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classic safari

Classic Namibia Safari DAY BY DAY ITINERARY

888.658.7102 [email protected] www.deeperafrica.com

Classic Namibia is the safari for wildlife lovers, scenic photographers,admirers of traditional cultures, and dark sky enthusiasts. Namibia doesn’t disappoint, as it has a wealth of distinct wildlife, unforgettable experiences, and breathtaking landscapes. You’ll explore Namibia’s unique desert environments with one of our naturalist guides who is ready to show you Namibia’s “big five” and “little five,” as well as the night sky unblemished by city light.

We’ll take you into some of the world’s most fragile ecosystems along the Skeleton Coast and in the Namib Desert. We’ll give you an opportunity to hike the dunes in the remote Sossusvlei, to watch the sunrise over the Atlantic from your cottage at the Stilz, and to eat dinner in the Jetty Restaurant in Swakopmund as the waves of the ocean roll into shore beneath you. Celebrate cultural diversity, as you spend a day with the Himba people of the Damara and Herero tribes

Classic Safaris with Deeper AfricaIt’s all about the wildlife. Embark on the classic safari experience: endless wilderness, great guides, spectacular wildlife, and no civilization. We’ll get you to the best locations during the right seasons. Learn animal identification, tracking, and spotting skills. Accommodations are comfortable and the food is delicious. Come with us and discover the brilliance and serenity of Africa in the company of experts who can give you a closer look, a richer taste, and a deeper understanding of an astonishing landscape.

CLASSIC NAMIBIA SAFARI 888.658.7102

©Wilderness Safaris

OVERVIEW: CLASSIC NAMIBIA


INCLUDED

Wifi

Swimming Pool

DAY 1 GALTON HOUSE | WINDHOEK

Welcome to Namibia – your guide will be waiting for you once you clear immigration and customs. Look for them holding a sign that has your name on it. He’ll be taking you to Galton House, on the outskirts of Windhoek, for an overnight stay.

After you’re settled, you can head out for a drive to see the famous sites in the capital city of Namibia. See famous landmarks including the Parliament Building, the Ride Memorial, the Old Fort, the Lutheran Church, and the Railway Station. Notice the German influence on much of the architecture. Enjoy lunch and dinner at local Windhoek restaurants.

©Galton House


INCLUDED

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Swimming Pool

Wifi

Namibia is a country of dramatic landscapes and diverse peoples. There are many different tribes that live in this nation, as well as many descendants of the German explorers who came to Namibia in the 1840’s. The best way to explore these landscapes and meet its locals is in a Land Cruiser. So, after breakfast you’ll set out with your naturalist guide for a drive to the Namib: the world’s oldest desert. You’ll be driving westward down out of the Khomas Hochland Highlands into the low plains in order to reach your destination. Along the way, your guide will explain the importance of wildlife and environmental conservation to his country. Namibia was the first African country to enshrine conservation in its constitution. Its empowerment of local communities to manage their wildlife resources is visionary.

En route, you’ll also stop for a picnic lunch. By the afternoon, you’ll be at Hoodia Desert Lodge which is surrounded by majestic mountains on the banks of the Tsauchab River, not far from the entrance to Sossusvlei. Surrounded by natural beauty, this is a place where your soul feels lighter.

DAY 2 HOODIA DESERT LODGE | SOSSUSVLEI



INCLUDED

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Swimming Pool

Wifi

Today you’ll visit the famous Sossusvlei; no part of the Namib Desert is morevisually stunning. Sossusvlei is a clay pan surrounded by some of the highest sand dunes in the world, which form sinuous crests that are continually changing as the day waxes and wanes. The highest of these star-shaped mountains of sand is said to reach over 1,000 feet. The sand has colors ranging from pale apricot to brick orange and deep red, which contrast vividly with the dazzling white surfaces of the clay pans at the base. Rarely, when it has rained sufficiently in the interior of the country, the flood waters of the Tsauchab River fill the main pan. We’ll make sure you visit the most spectacular locations: Dune 45, “Big Daddy,” and Dead Vlei.

After a short siesta, you’ll visit Sesriem Canyon. Sesriem is a natural canyon carved by the Tsauchab River. Centuries of erosion by the river have incised a narrow gorge just about three feet wide. At the foot of the gorge, which plunges down for 100 feet, are deep pools of water that only become replenished after heavy rains. It has a portion that permanently contains water, which many animals use as a watering hole.

