Advice on Itinerary

We are going to Namibia in June and have a rough itinerary (18 days after leaving from Windhoek). We have 21 days in total, so 3 more to "play with". It would be great to get some comments on the itinerary below. Does it make sense? This is our first time in Namibia and we did not have a lot of time for our research (just booked the flights). Any advice/comments are welcome. Thanks so much!

Day 1 Arrive in Windhoek
Day 2 and 3: Sossusvlei
Day 4 and 5: Swakopmund
Day 6: Damaraland
Day 7: Etosha National Park
Day 8 and 9: Etosha National Park
Day 10 and 11: Kavango River, Rundu, West Caprivi
Day 12, 13 and 14: Chobe National Park
Day 15 Makgadikgadi Pans National Park
Day 16 and 17: Okavango Delta
Day 18: Kalahari (Ghanzi)
Day 19: Departure from Windhoek

Hi Cornelia,

You itinerary looks good but I do have some things I would personally change.

Swakopmund is a nice town but in my opinion wou can spend one night here and spend the other night either in Windhoek or in Etosha (although three nights is enough to travel from south to north Etosha and stay in the main three restcamps).
Also, travelling to Makgadikgadi Pans, Okavango, and Kalahari in just 4 days would feel like rushing things and you will spend most of your days in the car. Pick one (Okavango would make sense) and enjoy it!

Thank you very much. This is very helpful!

hi cornelia
your itinerary does make sense, but i'm not sure if you have "included" the driving time in your itinerary ?
for the first part of your itinerary as an example and with some other comments:
- day one arrive in windhoek and overnight there. depending on the time of your arrival, pick-up your 4x4 on day one or on day two, and do some shopping
- windhoek is a nice enough capital city, but with nothing in my opinion that you really have to see, so i fell that one night there is enough
- day two - its about a 5 hours drive to sesriem. if you pick up your vehicle on day 2, and assuming that you want to have time enroute to stop, enjoy the beautiful views, have lunch etc. most of day 2 will be gone by the time you get to sesriem
- in sesriem, you want to stay close to the entrance gate (that opens after sunrise), so that you can enter the park when the gate opens. the further away you stay from the gate, the earlier you have to get up to get there by sunrise. if you have a 4x4 with a roof-tent, you can camp in one of the 2 camps grounds (sesriem campsite is right next to the gate and the newer sossus oasis campsite is just 5km away from it). if you dont want to camp, places you might want to look at are sossusvlei lodge (also a good place to have lunch if you are camping) and desert camp.
- as mentionned, you want to enter the park when the gate opens. its about 60km to sossuvlei, and the light is amazing in the early morning.
- by staying two nights as sesriem (which is your plan), this gives you a full day there, which is good. if you want to splurge, you could consider going on a early morning hot-air balloon flight over the namib naukluft park on the second morning.
- travelling from sesriem to swakopmund is also a very nice and scenic journey, with plenty of places to stop and enjoy the view, see the strange welwitschia plant, have a piece of apple pie at the shop/restaurant/gas station in solitaire. so that will probably take most of the day.
- and therefore i would stay for 2 nights in swakopmund (as per your original plan), so that you have one full day there. if you can stay only one night, thats also okay, but than it will be just a gateway.
- it totally depends on your interests, but i would probably stay for 2 nights in damaraland
- etosha is (apart from sossusvlei) my "must see place" in namibia, and i would definitely stay there for 3 nights or even better, 4 nights. with 4 nights and if your budgets allows some splurging, you could stay for 2 nights at okaukuejo restcamp and then spoil yourself to two nights at dolomite camp, which is in the western part of the park that was not acessible for many years (and i believe it is now acessible only for visitors who stay at dolomite)

Great advice Nathalie2.

Matt
Destination Editor, sub-Saharan Africa

as to the botswana part of your itinerary, rvgerven is right, include only one other place (besides chobe).
this is not from personal experience, but i have several friends who have been to botswana. if you dont have a 4x4 vehicle, and if you dont have some offroad driving experience, and cant change a flat tyre etc. , i dont think thats its a good idea to drive "into" the okavango delta. its definitely much more costly, but then i would drive down to maun from chobe, and fly into the delta, to stay for 2-4 nights in lodge there. fly back to maun, and drive the vehicle back to windhoek.

thanks Matt

Thank you so much for all the information. This is very helpful!

I agree with 3 and 5, you have to consider driving time: from day 9 (Etosha) to day 12 (Chobe) it is very rushed. From Ethosa to Kasane is a very long road!
In Botswana you can visit maximum 2 places (not 3) in so few days.

Hi Cornelia,

I generally agree with all above, but want to stress driving times between venues in Namibia or, for that matter, anywhere in Africa. Never take chances as you do not want to drive or be stuck in the dark - the desert can be a very lonely and cold place. A simple incident like a flat (or burst) tire can spoil your day, and you are almost guaranteed to have a flat at least once. If you go on a long-ish trip like you are, consider getting an extra spare tire (rim not necessarily needed), in case of a burst. Due to the remoteness, do not bargain upon someone coming by to help, especially in the dark. With this said, you will find the people of Namibia extremely helpful and they WILL stop if they come by. I am always amazed at how efficiently the locals can fix vehicle trouble in the middle of nowhere! Also, from Sossusvlei to Walvis/Swakopmund is only some 400 kilometers, but bargain upon it taking a full day.

When in Swakopmund do consider going on a morning dune trip with Chris of Living Desert Adventures - it is perhaps pricey but a life-changing experience! Grootberg in Damaraland has a camp site in a valley - an amazing place to experience. Do try to stay over and do a game drive if you can.

Camping: June can get pretty cold in the early hours of the morning. Plan for this with warm clothes and warm sleeping bags. A nice warm water bottle can be a life-saver!

We may even cross paths - I will be there the most part of June with a group of photographers.

Enjoy the trip!

Dear Phillip,
you are mentioning a camp site in Grootberg in Damaraland. Is it the Hoada Campsite?
Thank you very much for your advice and tips.

Yes, Hoada at Grootberg.