Back from my 5 weeks trip to Botswana and Namibia, I thought I would post a little report.
First of all, thanks to all of those that answered to my questions, especially to Rudik who gave me such great feedback on my itinerary!
Nambia was great, beautiful and VAST country, driving distances were huge. We ended up staying fewer night in each place, breaking the drive in smaller chunk instead. The National Parks were great, and the camping facilities excellent. Its not cheap to camp in NWR, but the campsites were fantastic. We booked ahead for Sesriem and Etosha, but except for Okaukuejo which was fully booked, all the other camp were almost half empty (that was for December 24-25th, and December 30th-31th and January 1st). Anyhow it really worth it to share the campsite with other people, they are big enough for it and its comes out cheaper. Also, there was discount on the prices for last minute booking or walk-in (50% off in some parks), but since we booked and paid in advance we paid the full price.
We bought the Lonely Planet Botswana and Namibia 2007, but I would NOT recommend it especially if you are driving. There's almost no indications for when you're driving, and when there is, they are partial or wrong. There was also a lot of mistakes in the guidebook, I was highly disapointed by it. We should have bought the 2 Bradt guides - heavier to cary, but at least they would have been more precise.
You don't NEED a 4x4 to do that road... but maybe a higher clearance car would have at least gave us a little bit more peace of mind. 50% of the time in Namibia we were on gravel road, which were fine, but on occasion it gets really sandy or bumpy. Lucky for us, it didn't rain in Namibia so it wasn't too bad.
We were picking up a car in Johanesburg, driving ourselves to Namibia - We were in a hurry to get to Namibia, which was not a good idea (1st we had time to do it slowly ; 2nd, with the jet lag it was not the best idea to try to drive 800kms the second day of the trip). We didn't made it to Upington that night (got lost) - we slept in Kuruman instead. We also had a misadventure with the car (our fault - accident) so in the end took 3 days to get to Namibia.
In Namibia we started by Fish River Canyon, and slept at Hobas. One night was enough for this, especially that it was too hot to hike so we just drove to the canyon early morning. Then we slept at Quiver Tree REst camp, were they had nice campsites.
We spent 2 nights in Luderitz in a hostel (WAY to windy for our little tent!!!) ; then broke the road in 2 for SEsriem, stoping a Duwisib castle. We spent 2 nights in Sesriem - the campsite is expensive, but it worth it - you're right at the gate for Sossuvlei. We saw the sunrise on the Dunes on x-mas day, it was an amazing experience!
We then drove up to Rehobot (but we could have made it up to Windhoek) - Reho Spa is administrated by NWR but the standards were not as high as in other camps. We stayed one night in Windhoek (were everything was close because it was holiday!) and broke in 2 the drive to Etosha park by staying at Waterberg Park. Again, camping facilities were great, great pool and nice short walks.
We stayed 3 nights in Etosha, one in each camp. It was amazing - the waterholes at night are a must!!! We saw tons of giraffes, zebras, and all kind of antelopes, but also quite a few rhinos and even one lionness. It was great, I would have stayed even longer - maybe an extra night at each camp?
We then took 3 days to drive to Tsodilo, staying at Roy's Camp (50kms fro Groonfontein) which was really nice (they even had a bush kitchen with refrigirator and stove!), then Popa Falls ("falls" - I was informed that they were more like a rapid than a falls, but we met some very disapointed people!!) and Finally Drostky Cabin in Shawake, Botswana.
We drove to Tsodilo with the 2WD - there is now a good gravel road to get there, although the last 10 kms were horrible - with the rainy season it was full of potholes and it was barely passable with our car.
From there it's a bit fuzzy for me, since I got sick so I skipped the Delta (my friend made a mokoro trip with Audi Camp, wich was a little odd and quite rainy) and Tuli Block, unfortunately. We spent a night in Khama Rhino Sanctuary in Serowe, which was great - we saw a LOT of animals in the 2 hours game drive, of course, rhinos (white and one black). We spent some days in Gaborone (which is great with a car!) and a night in Pilanesberg, before ending our trip in Johannesberg, where we did a Soweto tour and visited the Apartheid Museum . I took the tour with a guide named Jabu, very knowlegeable, although I the highlight of the day for me was probably the Apartheid Museum.
I'm not totally back yet (my mind is not at least!) so if you want more details, please ask!
Cheers ¸
Catherine