Epic Etosha National Park & Swakopmund (Low Season) Accommodated Tour

This morning, A Tour Guide from Nali Safaris will collect you from your various accommodation establishments between 8:00 – 8:30AM. You then depart Windhoek in your safari vehicle with your private guide and head north via Okahandja town for a short visit to a local market, to shop for woodcarvings and curios. The local community operates the stalls on a co-operative basis and the market is a perfect place to do last minute shopping for truly Namibian souvenirs. Another short stop for toilet usage in the town of Outjwarongo en-route to Etosha National Park.

You arrive late afternoon in Etosha area just 40 meters outside Etosha National Park at your accommodation of Mokuti Etosha Lodge and you will stay here for one night whilst you explore the remarkable sights of the eastern side of the park with your guide. If there is still time today, your guide will take you to nearby wildlife waterholes to begin your wildlife viewing experience. However, if you prefer, you can just relax and soak in the scenic and tranquil surroundings at the lodge.

This morning you will need to rise early for a magical wildlife encounter’s experience with your guide in the famous Etosha National Park, normally setting off before sunrise with luck on your side, you will observe nocturnal animals in the early mornings. Today you will spend a full day in this world-class game park in your touring vehicle, visiting a number of waterholes to observe the wildlife. Etosha translated, means ‘The place of dry water’ and here we get our first view of the magnificent salt pan.

Etosha National Park is home to 114 different mammal species including zebra, springbok, eland, oryx, kudu, giraffe and the all-important big four: the lion, the leopard, the elephant and black and white rhino. The wide variety of animals guarantee impressive game viewing. Etosha is also a bird watchers’ paradise, with more than 340 bird species recorded in the park.

**Memorable Moment: The Etosha Pan is a vast, bare, open expanse of shimmering green and white that covers around 4 800km², almost a quarter of the beautiful Etosha National Park. At 130 km’s long and up to 50km’s wide in places, it is comfortably the largest salt pan in Africa and is the park’s most distinctive and dramatic feature, visible even from space.**

You then make a lunch stop at Halali Wildlife Resort located in the middle of the park. After lunch you proceed with game viewing on your way to overnight accommodation, Toshari Lodge. The rest of the remainder of the afternoon is at your leisure (from experience, this is usually welcomed after an exhilarating full day game viewing seated in the vehicle).

After a morning breakfast, you depart to the charming coastal town of Swakopmund. The drive today takes you southwest through awesome and ever changing landscapes passing through some small settlement towns of Kamanjab, Uis. You will meet the ocean at the coastal town of Henties Bay and then continue south to Swakopmund where you can enjoy the pleasant seaside location and cooler coastal air for your next two nights. There will be time this afternoon to explore the town and wander along the waterfront on foot, before heading off for dinner at a popular restaurant which specializes in locally harvested seafood.

Swakopmund: Swakopmund resembles a small, German coastal resort nestled between the desert and the sea. It boasts a charming combination of German colonial architecture blended with modern hotels, shops, restaurants, museums, craft centres, galleries and cafés. Swakopmund had its beginnings as a landing station in 1892 when the German Imperial Navy erected beacons on the site. Settlers followed and made attempts to create a harbor town by constructing a concrete Mole and then an iron jetty – which attempts were ultimately unsuccessful.

The advent of World War one halted developments, and the town sank into decline until half a century later when infrastructure improved and an asphalt road opened between Windhoek and Swakopmund. This made reaching the previously isolated town quicker and easier and it prospered once again to become Namibia’s premier resort town. Although the sea is normally cold for swimming there are pleasant beaches and the cooler climate is refreshing after time spent in the desert.

Today is a free day. The idea is to allow time for everybody to do their own thing. Swakopmund is a very pleasant seaside town with lots of shops, a good stretch of beach (although the Atlantic here is quite cold) and an open-air curio market. There is also a very good museum and the Namibian National Marine Aquarium is located in Swakopmund.

Alternatively, there are various optional activities that can be arranged. These include airplane and microlight flights over the desert, scenic drives, fishing trips (both from the beach or in a boat), four-wheel motorcycle (quad bike) trips into the desert and over the sand dunes around Swakopmund, sand boarding trips (also in the dunes), skydiving, surfing, bird-watching and many other activities are available. Your tour guide will discuss all the possible options with you before you reach Swakopmund and will offer to make bookings in advance of your arrival.

In addition to this, you can pre-book a full day excursion to Shawnee Shipwreck in Sandwich Harbour area. Experience a piece of Namibia’s central Skeleton Coast exposed to the stormy South Atlantic Ocean claiming numerous ships over past centuries. Combine the scenic beauty and wildlife of the Kuiseb Delta and Sandwich Harbour, as we explore further South along the coastline to an area where the Namibian coast claimed another victim, the Shawnee, a transport tug that ran aground in foul weather on 16 February 1976 about 15 miles north of Conception Bay.

This one-day excursion is designed for those interested in experiencing the rugged beauty of the Namibian coastal landscape and dreams of seeing an actual shipwreck stuck high-up on a beach in one of the world’s most isolated places. (Note: All extra activities and excursions in Swakopmund are subject to availability and are made at the clients own risk and expense).

After breakfast, you can explore the city of Swakopmund and depending on your airport flight departure location and time, either Walvis Bay International Airport or Hosea Kutako International Airport (own cost) or you are overnighting in Windhoek city, we depart Swakopmund according to such specific timings. En-route to Windhoek city we make a short visit to a local market, to shop for woodcarvings and curios. The local community operates the stalls on a co-operative basis and the market is a perfect place to do last minute shopping for truly Namibian souvenirs. We then proceed to the capital and you will be dropped off at the accommodation or to the International Airport for your outbound flight.

END OF SAFARI