A Namibia & South Africa Self-drive Camping Safari Expedition
NAMIBIA & SOUTH AFRICA
July – August 2024
A month long self-drive safari camping trip through Namibia and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in South Africa, together with my wife Mega and the first 3 weeks also together with my brother Willem-Jan and his wife Willeke. This was my third trip to Namibia; we initially planned this trip in 2020, but the pandemic made us cancel the trip 2 years in a row… The wait was finally over!
Of course I wanted to show my brother and his wife the popular highlights of Namibia, but also combine that with some of my favorite more off-the-beaten-track destinations and of course include a few places where I hadn’t been yet myself. As a hopefully worthy finale I decided to visit a park that I had wanted to visit for a long time, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. This park is shared by Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. The majority of our time in the park was in the South-African part, while the Botswana part remains high on my list for future trips to Africa!
Caprivi, Etosha, Kaokoland, Spitzkoppe, Sossusvlei - Ju'/Hoansi San and Himba
Or select any of the destinations below for our story and photos about that part of the trip. Enjoy!
Namibia & South Africa Destinations
Introduction
I had been to Namibia twice before, so I know fairly well what there is to see and do. During my previous two trips the focus was heavily on observing and photographing wildlife, as that’s my main passion. I can easily spend half a day with a single animal! My second passion is spending time with indigenous tribes.
Of course it is not everybody’s cup of tea to spend hours with a single elephant, or even lion, so I planned an itinerary that included a large variety of wildlife in different habitat, and driving routes through some of Namibia’s most spectacular natural scenery. To top it off and add even more variety I planned visits and overnight stays with two of Namibia’s most unique indigenous tribes, the San people and the Himba tribe.
We rented two 4×4 double-cab cars: one car fitted with two roof top tents and extensive camping equipment, the other car with only a fridge. This gave us total freedom, and particularly in places where we stayed more than 1 night we simply left the car with roof top tents behind and did game drives with the other car. This turned out to be absolutely perfect!
For most of the nights I booked campsites in advance, including quite a few of my favorite ones that I had visited before. But one of the most immersive experiences in Namibia is to camp in the wild, completely self-sufficient, so that was also in our program.
Namibia & South Africa Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival in Windhoek (Hartmann Suites)
Day 2: Windhoek – Grootfontein (Roy’s Rest Camp)
Day 3: Grootfontein – Divundu, Mahango Game Reserve (Ngepi Camp)
Day 4: Divundu, Mahango Game Reserve (Ngepi Camp)
Day 5: Divundu – Kavango River (Mobola Island Lodge, campsite)
Day 6: Divundu – Ju/’Hoansi San (campsite)
Day 7: Ju/’Hoansi San – Etosha National Park (Halali Campsite)
Day 8: Etosha National Park (Halali Campsite)
Day 9: Etosha National Park (Halali Campsite)
Day 10: Etosha National Park (Okaukuejo Campsite)
Day 11: Etosha National Park (Okaukuejo Campsite)
Day 12: Etosha National Park (Olifantsrus Campsite)
Day 13: Etosha – Opuwo (Opuwo Country Hotel, campsite)
Day 14: Opuwo – Himba village (wild camping)
Day 15: Himba village – Opuwo – Kaokoland (wild camping)
Day 16: To Puros (Ngatutanga Campsite)
Day 17: Puros – Hoanib river bed (wild camping)
Day 18: Hoanib river bed – Warmquelle (Ongongo Waterfall Campsite)
Day 19: Warmquelle – Palmwag (wild camping)
Day 20: Palmwag – Huab riverbed – Twyfelfontein – Spitzkoppe (Spitzkoppe Rest Camp)
Day 21: Spitzkoppe – Sesriem, Sossusvlei (Sossus Oasis Campsite)
Day 22: Sesriem, Sossusvlei (Sossus Oasis Campsite)
Day 23: Sesriem, Sossusvlei – Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (Mata Mata Rest Camp)
Day 24: Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (Mata Mata Rest Camp)
Day 25: Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (Twee Rivieren Rest Camp)
Day 26: Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (Twee Rivieren Rest Camp)
Day 27: Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (Nossob Rest Camp)
Day 28: Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (Bitterpan Wilderness Camp)
Day 29: Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (Mata Mata Rest Camp)
Day 30: Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park – Windhoek (65 Jan Jonker)
Day 31: Departure from Windhoek
Other Trip Reports including Namibia
Namibia & Botswana - 2018
Tanzania - 2015
You still have Africa on your bucket list?
- Are you still dreaming of an authentic, original and adventurous safari experience?
- Do you like this type of safari adventure, or perhaps a bit more comfort?
- Do you not want to organise such a trip all by yourself
- Do you prefer a professional guide (and perhaps driver) to go with you?
- Do you want to see more wildlife than others?
- Then reach out to me to discuss!