15 Day Dunes, Wildlife, and Surfing Adventure in Namibia

In Swakopmund, you join a 7-day surf camp where you get to learn how to surf with a world-class surf coach. You are at the mercy of nature, so there can be days with perfect conditions where 2 sessions make sense in one day, and there can be days where the waves are too dangerous for your surf level and we have to skip a day—perfect to experience other attractions and activities the Namib Desert has to offer.

After the 7-day surf camp, you hop back on the safari truck and join a 3-day Sossusvlei Express tour. The next 2 nights are spent at Desert Camp, just outside Sesriem, an incredible camp with stunning views over the desert and surrounding mountains. You spend a full day exploring the dunes, Deadvlei, Sossusvlei, and Sesriem Canyon and climbing dunes, including Dune 45 and Big Daddy for the brave. Your final day includes a delicious cooked breakfast before a 1-hour cheetah experience at Solitaire before arriving in Windhoek in the mid-afternoon.

Itinerary

Day 1: Monday - International Airport - Chameleon Backpackers Guesthouse (50 km)

Today, you will be collected at the Hosea Kutako International Airport and brought into Windhoek to Chameleon Backpackers, your accommodation for the night. Chameleon Backpackers is centrally located for a quick walk into the city center, or stay in-house and ask for the nightly meal or pizza options.

Chameleon Backpackers is a great place to meet and chat with other guests or just enjoy an evening meal by the bar or pool.

• Accommodation: Dorm bed in mixed dormitory with en-suite bathrooms
• Meals: None

Day 2: Tuesday – Windhoek – Halali, Etosha National Park (500 km)

You will be collected from Chameleon Backpackers at 07:15 and transferred to the Chameleon Head Office for a short pre-departure meeting.

Heading north from Windhoek, you stop briefly at the small town of Otjiwarongo to gather some last-minute supplies before continuing on to Etosha, and you enjoy a light lunch pack whilst “on the move." You enter Etosha National Park and game drive your way to your overnight accommodation at Halali Camp.

Etosha is huge, just over 22,000 square km, and is home to 114 species of mammal, 350 species of bird, 110 species of reptile, uncountable numbers of insects, and, somewhat bizarrely, one species of fish. There are good chances of spotting many of these different creatures as you tour through the park, stopping at the various waterholes along your way.

All visitors must be in camp by sunset, and you'll aim to arrive at Halali just before sunset with time to settle into your rooms, which have en-suite bathrooms and tea / coffee facilities.

The name "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 national park, the hunting of animals is over forever.

The ‘game show’ in Etosha doesn’t stop when the sun goes down. All the Etosha camps have floodlit waterholes for extra game viewing opportunities. The Halali waterhole is called Moringa, after the moringa trees that are abundant here, and it is located within walking distance from your accommodation. A visit, or two, is highly recommended this evening, as you can expect many species to visit Moringa during the night, and this waterhole is known to be very popular with elephants and the critically endangered black rhino.

• Accommodation: Twin share, en-suite bathroom
• Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 3: Wednesday – Halali – Etosha Village near Anderson gate (70 km)

You have the whole day to explore Etosha, and you want to make the most of it. The park gates open at sunrise, and you aim to be on your way just as the sun breaches the horizon. Early morning is usually a productive time for game viewing, and first thing in the morning is a good time to catch big cats returning from the hunt.

You return to Halali for breakfast and to load the vehicle before heading out into the park once again in search of big game. 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 of these as possible. Here, you hope that the game will come to you as the thirsty animals attend for a much-needed drink.

On your way today, you will stop to have a closer look at the Etosha Pan. The name 'Etosha' translates as ‘great white space’ but this name does not do justice to the immensity of the pan. Over 4,700 sq km of dazzling white mineral pan, so big that it can be seen from space.

You exit Etosha at the Anderson gate close to sunset, and it is just a short drive to your accommodation in a comfortable, spacious twin-share room with modern en-suite bathroom facilities. An ideal space to sit back, relax, and enjoy the beauty that surrounds you. A fantastic dinner is prepared by our guide this evening.

• Accommodation: Twin share, en-suite bathroom
• Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 4: Thursday – Etosha, Salty Jackal Backpackers (510 km)

After breakfast, you aim to be on the road by 07:30 today. You are heading for the Skeleton Coast, and you are taking the scenic route. You first head south on the main road, passing the small town of Outjo, then onwards towards the west, and picking up the gravel road as you travel through an area known as Damaraland.