DAY 3 HOODIA DESERT LODGE | SOSSUSVLEI



INCLUDED

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Wifi

Set out after breakfast for the Atlantic Coast. Along the way you’ll get to see some of Namibia’s vivid landscapes. First stop: a picnic spread with some stunning views. Second stop: the Tropic of Capricorn --the southernmost latitude where the sun can be viewed directly overhead.

Third stop: the “Welwitschia Plains” which are host to a unique desert plant. The Welwitschia was on the planet during the Jurassic period. Botanists consider this plant so special it has its own species family. It grows only two leaves, and can only be found in the unique climate conditions in Namibia’s coastal dunes.

Fourth stop: the “Moon Landscapes;” granite rock that was pushed upward through the earth’s crust 500 to 400 million years ago, and has since eroded over the last two million years. The “Moon Landscapes” is a regular location for film shoots, because it looks like a scene from another planet.

Last stop: the waves of the Atlantic Ocean flowing underneath your cottage at The Stilitz, just on the edge of Swakopmund. Yes, it is a cottage on stilts. Come morning, you’ll get to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic. Dinner tonight is at either the Jetty or Tug Restaurants. Both have great views of the ocean.

DAY 4 THE STILTZ | SWAKOPMUND

©The Stiltz


INCLUDED

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Wifi

Depart Swakopmund, driving north along the Atlantic Coast for visits to some unique Namibian places in and around the Skeleton Coast National Park – the finest coastal wilderness area in the world. This landscape possesses a varied and breathtaking assortment of desert-adapted species, including elephant and lions.

Today stops include the Wlotzkasbaken lichen fields – a conservation area protecting some unique lichens which grow here, as well as Cape Cross Seal Reserve, which is home to one of the largest Cape Fur seal colonies in the world. See also, the marker set down by 1486 by Portuguese navigator, Diogo Cao, and one of the Skeleton Coast’s famous shipwrecks: the Southwest Sea. The name Skeleton Coast has become synonymous with shipwrecks because of its strong currents, swirling fogs, and sandy coastal shallows, which created a graveyard for ships and their crews.

Afterwards, you’ll head off into the Damaraland Highlands, with its impressive landscape and ragged valleys which were created 800 million years ago. You will stay the night at the Grootberg Lodge, which is owned entirely by the local community through the #Khoadi/Hoas Conservancy. The conservancy was established in 1998 to manage wildlife and tourism in the area and to generate income for local people from these activities.. Income from the lodge helps to offset the losses to households when predators kill their livestock or elephants damage their water installations. Desert elephant, black rhino, and lion are some of the more impressive mammals found here.

DAY 5 GROOTBERG LODGE | ETENDEKA PLATEAU DAMARALAND



INCLUDED

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Wifi

Today you’ll be trekking rhinos on foot and by vehicle in the Palmweg Community Concession. Rhino tracking begins early in the morning with a community rhino tracker from Save the Rhino Trust joining your guide.

Save the Rhino Trust is a non-profit conservation organization that has been working in this area for 25 years. The Trust focuses on the protection, monitoring, and understanding of the local black rhino populations, and it is funded by donations and partnerships. As the rhino numbers in the area shrank to near extinction, Save the Rhino Trust was formed to stop the indiscriminate hunting that was taking place. Community game scouts were employed by the Trust to help with the patrolling and monitoring of rhino. Ironically, many of the scouts were previously convicted poachers from within the local community – their trackers now monitor over 100 desert-adapted black rhino. The Trust has been singly responsible for helping to ensure that rare, desert adapted black rhino survived the slaughter and are now able to be relocated to populate other areas.

DAY 6 GROOTBERG LODGE | ETENDEKA PLATEAU DAMARALAND



INCLUDED

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Swimming Pool

The route this morning takes you north over the majestic Grootberg Pass on the way to Etosha National Park. You’ll stop for a visit with a small Himba settlement. The Himba people live in one of the most extreme environments on earth. The harsh desert climate and the remoteness of their ancestral lands means they have been able to maintain and preserve their traditional, semi-nomadic lifestyle. Himba people are distinct because they cover their skin and hair with otijze paste, a local cosmetic that is a mix of ochre pigment and butterfat. Its rich red color symbolizes the earth and its composition protects its wearers from the elements.

By late afternoon, you’ll reach Andersson’s Camp which sits on the Ongava Game Reserve on the southern boundary of Etosha National Park. The reserve was formed in 1991 when its shareholders converted four unproductive cattle ranches into a highly productive wildlife reserve. It is now home to large concentrations of wildlife which move freely between Etosha and the reserve. A successful rhino re-introduction program means that the reserve holds one of the largest black and white rhino custodianships from the Namibian government. Andersson’s Camp has a well-placed waterhole, within viewing of the dining area and the sitting area. At any time of the day or evening you are welcome to sit in a comfortable chair and watch a steady stream of wildlife pass by.

