A Namibian Journey

Day 1 Fly overnight from London Heathrow, via Johannesburg, to Windhoek.

Day 2 On arrival, enjoy a drive through of Windhoek, where colonial churches and a couple of castles meet contemporary towers and palm fringed parks, and landmarks include the gingerbread Lutheran Christus Church, and the Tintenpalast parliament building. Transfer to the 3-star Hotel Windhoek Luxury Suites for overnight stay. This evening, enjoy a tapas-style ‘braai’ (barbecue). (D)

Day 3 Travel by road (5hrs) to the Sossusvlei area, in the southern Namib Desert. Its landscape is a huge, gleaming ‘vlei’, a clay and salt pan, encircled by enormous wind-sculpted ‘star dunes’, and forming a fantastically photogenic arena. Two nights at the Hammerstein Lodge. Afternoon at leisure to enjoy the lodge facilities. (B, D)

Day 4 Drive into the Namib-Naukluft National Park to visit ‘Dune 45’, perhaps the most photographed dune on Earth, the colour of its 85m-high sands mutating from red to rust and gold with the day’s changing light; continue to Dead Vlei, with long-dead, pitch-black thorn trees rising from a salt-white floor; and visit the deep cleft of Sesriem Canyon, its soaring rock walls indented with caves. (B, D)

Day 5 Travel (5hrs) through the dramatic Kuiseb Canyon, and along the sweep of Walvis Bay to coastal Swakopmund, with its palm-lined streets, half-timbered houses, and iconic lighthouse. Afternoon at leisure to explore the charming town. Two nights at the Swakopmund Hotel, a short walk from the shore. (B)

Day 6 A day at leisure to stroll ‘the Mole’ seawall and elegant avenues; or join our optional tours, a morning cruise at Walvis Bay, to see the marine and birdlife (£45, pre-booking essential); and a flight over the Skeleton Coast, for a bird’s eye view over its shipwrecks, and the Namib Desert (bookable locally, weather permitting). (B)

Day 7 Travel (5hrs) to Damaraland’s Twyfelfontein valley, to visit Namibia’s first UNESCO World Heritage site, its gallery of ancient rock-art lauded as Africa’s largest collection of petroglyphs; and the Living Museum of Damara, a unique project aiming to revive the ‘lost culture’ of the Damara people. Continue to the Petrified Forest, where perfectly preserved, petrified tree trunks, millions of years old, are thought to have been carried downriver to this spot in the thaw of one of the Ice Ages. Overnight at the 3-star Damara Mopane Lodge. (B, D)

Day 8 Drive (3hrs) to Etosha National Park, home to well over a hundred mammal species and three times as many bird types. Explore the park with an open-vehicle game drive. Two nights at the 3-star Etosha Toshari Lodge. (B, D)

Day 9 In the country known as the ‘cheetah capital of the world’, Etosha gives you a good chance of seeing them, sharing the saltpan and plains with lions and leopards, both black and white rhinos, the tallest African elephants, and huge herds of antelopes. Enjoy a full-day of wildlife-viewing with an open-vehicle game drive. (B, D)

Day 10 Journey south to Okonjima, the enclosed nature reserve home to the AfriCat Foundation, dedicated to conservation of various rare and endangered species, from leopard and brown hyena to aardvark and pangolin. Continue (3hrs) to Okahandja and visit its famous wood-carvers market. Overnight at the 3-star Okahandja Country Hotel. (B, D)

Day 11 Travel to Windhoek for the return overnight flight via Johannesburg. (B)

Day 12 Arrival at London Heathrow.

• Key
• B - Breakfast
• L - Lunch
• D - Dinner