Damaraland is famed for its scenery, mountains, open grasslands, tall koppies (small hills) of round pink granite boulders, wide open spaces, and big sky. You also have a chance to meet some of the locals, as there are several places along the road today where you can find informal shops selling locally made, handcrafted souvenirs. Represented here, people usually find ladies from the Himba, Herero, and Damara tribes, and most often they are wearing their traditional dress. Here you can interact with some of the colorful local characters who live in this harsh environment. Making a small purchase here is a good way to inject some cash directly into the local economy.

You continue on through the beautiful landscape, making a stop for a light picnic lunch, under the shadow of Namibia’s highest mountain, the Brandberg. Rising up from the desert floor, this giant monolith is 2,573 m above sea level and is formed of pink-tinged granite.

You continue your journey west and soon arrive at the coast and the chilly Atlantic Ocean. The whole coastline of Namibia is known as the Skeleton Coast, and it is easy to see why this barren seaboard is so named with its forbidding mountains and barren beaches. The wind, the waves, and the huge fog banks all conspire to push ships onto the beach. The countless mariners that, in olden times, found themselves shipwrecked here faced the stark prospect of no fresh water, no food, no rescue, and a slow death by exposure. Their shipmates who went down with their ship were thought to be the lucky ones.

Heading south on the coast road, your next stop is a more recent shipwreck. 15 km south of the small town of Henties Bay, a fishing trawler, The Zeila, was beached in 2008. She was an old vessel that had been sold for scrap and was under tow at the time. The cable snapped, and, as so many vessels before her, she was caught in the swell and currents and ended up on the beach. She lays quite close to the shore and is well positioned for photos.

You complete the final leg of our journey into Swakopmund, and you check into your accommodation, Salty Jackal Backpackers, and the town is easily explored on foot from the central location.

Swakopmund was founded by Captain Kurt von François of the imperial colonial army of the German Empire in 1892. (He also founded Windhoek in 1890). It is an interesting town, to say the least, bounded to the north, the east, and the south by the mighty sand dunes of the Namib Desert and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean. There are still many examples of colonial German architecture to be seen, and the German language is still widely used.

Swakopmund boasts some truly excellent restaurants, and again, your guide will be able to help you with recommendations and bookings.

• Accommodation: Twin share, en-suite bathroom
• Meals: Breakfast, lunch

Day 5 – 11: Friday - Thursday Salty Jackal Backpackers, Swakopmund

For the next 7 days, you will enjoy an early breakfast before heading to the beach for a surf session with our ISA-qualified surf coach or guide. You are at the mercy of nature, so there can be days with perfect conditions where two sessions make sense in one day and there can be days where the waves are too dangerous for your surf level and you have to skip a day.

The coastal town of Swakopmund has many more adventure activities on offer, and this is the perfect time to try some quad-biking, paragliding, windsurfing, scenic flights, or angling. Visit the Cape Cross seal colony, or go on a dolphin cruise in nearby Walvis Bay, which the team can arrange for you as requested.

Most sessions take place in the mornings and in the area, while in certain conditions you go on a full-day adventure to spots further away from Swakopmund. Be ready for untouched wilderness—surrounded by jackals and seals; usually dolphins; and sometimes even whales and penguins.

With the surfing usually happening in the morning and followed by a world-class coffee in one of the town's cafes to unwind and share surf stories, you'll have your afternoons for chilling, activities, yoga classes, or exploring the town and nearby nature. The evening leaves you with time for a walk in the sand dunes or a cold drink by the ocean to kickstart you into some Swakopmund nightlife. Dinners are often spent together around a BBQ fire, in a beer garden with live music or at a delicious wine bar and pizzeria.

• Accommodation: Dorm room with en-suite bathrooms
• Meals: Breakfast

Day 12: Friday – Swakopmund - Desert Camp, near Sesriem (350 km)

You have the option to have a more leisurely start this morning as you are only leaving Swakopmund in the middle morning.

Departing Swakopmund 11:30, you head east into the desert. You first cross the Namib gravel plains, large areas of flat and seemingly barren terrain broken up by huge mountain inselbergs. You have two mountain passes to traverse this afternoon, first is the mighty Kuiseb Pass and you follow the road from 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.

You climb up from the banks of the river and over the pass, travelling through the mountain peaks and on to the second, smaller canyon of the Gaub River, a tributary of the Kuiseb. You emerge from the mountains onto a flat road and almost immediately you cross the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.5 south degrees. There is a signpost at this auspicious spot and you stop along the road for photos.