DAY 7 ANDERSSON’S CAMP | ETOSHA NATIONAL PARK & ONGAVA GAME RESERVE



INCLUDED

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Swimming Pool

You’ll be spending the day exploring Etosha National Park. The park takes its name from the world-famous Etosha Pan – one of a number of large saltpans formed by the wind action in this flat region.

The pan itself is extremely salty, with its salinity levels sometimes exceeding ocean water, but its edges give way to a surprising variety of vegetation types and thus a great diversity of wildlife. Springs feed the waterholes along the southern edge. That means frequent sightings of over 114 species of mammals.

Etosha has four of the Big Five. Elephant can be found in the park, along with lion, leopard, and black and white rhino viewed both there and in the Ongava Game Reserve. Note that Etosha’s elephants have relatively small tusks due to breakage from mineral deficiencies in their diet, as well as genetic defects. Etosha is also one of the most important breeding grounds for greater and lesser flamingos in the southern African region. During rainy season, millions of flamingos congregate on the pan to breed.

DAY 8 ANDERSSON’S CAMP | ETOSHA NATIONAL PARK & ONGAVA GAME RESERVE

©Andersson’s Camp


INCLUDED

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Wifi

Today you’ll return to Etosha for game driving, while you move eastward away fromthe pan. You’ll be able to watch wildlife at a number of watering holes – each one attracting its share of unique creatures. You’ll have good sightings of plains game including springbok, gemsbok, wildebeest, Burchell’s zebra, giraffe, eland, and the black-faced impala. Towards the end of the day, you exit the park near Namutoni, through the von Lindequist gate. You’ll stop for lunch at Halali Camp with the opportunity to stretch your legs and watch wildlife at the waterhole. Overnight will be at Mushara Bush Camp.

DAY 9 MUSHARA BUSH CAMP | ETOSHA NATIONAL PARK



DAY 10 INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL | INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT

INCLUDED

Breakfast

This morning you’ll begin the journey south back to Windhoek. On the way, you’llstop at Okahandja, which is an important center for woodcarvers in northern Namibia. They practice their ancient skills at the Woodcarvers’ Market next to the main road. Your driver will get you to the international airport outside of Windhoek in time for your flight home.

Flight #1

• Departs: Windhoek, Namibia

• Arrives: TBD

DAY 11 INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL | INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT

Flight #2

• Departs: TBD

• Arrives:. TBD


INCLUDED IN YOUR SAFARI

• Full board accommodations in all lodges andtented camps

• All meals as indicated in the itinerary

• Unlimited game drives in private 4x4 safariLand Cruisers

• All park and entrance fees

• Experienced and professional safari naturalist guides

• Natural Learning program

• All in-country transportation

• Beverages in your 4x4 safari vehicle

• Bottled water available at all times

• Extensive pre-departure briefing and materials in-cluding health information, reading list and map

EXCLUDED IN YOUR SAFARI

• Gratuities• Alcohol & Beverages• Laundry

We plan your wildlife adventures in areas where wildlife habitats are known to exist for the season and time you are traveling. Still, animals in the areas you are viewing are not in a zoo. They run freely, and we cannot always anticipate their movements.

Also, Deeper Africa uses best efforts to provide the lodging set out in this itinerary, but occasionally there are circum-stances that occur in Africa that require lodging substitu-tions. We reserve the right to make comparable lodging substitutions whenever necessary.

2017 CUSTOM PRICING & DEPARTURE DATES

January - June, 2017 •6 persons: $5,449 USD per person•4 persons: $5,849 USD per person•2 persons: $6,949 USD per person•Single supplement: $349 USD

July - December, 2017 •6 persons: $5,599 USD per person•4 persons: $5,999 USD per person•2 persons: $7,399 USD per person•Single supplement: $399 USD

All pricing is in US dollars. Arrivals and departures are out of Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport. Prices do not include international air travel.

5353 Manhattan Circle, Suite 202 Boulder, Colorado 80303

888.658.7102 303.415.2574 720.565.0512 fx

www.deeperafrica.com

classic safaris

ADDITIONAL SAFARI INFORMATION


2017 pricing

$5,499 - $7,399

Best Value

classic namibia safari - deeper africa › uploaded-files › classic namibia_2017.pdfclassic...

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