Namibia
17 nights | 18 days

Overnight: Hotel in Windhoek
(Ü | F)
Arrival at Windhoek Airport. Pick up your rental car. Approx. 30 minutes drive to your accommodation in Windhoek.

For the first and last evening in Windhoek you should book the desired restaurant in advance. We will be happy to make the table reservation for you.

Optional activities: Guided Katutura tour, city tour (also on your own).

Overnight: Lodge at the Fish River Canyon
(A | Ü | F)
Before breakfast, you can pay an optional visit to a Bushman village. There you will learn about the way of life and some of the wisdom of this indigenous people.

Then continue south through the contrasting desert landscape. The journey takes you past the quiver tree forest near Keetmannshoop.

Looking out over this harsh and unforgiving landscape, it's hard to imagine you're standing at the foot of an ancient lake. True to Namibia, this is a place of contrast and diversity, with the history of the earth clearly visible in the beautiful rock formations.

On the way, it is worth making a stop at the Naute Dam. The "Naute Dam" was built to supply water to the surrounding villages and to irrigate the fruit plantations. Table grapes, dates, prickly pears, monkey oranges and pomegranates now thrive on what used to be 200 hectares of barren steppe land. In addition to dessert fruit, the orchards already produce over 50 tons of fruit every year that cannot be sold due to minor defects. This fruit, which spoils quickly if left unrefrigerated, is now distilled. This is the background to the "Naute Dam Distillery" project. The distillates are to be marketed exclusively in Namibia in the lodges, hotels, restaurants and souvenir stores there. Your accommodation is located not far from the mighty gorge landscape of the Fish River.

Overnight: Lodge at the Fish River Canyon
(A | Ü | F)
Today you have the option of taking a guided tour of the canyon. At 650 kilometers, it is the longest river in Namibia. A very, very long time ago, it set off from the Naukluft Mountains in search of the Orange River in the south of the country. But mountains stood in its way and so, in 120 million years of painstaking work, it created the largest canyon in Africa: the Fish River Canyon, an igneous labyrinth in which temperatures of 50 degrees in summer are normal. 

(Duration: about 3 hours).

Overnight stay: Lodge near Aus
(A | Ü | F)
You continue into the Namib Desert and spend the night near Aus.

Admittedly, a trip to the Grand Duke Friedrich Mountain, the Kempinskiberg or the 2,484-metre-high Moltkeblick sounds very unusual. But you are still in Namibia.

And the scene of the story, where your next accommodation is located at 1,400 meters, is now called the Aus Mountains. A place where everyone can come to rest. Silence, endless expanses, a fantastic view of the Aus mountains and widescreen sunsets are the program for a pleasurable slowdown.

Overnight: Lodge near Aus
(A | Ü | F)
You can spend the day as you wish.

Drive to Lüderitz in the morning with a visit to Kolmannskuppe. The first diamond was found by chance in 1908. The resulting boom led to the rapid growth of this settlement on the northern border of the restricted diamond area, which was initially only intended as a diamond prospecting camp. The wealth of the inhabitants, based on diamonds, gave rise to Kolmanskop. Over the decades, the desert reclaimed what man had wrested from it. The houses deteriorated visibly and sand piled up meters high in the ruins. Some of the interior furnishings were destroyed or taken away. Kolmanskop finally became a ghost town.

Continue to the small harbor town of Lüderitz. Just 20,000 people live here. At first glance, the town presents an extremely bizarre sight. On one side the sea, on the other the desert and in the middle a small town built on the bare rock. The town's landmark is the church, which was built on the highest point of the rock in 1911.

On the way back to Aus you might spot the wild horses at the Garub waterhole.

Overnight: Lodge in the Sossusvlei area
(A | Ü | F)
Today you drive through a geologically beautiful area into the southern Namib Desert. The rugged Tiras Mountains rise like a chain of islands from the endless expanses of red dunes and yellow grasslands. You will reach your accommodation in the afternoon.

Overnight: Hotel in Swakopmund
(Ü | F)
After breakfast, drive to Swakopmund via Walvis Bay. The long gravel roads are occasionally decorated with a small plume of dust. You are surrounded by breathtaking expanses and the most beautiful landscapes of the desert. You drive through granite sculpture landscapes, ancient erosion valleys and cross the occasional dry river. Arrival in Swakopmund at midday.

Optional activities: quad biking, camel riding, visit to the museum, aquarium, crystal gallery, riding safari, flight over the Skeleton Coast or Sossusvlei

Overnight: Hotel in Swakopmund
(Ü | F)
This morning you have the option of taking part in an optional catamaran boat trip. Other activities such as desert tours or quad biking are also an option in Swakopmund and the surrounding area. 

Catamaran cruise: Between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, on the rugged coast of the Atlantic Ocean, you will experience the unique nature and wildlife of the Walvis Bay lagoon on board a spacious and comfortable catamaran. The four-hour trip takes you from the industrial harbor across the Walvis Bay oyster beds out to Pelican Point, home to a large colony of fur seals. The tour offers many highlights. Among other things, pelicans are hand-fed in flight. You will learn many interesting things about these animals and with a bit of luck, depending on the season, you may also see whales, leatherback turtles or moonfish (mola-molas). Shortly before the end of the tour - and this is the culinary highlight - fresh oysters and sparkling wine as well as snack platters and cool drinks are served.

The Desert Tour, also known as the Living Desert Tour, is a unique experience in four-wheel drive vehicles that aims to introduce our visitors to the impressive beauty of the Namib Desert and showcase life in the desert. The coastal dune belt, which may seem barren and lifeless to some, is home to a fascinating variety of small animals that have adapted to the desert. They survive thanks to the fog that regularly rolls in from the cold Atlantic Ocean.

Come and admire the "dancing white lady" (Carparachne aureoflava), a spider that spins its wheel down the dunes at 44 revolutions per second to escape an enemy. Marvel at the transparent desert gecko (Pachydactylus rangei) with toe fins that fulfill the function of snowshoes. Learn about the different beetles and insects and how they survive in the desert. Follow the tracks of the legless lizard (Fitsimmon's Burrowing Skink), watch Anchieta desert lizards (Meroles anchieta) diving into the sand and dancing on the glowing sand, the side-scooping otter (Peringuey otter), desert chameleons and countless other amazing creatures. Familiarize yourself with the geological structures of the desert and enjoy the endless beauty of the landscape during a tour of the dunes. It's sure to be a lot of fun and an adrenaline rush.

A unique opportunity to experience the desert up close.

Overnight: Lodge near Twyfelfontein
(A | Ü | F)
Continue north on the salt road towards Henties Bay via Uis northwards into Damaraland.

Both regions in the northwest are characterized by lonely expanses and barren desert landscapes, which are repeatedly interrupted by green oases and are home to the famous desert elephants.

You arrive at your accommodation in the early afternoon. Damaraland offers a wealth of geological and archaeological highlights. Named after the Damara people, the region is home to Namibia's highest peak, the Brandberg, and Twyfelfontein, one of the most important rock engravings and paintings of the San, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Overnight: Lodge on the Grootberg Plateau
(A | Ü | F)
Optional: Today you should take part in a guided rhino tracking activity, or you can also consider a desert elephant tour. The lodge also offers guided walks in this picturesque setting.