Driving to Namibia

My wife and I (in our early 60's) hope to drive up to Namibia next year, possibly during late August/early September.

We anticipate camping for most of our 14 nights away, but with 2 or 3 luxury stop-overs to cut the dust.

We've never been to Namibia but we realise we'll never see it all without exhausting ourselves, so it would be helpful if anyone could offer us some sound advice. Good. clean camp sites away from the madding crowd would suit us.
We'll be travelling from Montagu (Western Cape). We love the bush, the wild and the mountains.

I have a Subaru Forester and a small trailer so the roads shouldn't be a problem.

Welcome to TT.

14 nights is very little considering the distance you want to cover, just Montagu to Swakopmund is 1700 km, the most wild live you'll see in Etosha and the Caprivi even further away, Sossusvlei is an amazing dessert well worse a visit, that you would pass on the way to Swakopmund.

So you see with the little information you give it's hard to suggest anything, it will not help you if I tell you of the best camp site in the Kaokoveld if you don't even get near there.

Outline a route you like to take, then people will be able to help you to find the best spots to overnight and help in general.

Don't underestimate the travel time you need in Nam due to the roads, gravel takes considerable more time than tarmac, in Khorixas I asked a south african gentleman where the roads get better
he told me after Aus ;)).

as already pointed out by templeton, 14 days is not a lot for namibia. do you have 14 days there plus a couple of days to drive from montagu to namibia and back, or is it 14 days in total, including travel to and from namibia ?

assuming that you 14 days in namibia, i would suggest the following route:
- drive via the northern cape to namibia, with sossusvlei as a first "final" destination. possible stops on the way: fish river canyon, keetmanshoop and lüderitz (but for lüderitz you would have to go "off way" a bit)
- sossuslvei is for me the one place not to miss in namibia. i would stay there 2-3 nights. there are two good nwr campsites, one right at the sesriem gate and one about 500m away from the gate (thats the newer and "nicer" one
- swakopmund is a place where i would not camp but stay in a guesthouse instead. its a nice enough little seaside town, but not with too many attractions (in my opinion), so i would not stay here long
- damaraland is probably the place where i would stay in a nice lodge for 2 night
- etosha np is the place for wildlife in namibia, but it doesnt compare to krüger np for example. i would still go, because the landscape and nature is totally different. etosha np is also "the furthest" place considering that you are travelling from and back into south africa. i would still try to include it. the 3 nwr restcamps in etosha are good. all of them have a waterhole "infront" of the camp, which makes from great animal watchings when in camp.
- from etosha np, about 500km down to windhoek. windhoek is okay but i dont really see why you would want to stay there longer than one night. stay in an guesthouse.
- drive back home, with an overnight stopp on the way (or if you still have enough time - which i doubt), visit a place "enroute"

Hi Garydebs,

There is some good advice above on your timeline, so I thought I'd chirp in on camping spots and luxury stays (based on my recent travels).

My three personal favourite campsites in Namibia (all experienced on my most recent visit to Namibia, which was a self-drive trip) are:

(from south to north):
1. NamibRand Family Hideout (http://www.hideout.iway.na/Facilities%20campsite.htm) - this is south of Sossusvlei.
2. Bloedkoppie in Namib-Naukluft National Park (http://www.lonelyplanet.com/namibia/namib-section/hotels/bloedkoppie) - this is north of Sussusvlei, but south of Swakopmund
3. Spitzkoppe Rest Camp (http://www.lonelyplanet.com/namibia/the-spitzkoppe/hotels/spitzkoppe-rest-camp) - this is north of Swakopmund. Make sure you check out the rock bridge.

For epic views and a great bit of luxury en route, Wolwedans (http://www.wolwedans.com/) in the NamibRand Nature Reserve (a shortish drive south of Sossusvlei) is an unforgettable experience (it's so nice I've visited twice).

Another great spot for a bit of luxury is Erongo Wilderness Lodge (http://bigsky-namibia.com/index.php/erongo-wilderness-lodge/about-erongo-wilderness-lodge) - it is north of Spitzkoppe. There are some great walks around here and the guides are fantastic.

I hope this helps - enjoy!

Matt

Hi
the mentioned route sounds good to me too and late August/early September too, nights won't be too chilly then...

The Gondwana Lodges and campsites are highly recommendable, I enjoyed them a lot and they are all over Namibia (was at the ones at Fish River Canyon, Sossusvlei, Damara Land, Etosha, Namushasha, Kahlahari) I think at all of there places campers can you use the lodge facilities (pools, restaurant..) too, which I found quite nice.
And if you're SA citizien you even get -40% on there normal accommodation (lodge and camping) rates and also some discount on food and activities... you just need the Gondwana Card.
That's there link:
http://www.gondwana-collection.com/
http://www.gondwana-card.com/Gondwana_Card_SADC.htm

my recommendation for a guest house in Windhoek would be "Berghaus" in Kasteel street. It's a nice place and located in a safe area.

Wish you a happy journey planning and an even better holiday :)