Onwards again to your destination for today, Desert Camp, located very close to the National Park entrance at Sesriem which is the gateway to the dunes at Sossusvlei.

Overnight is in twin rooms with en-suite bathroom facilities. There is a pool and bar available and dinner is prepared by your guide over an open fire.

• Accommodation: Twin share, en-suite bathroom
• Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 13: Saturday - Desert Camp, Sossusvlei – Desert Camp (120 km)

Sunrise in the dunes is the name of the game this morning and that means a pre-dawn start and a very early breakfast.

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.

From Sesriem, you cover the 60 km into the dunes quickly and arrive at the 2x4 car park where all two-wheel drive vehicles have to stop. From here, you enter the ancient Tsauchab River-bed for the last 5 km leg to Sossusvlei itself.

The Tsauchab River is ephemeral, it only flows seasonally, when there is enough rain, and for the most part the river-bed is dry. Eons ago, during these rare floods the Tsauchab sometimes received enough water to flow all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. However, as the millennia passed and the dune fields began to form, (around five million years ago), wind -blown sand invaded the river-beds. The rivers became more and more constricted by sand until eventually the occasional floods could not break through the sand barriers that had been erected by the wind.

The valley you drove along this morning to get here is kept free of sand by the Tsauchab but Sossusvlei is now permanently waters end. Sossusvlei does still sometimes flood, (perhaps once in a decade). After good rains in the Naukluft Mountains where the river rises Sossusvlei can become inundated, and the lake that this creates can last for many months, but no longer can the river find its original path to the Atlantic.

There is a 4x4 shuttle service that will transport you through the sandy terrain of the river-bed. You will visit Dead Vlei, an ancient pan completely surrounded by dunes, that is strikingly populated with dead, skeletal camelthorn trees. These trees have been a feature on this landscape for over 1000 years. Sossusvlei is almost surrounded by dunes, just one narrow path kept open by the Tsauchab River.

You have time to explore the area on foot and to climb one of the highest dunes in the world, some towering 300 m above you, the views are breath taking and justly famous. You drive back the way you came, (there is only one road), stopping at the iconic Dune 45, (so named as it is 45 km from Sesriem. There is time to climb Dune 45 if you still have energy, or perhaps just a sit in the shade at the base of the dune will suffice.

Driving back to Sesriem, you take a short excursion to see the Sesriem Canyon. Only four kilometers from Sesriem, this canyon has been carved out of the landscape by the Tsauchab River. Around two million years ago there was an ice age in Europe. This caused glaciers to form and resulted in a worldwide drop in sea level. The knock on effect of this at Sesriem Canyon was that it increased the length and waterflow of the Tsauchab River. This greater force of water allowed the Tsauchab to begin cutting through the terrain resulting in the canyon you can see today. You can easily walk into the river-bed, it is usually much cooler in the canyon and you can follow the river for some way along its journey to Sossusvlei.

You head back to Desert Camp in the late afternoon.

• Accommodation: Twin share, en-suite bathroom
• Meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner

Day 14: Sunday – Desert Camp – Windhoek (320 km)

Your last day today but excitement is still on the menu. You head back to Solitaire and join open vehicle to visit one of their local conservation projects, in this case cheetah. Solitaire is home to a number of cheetah that, for different reasons, are unable to be released back into the wild. for different reasons. This excursion allows us the chance to learn all about the cheetah, the work done by local conservation projects, and also get some incredible photos of the world’s fastest land mammal. You have time to sample the world famous apple pie of Solitaire.

There is some lovely mountain scenery on our drive back to Windhoek. The road climbs up onto and over Namibia’s central plateau and you return to Windhoek via the small community at BűellsPort and the small town of Rehoboth. On arrival in Windhoek, mid afternoon, you will be dropped at Chameleon Backpackers, your last night’s accommodation. Dinner tonight is at own expense.

• Accommodation: Twin share rooms with en-suite bathrooms
• Meals: Breakfast

Day 15: Monday - Chameleon Backpackers -International Airport (50 km)

Time to say goodbye to the beautiful country as your adventure comes to an end after breakfast. For those flying out today, if flights are in the afternoon, keep busy this morning with a FREE city walking tour or City & Township Tour at your own expense.

• Accommodation: None
• Meals: Breakfast