6 Day Sand, Sea & Etosha Budget Camping Safari

07:00 and transferred to Chameleon HQ for a short pre-departure meeting. There is some lovely mountain scenery on our drive to Sesriem. The road climbs up onto and over Namibia’s central plateau and stops at the small town of Rehoboth for essential supplies, back on the road we pass via the small community at BűellsPort on the way to our campsite. We aim to arrive at Sesriem around lunchtime and make our campsite under a huge, ancient camelthorn tree from where we can glimpse the towering red dunes of the world’s oldest desert. We enjoy a picnic-style lunch after setting up camp. In the late afternoon, there is the option with which to start our time in the world’s oldest desert. A short drive will take us to Elim Dune, for the best golden light before sunset. From here, if you would like to, it is a relatively short walk back, through the desert, to our camp.

Sunrise in the dunes is the name of the game this morning and that means a pre-dawn start. Our first stop will be at dune 45, so named because it is 45 km from Sesriem, and we cover this first distance in darkness and early morning twilight. The best time to photograph the dunes is around sunrise and sunset. This is when you can see towering sand dunes illuminated a glowing orange, apricot red on one side and swathed in shadow on the other. The depth of field is amazing at this time of day. We arrive at Dune 45 and climb to a vantage point for sunrise, watching as the colours grow and change with the ever-altering light. Back to the vehicle for a quick breakfast and we carry on for the last few kilometres to the 2x4 car park where all 2-wheel drive vehicles have to stop. From here we enter the ancient Tsauchab Riverbed for the last 5km leg to Sossusvlei itself. The River is ephemeral, it only flows seasonally, when there is enough rain, and for the most part, the riverbed is dry,,,

Departing after an early breakfast we head west into the desert. We first cross the Namib gravel plains, large areas of flat and seemingly barren terrain broken up by huge mountain inselbergs. We cross the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.5 south degrees. There is a signpost at this auspicious spot and we stop along the road for photos. We have two mountain passes to traverse this morning, first is the smaller canyon of the Gaub River, a tributary of the Kuiseb river Kuiseb Pass. We continue to follow the road to the top of the mountains, dropping steeply down into the canyon carved over eons by the Kuiseb River on its way to debouch into the ocean at the port town of Walvis Bay. We climb up from the banks of the river and over the pass, travelling through the mountain peaks We emerge from the mountains onto a flat road that takes us all the way to the town of Walvisbay. We have lunch at Walvisbay lagoon and complete the final leg of our journey into Swakopmund, no tents tonight.

After breakfast, we aim to be on the road from 09h00 today. Scenic route on comfortable paved road take us all the way to Etosha National park, arriving in the afternoon to do our first camp drive into the park to set up camp. Evening to spend at the amazing waterhole.

Etosha is a desert landscape and water is the most scarce natural resource. There are however numerous waterholes here, both natural and man-made, and our game driving technique is to take in as many as of these possible. Here we hope that the game will come to us as the animals attend for an early morning drink. Along the way, we will make a stop at a designated picnic area for a quick breakfast before continuing our game drive en route to the camp at Halali. The name for Halali is taken from a bugle refrain that was originally used during sport hunting with horses and hounds in Europe. The bugler would sound the Halali to signify that the hunt was over. This was considered appropriate for Etosha as inside the protection of the park, the hunting of animals is over forever.

After breaking camp for the last time we head south to Windhoek, we stop briefly at the small town of Otjiwarongo to refuel the truck. Our journey takes us through the small town of Okahandja where we will find Namibia’s largest wood carving market. Craftsmen from all over Namibia come here to showcase a wide variety of items both large and small. Here we have the opportunity to collect a truly Namibian souvenir and at the same time to support the local artists and communities. We aim to be back in Windhoek in the late afternoon. There will be a shuttle service to take you to your accommodation within the Windhoek City limits.