds of game as you fly. Trips can be extended to the Skeleton Coast, where the desert meets the crashing Atlantic – some of the most dramatic landscapes you can imagine. Below, you might spot bird and seal colonies, as well as diamond mining camps and shipwrecks as you circle back to the desert.

Adventurous travellers will love hiking down into the depths of Fish River Canyon. You'll be guided on a full-day trek through the aptly-named Jelly Legs Gorge, a trail that takes you past epic viewpoints. It’s a challenging hike that involves traversing rock-strewn slopes and scrambling over boulders, but the reward is getting to experience the world’s second-largest canyon. When you hike, you can see the changing layers of sediment up close, the different rock colours and elephant skin weathering.

Along the way, there’s a chance of spotting some of Fish River Canyon’s endemic wildlife, including oryx, kudu and springbok, Hartman’s mountain zebra and the shy rock hyrax. You’ll also notice birds swooping above, including black eagles. The main focus on the walk, though, is the views and the geology. You'll also learn about the flora, which includes over 100 types of succulents and quiver trees which can be up to 300 years old.

Eventually, you will reach the rock pools at the bottom, where you can cool off with a swim in the heart of the canyon. Enjoy a picnic lunch before making the long climb back up to the lodge – it’s a strenuous eight-to-ten-hour journey all together. If you don’t want to tackle the climb, there are flat canyon rim walks you can take instead from the lodge. Walk them in the morning and late afternoon when the light and shadows play across the rocks, it’s spectacular.

Explore the remote Namib Desert on a scenic drive. You’ll travel with a guide in a converted Toyota land cruisers. Head out at sunrise or sunset for three hours to the reserve’s top spots. Along the way, you’ll be surrounded by vast grasslands, the Tiras Mountains and rolling sand dunes and you’ll rarely see another vehicle.

The landscapes are the main draw here but you’ll also spot desert creatures as you drive. You’ll stop at waterholes where oryx, springboks and ostriches sometimes gather. If you head out for sunrise, you’ll enjoy coffee and rusks at a scenic viewpoint or sundowner drinks and snacks in the late afternoon. Watching the sun rise or set over the desert is an incredible experience; the sky turns pink and orange and the landscape glows.

You can also take scenic dune drives, which take place on the other side of Kanaan Desert Retreat. The landscape here is covered with shifting sand dunes – the Namib Desert has some of the oldest dunes in the world – dotted with petrified trees. Guests love the adventure of bumping over the dunes in a 4×4. If you’re keen to see the desert after dark, take a night drive which allows you to experience the star-studded night skies and spot nocturnal creatures such as foxes, owls, and striped polecats.

Experience the ancient culture of the Khoisan community, semi-nomadic bushmen whose ancestors have roamed the Kalahari for over 20,000 years. At Bagatelle Kalahari Game Ranch, they have developed close ties with many of the local bushmen families and now work with them to run respectful tours of their villages. This helps provide income for the Khoisan community and gives visitors a glimpse into their traditions, beliefs and lifestyle.

The experience starts with a morning walk to the village, accompanied by the Khoisan bushmen, who’ll show you around their traditional grass-and-mud rondavels. During the tour, you’ll collect water in ostrich eggs, watch the villagers set animal traps and see how women make beautiful pearl and ostrich jewellery. A favourite part of the tour is learning how the Khoisan forage plants and identify which ones to use for food and medicine.

Guests really enjoy this cultural experience and the chance to learn about Namibia’s heritage. The Khoisan community are descendants of the oldest people on earth, so it’s incredible to come face-to-face with this historic way of life, hear the villagers’ distinctive clicking language and discover how they’ve survived in this barren desert landscape for centuries.